Bulgaria’s Rose Valley stretches for about 87 miles across a narrow interval between the Balkan mountain range, dressing up in pink every May and June. Once known for making pistols, ammunition, and automatic weapons under Communism, now the region is famous as one of the world’s biggest sources of an oil likened to “liquid gold.” Rose oil earned the nickname for a reason: It takes more than 3,180 pounds of roses to produce just one pound of rose oil, valued between 3,468 and 6,000 dollars.
