Bulgaria Switches Back to Astronomical Time

At 4 am Sunday, October 27, clocks in Bulgaria were officially turned back one hour to winter (astronomical) time until the last Sunday of March 2014.

As result the sunrise and sunsets will come earlier. Starting Sunday the sunrise will be around 6:50 am and the sunset around 5.30 pm.

The daylight savings time was introduced in Bulgaria on April 1, 1979. It was introduced for the first time ever in 1908 in Great Britain to optimize the daylight hours.

Since 1981 European Community (EC) Directives have prescribed the start and end dates of summer time in member states. These are set as the last Sundays in March and October respectively.

The main idea behind this switch is to preserve energy by using natural light longer.