Bulgaria,Veliko Tarnovo, the suffering of Bulgaria, and Varna is not as bad as I thought!

View across the gorge from my room

"clinging to the edge of the gorge"

Back streets Veliko tarnovo

Back street Veliko

From the Shipka Pass, I rejoined the originally targeted twisty valley road for another 30 miles into Veliko Tarnovo, a small town of some considerable delight, which used to be an ancient royal seat.  Veliko is set on the side of an S-shaped gorge with the river, whose name I can neither spell nor pronounce, but is written something like AHPTA in cryllic, flowing deep below the houses on the main street.  Many of these house just cling to the hillside and the hotel I found was such, in that the view from my bedroom window looked directly across the S, to the the Asenovsti Park with the State Art Museum and the Asenevs Monument, of four Bulgarian Kings.  It was a lovely view to start the visit.  The winding back streets of Veliko Tarnovo

The approach ramp to Tsarevets

 fan out from the north side of the main street.  A bit like Plovdiv, they frequently had projecting upper stories to their houses. Here is an area of restaurants, small hotels and artisans. There are many museums and churches all open to view, but I was actually more

Me sat on Tsarevets wall

 enthralled simply by the atmosphere of the place than by any specific attraction.  I arranged to stay two days, partly just for a chill out and partly to write some blog. The one place I really enjoyed though, despite the fact that there was no shade and it was about 38 degrees in the sun, was the huge triangular fortress, Tsarevets Castle.  This is a site which has been occupied over millenia by Thracians, Byzantines in the 5thC BC, and then Romans,  and the remains of what is there now was largely constructed over about 600 years from the 5th C and includes the foundations of some 400 buildings inside the walls.  Between the 10th and 14th century it was the political and ecclestiastical capital for the Tsars (Kings) of Bulgaria. The entrance from the main street is a long cobbled ramp, built high across the gorge on massive stone walls.  There is a gap in this,before the main gateway, where a drawbridge used to give access, although that is long since replaced with a

The Patriarchs' Monument
on summit of Tsarevets Fortress

Footings of ancient house Tsarevets

 wooden ramp.  The outer curtain wall is impressive to say the least, stretching across for almost a kilometre, with intermittent watchtowers.
Inside, walkways lead around the excavations and gradually up to the top of the hill on which there is now what used

to be an orthodox church, but is now named The Patriarchs' Monument.  The inside has been painted with modern murals, mainly in sepia with vivid interruptions of reds and ochres, and it portrays the centuries of suffering by the Bulgarian people. On what used to be the main altar wall, in similar style, a

Mural in the Patriarchs'
Monument

Madonna and child has been painted, presumably the only ray of hope that they could find to illuminate their very mirky past.   I have to say that I have never seen anything like them, and the

Scenes of abject misery

 more I looked at them, the more they disturbed me.  I suppose that there is an element of need for interpretation of the stories which they depict, but it reinforced my view that the Bulgarians have had more than their fair share of problems over the centuries.  They deserve a bit of a break now.  I read in the Lonely Planet Guide that someone had asked how they felt about now being accepted into the EU after 60 years under the communist regime.  The reply was that only time would tell. That they had spent centuries under the Romans, 500 years under the Ottomans, and only 60 under the communists.  They thought that it was much to early to believe that everything would now come right just because they had joined the EU!   Well, inside the capitalist system, for one of the poorest countries in Europe, they might be right to be wary.  I hope it works out for them.  They deserve a thousand year break!

Execution Rock

Incidentally, on the extreme north corner of the Castle walls, there are the remains of what used to be a monastery and a courthouse. At the back of these buildings, the wall is absent and the pavement simply stretches out on to the flat surface of a large rock with overhangs the gorge 150 feet below. This is the site, in the medieval period, of executions, where those found guilty at the court were whipped round to the monastery for the last rights before being thrown off "Execution Rock". At least no hanging about on death row in those days, simply out of the back door and over the cliff!  Yes, by golly, these guys really have had a rough time!




PHOTOS FOR THIS NEXT BIT WILL FOLLOW....only had time to finish the story...Doc

Almost across the southern part of Europe from the Adriatic I am now within reach of The Black Sea coast, and I left Veliko Tanovo for Varna.  The guide books say that this is the most popular area on this coast and it is hard to find a hotel in high season as all the locals come here.    In the communist era it was even more crammed as people from across the whole of Yugoslavia and down from the USSR came here as well, although I believe that it was not so popular with them as the Ukrainian coast.I almost missed Varna. I know it sounds stupid but the satnav doesn't work in most of these countries except to show major routes between major cities, so when I rocked up at Varna, I firstly aimed for the sea and found myself at the docks. They were big, with ship repair yards as well, so, I followed the coast road until I finally almost made it to a beach. I had thought that Old Varna, the interesting part was just inland from here but when I tried to get there I found myself on a one way system and before I knew where I was I was on the coast road north out of Varna again. I was quite tired and thought that I would try and find a hotel and then perhaps look for the coast again the following day. I found myself following a road to a monastery again and ended up at a massive holiday resort  called St Constaninja and St Helena, on the coast which was full of hotels and I actually thought for a full day that I had found Varna centre. The only problem was that it was really like a funny hats type holiday resort and had scores of stores selling all sorts of souvenirs and cheap jewellery and numerous bars and cafes. There was actually a monastery of sorts where the healing waters (which also supply the swimming pool mentioned later!) have apparently been the source of many miracles if drunk at the monastery!  I suspect that if they were drunk at the swimming pool they may have the opposite effect.  It did have a beach though, of sorts. I went to the one where there was this “ natural mineral pool” on the first day. This turned out to be a normal swimming pool but fed apparently by a warm mineral water spring, as indeed was the monastery's.. The actual beach had a decaying concrete wall to it and the sea was right in. Nobody used the beach at all. It also started to spot with rain and neither the attraction of the pool, nor the beach was enough to keep me there. So, I started to walk around the resort and actually found another rather better beach about 500 yards further round the coast. This one actually did have a proper beach and I decided the next day to go there instead. Meanwhile, although the rain had stopped I returned to the hotel and studied the map and the guide book. I realised that I was actually not in Varna any longer but on one of the many resort areas. The guidebook listed a number of sites to see in Varna proper including an old lighthouse, a great park and interesting old centre which is pedestrianised. I did go to the beach for an hour the following morning but by 11.30 is was so stinking hot I couldn't cope with it even with the sea to cool off in. I also realised that lying on a beach on your own is extremely miserable and also means that when you do go for a dip you have to constantly watch your towel and our clothes(and camera and watch and money in your trouser pocket etc). So after an hour or so of sweating and dipping, I left the beach and went back to the bike to ride into Varna, which, this time I found. So, Varna was not as bad I I had thought at first, in fact there is indeed a very pleasant old town centre. I kept in the shade and stopped frequently for drinks, but managed to see a lot and enjoyed it. The old lighthouse was actually a bit disappointing. I had expected to see some massive obelisk of an ancient Pharo light, but the tower was dwarfed by the surrounding trees and, next to the large and rather beautiful building, which I thought originally was a very grand hotel but turned out to be either a naval or army academy. This was heavily guarded by guys with sub machine guns and there were a lot of inflatable craft covered in nets in the side yard. It seemed like some sort of school for Marines. I did not think it was wise to ask at the gate what it was, since there were no photograph signs and stuff around. Just along the coast through the park, was a military museaum which had several large exhibits in and outside it's grounds. I did not actually go in, but noticed some very interesting things outside. The first was a ship, that I first thought was a submarine, but it had a funnel. In fact it was a first world war torpedo ship, a predecessor to submarines, and it had an entirely enclosed hull, so presumably travelled along the surface almost submerged but not quite. The torpedo tubes were alongside on the upper deck and looked as if they would have needed sailors to man and fire them from the deck. The other thing that I am sure was there, although I have never seen one before, was a second world war German V-rocket, or “doodle bug” as they were called, mounted on a mobile launcher. I remember seeing pictures of them in old copies of The Illustrated London News which my Grandad and Granny had at their house in the early 50's. If anyone can actually confirm what this is, please let me know. Finally, the place I had headed to, The Medicine Museum. This was a lovely small museum in an old hospital, which in itself was worth seeing. It had been built by a generous benefactor and was largely original inside except that the rooms were now used to house exhibits . They started with prehistoric finds of skulls and bones illustrating early trephining of skulls, serious injuries and also bone diseases of early settlers of the area. In other rooms were surgical and other medical instruments and gadgets, some of which even I remember, and one, the Higginson's ear syringe, which I own and still use in preference to the new electrical syringes! The other thing that they had was dental equipment. I wished that my sister had been there to laugh with me. The chair they showed with the drill driven by a long rotating band was described as being early 20^th century. It was exactly identical to the chair, drill and spittoon used by the dentist we had as children, Mr Bell. It almost brought back the horrors we suffered there in the 1950's. It seems to suggest that Mr Bell never updated his equipment from stuff that he inherited or bought second hand when he set up his practice!

Finally one other thing at the Medicine Museum was a beautiful sculpted frieze which showed healers of antiquity including in the centre, Aesculapius, Hygiea and Hippocrates.

So, Varna was actually not all that bad, and I am glad that I bothered to go back to find it properly rather than just ignoring it and moving on.

In fact, the resort was not that bad a place to stay. I had a very comfortable hotel, with excellent air conditioning which I really needed, and there were two places at which I enjoyed eating. The first, I went for two evenings as they had an excellent singer as entertainment. The second I found after wandering about following a meal at the first. Here they had a cabaret of Bulgarian dancers doing traditional folk dances. The music and the dances were terrific and I enjoyed an evening there before leaving Varna for Romania the next day and Constantja, a Black Sea township further up the coast.

I enjoyed Bulgaria and am certain that here is a lot more to see and visit here. I was most moved by the story of the battle of Shipka Pass and the significance that it had in this part of Europe, something that we, as islanders, probably have never even considered.

Best wishes, Doc.

Best wishes, Doc