Into the Cyrillic Part 1: Bulgaria Interior

Since liberation from communism in 1989, Bulgaria has had 30 bumpy years, due to post communist bureaucratic corruption, which has inhibited development and impeded recovery.  Bulgaria has the "award" of being the most corrupt country in the European Union.  Although part of the EU, Bulgaria has not been  allowed to become part of the Schengen zone, because they have not resolved government misconduct   https://thechosenfugue.blogspot.com/2018/10/schengen.html   They hope to obtain Schengen status by this fall.  We’ve taken advantage of their malfeasance and our visit was prompted by our need to gain more non-Schengen time. 

Bulgaria might also win an award for most potential; amazingly beautiful countryside, unique historical sites and the underrated Black Sea coast (both under and over developed). We started off in Sofia, the capitol of Bulgaria, seeing two other interior cities (Plovdiv and Veliko Tarnova) before venturing to the Black Sea coast. 

Bulgaria presented some challenges from the start. Pretty much the only thing we heard was watch out for scamming cab drivers at the Sofia Airport.  Since our Ryan Air flight came in just before midnight,  after the subway had stopped, we had no choice. Of course, we had a super nice cab driver who even waited to make sure we managed to find our way into our airbnb (a series of lock-box keys and fobs made it a bit difficult).  

Fargik cup comes in turquoise, white, blue and green, had them all

Once we made it in, we realized we were not in Kansas anymore. In general, our airbnb's have looked the same in some respects, because they almost all seem to be stocked with IKEA dishes and furniture.  Apparently the Fargik cup and Malm bed are the Esparanto of home furnishings. 
But, Bulgaria was an exception with some new twists. If you like to pee in the shower, Bulgaria is your country. 

Sofia

Burgas

We woke up to find that right outside our airbnb was a daily farmer’s market, The Women's Market.

While shopping we also experienced an air raid signal followed by 2 minutes of silence as it was June 2, the day that honors Hristo Botev, poet, journalist and revolutionary who was killed in battle on June 2, 1989.  His presence was in virtually every city we visited.

The cliché is that former Soviet bloc cities are drab and bleak.  Sofia is that cliché.  It didn’t help that we walked around it during booming torrential thundershowers which made it difficult to tell where the grey buildings ended and the grey skies began. 

 

Sofia did have some lovely buildings, parks, statues and squares but we had to walk through kilometers of forgettable blah to reach them. We could not even find a Lidl market (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2017/06/15/what-is-lidl-5-things-the-german-grocer-is-bringing-to-america/?utm_term=.fd5f39fa51f8 )

see variations here https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/monument-to-the-soviet-army

LA river's sister river?

Wondered how to spell McDonald's in Cyrillic?

 

To confirm we were not in Kansas, Sofia downtown was paved with yellow brick roads.

For the most part, neighborhoods felt distinctly non-distinct and in need of attention and piles of money for repairs.   At least in the general area of the city center where we primarily were, we didn’t encounter extreme poverty but we did not get a sense that people were thriving.  The average monthly income in Bulgaria is about $600/month but the cost of living is low. 

Forty years later, Nick’s year of college Russian finally paid off, as he was able to read bus destinations and street names in Cyrillic to cut our time getting lost in half. Each day as we explored Sofia , the initial harshness softened and  we warmed up to Sofia.  We appreciated  it's quirks which we realized were not specific to Sofia as we found many of them throughout Bulgaria. This included:

A love of fountains;

 

public bidet?

love of fountains extends to water fountains in the bus station ticket offices

-A huge variety of Orthodox churches, ranging from airbnb-sized to resort-sized Cathedrals.   Most of the saint-centric churches were full of gold-leaf icons with large chandeliers, but occasionally you came upon stunning interiors with unique frescos. 

- Espresso machines randomly placed everywhere including next to a toilet. 

The bus ride for our day trip to Plovdiv was a surprising introduction to the beautiful countryside of Bulgaria. 

Plovdiv is a very old city, originally founded in 4 BCE  and called Phillippopolis.  It was a tableau of Bulgarian history- Roman and Thracian ruins, Medieval churches, Ottoman mosque, with an ancient amphitheater still in use, plus more fountains-in the square and in the park. 

Combine dining, shopping and ancient stadium viewing

H&M was built over ruins, you can view them between the bathing suits and underwear                           

Originally seated 6,000 and still used

One area was pretty much preserved as it was in the mid 1800's, full of wealthy merchant houses, uneven streets, ancient Roman ruins and medieval churches.  These pictures are from Wiki commons-Patricia was so concentrated on not tripping- pictures were not taken. 

Walking back to the bus station, leaving the very nice tourist and pedestrian areas, the common theme of soviet-style utilitarian buildings next to beautiful buildings - peeling paint- chipping plaster returned, although this time obscured by the trees. 

After our few days in Bulgaria, it felt like even the most modern areas were stuck in the eighties, so heavy metal would be the soundtrack of choice. Sure enough, as we headed out of Sofia, our bus driver treated us to three hours of eighties heavy metal.  Later on our trip in Varna, another bus driver carried the eighties torch with a perfect mullet. 

The heavy metal lovin' bus driver (Simpson's Otto Mann's relative?) took us to Veliko Tarnova, the capital of the second Bulgarian Empire (1185-1396) and where the third Bulgarian Empire was formed in 1878 after liberation from the Ottomans (more relatives?) . Veliko Tarnova was immediately very different and wonderful. We walked from the bus station through the lovely town center.

Then past very unique Bulgarian style murals, leading into an older part of town

 

At the edge of town, as you turn the corner ... The Tsarevets comes in view. 

Our pictures do not do justice to how incredibly striking it was, both the view of Tsarevets and the views from.

The Tsarevets was a fortified, walled village and home to the ruling Tsars, kind of like a Bulgarian Winterfell.  

While everything was old- the frescos in the church were not. The church was reconstructed (1978-1985, during communism)  with shocking, graphic, unique paintings with very different take of pictures of saints. Because of these paintings, the church has never been reconsecrated and is not considered a house of worship. 

Because we stayed just one night and in a hotel and did not have a kitchen, we actually went to a restaurant to have some classic Bulgarian food. Served with a great view. Veliko Tarnova is probably one of the most interesting and memorable places we have seen, it is surprising (and a shame) it is not better known and visited. 

This week's photo of  topless old man looking out window contemplating his life.."I'm the Tsar of my Lidl kingdom."