The 7 day circuit to Bulgaria - Day 4 (Plovdiv) - 15th of June 2011

The 1832 St. Constantine and Helen church is rather small in size, yet its yard exhibits major icon paintings which testify the icon painting tradition in Bulgaria. Its interior has magnificent wood-carved iconostasis and a richly incrusted bishop throne,  none of which we were allowed to photograph but from the outside.

Painted murals on the church facade.

"Glimpse" of the church interior (photo taken from the outside)

We then headed to an amazingly beautiful restaurant (Magnolia) recreating the Bulgarian national revival architecture, where we had a traditional cuisine lunch with some Bulgarian red and white wine in a very well decorated Summer garden. The perfect "break" before the visit to the Bachkovo Monastery.

Inner room in the Magnolia restaurant

Soon after lunch we found ourselves driving south of Plovdiv to visit the second biggest Monastery of Bulgaria and once more we were not allowed to take photographs. Having been founded in 1083 Bachkovo  has well preserved frescoes covering its interior (amazingly beautiful), which we expected to find in Religious or Art books before heading back home (we hadn't found many until then and were beginning to get worried that we would be forced to limit some of these "rich" visits to images we might have been able to "keep" in our minds.

Detailed frescoe  (left) of the Monastery entrance (right)

By the time we reached the Hotel located in the centre of Plovdiv, we still had time to stroll in the streets of the modern city, which looked like any western European one. We finally managed to buy some Unicart books of some of the cities and monuments we had visited so far before it was time to be back again for a night out at some traditional Tavern (its architecture reminded me of the Turkish caravenserai with the dancing ring in the middle, though it was better decorated), which had a folkloric night with traditional singing and dancing going on (some of which was quite good particularly the singing).

What an interesting day (one more interesting one to be accounted for) ...

Latest news from Calheta ...

I have been sent some photos (taken by Sibylle) to four of the five girls who participated in the Bern Frauenlauf wearing the outfits I bought for them, taking into account their personal taste, but which for obvious reasons they were not able to try on during their stop over at Lisbon airport.

 

Anicia (left) and Ludmila (right). 

Eveline (left) and Ertemisa (right).

Ertemisa, Ludmila and Eveline (from left to right)

They all seemed happy and that made me even happier. To complete my "happiness", I was also sent of Valter (Ertemisa's brother) whom I had sent a long-sleeved T-shirt gently offered by my colleague Silvia  some time ago, which I felt would perfectly fit him (I wasn't wrong).

Valter

It came to me as a surprise to find out that Benedita has recently become a grandmother and although she looks rather happy in the photo I was sent, I am sure she has some concerns regarding the future of this young couple, as Mito (her son and father of the child) is still very young and studying at university, thus without any income of his own.

 Benedita, Dina holding little Danilo and Mito (from left to right)

In three months time I'll be travelling there and I am really looking forward to seeing how everyone else is doing ... particularly "my" children ... , though Sibylle keeps me updated ...





The 7 day circuit to Bulgaria - Day 4 (cont.) - Plovdiv - the 15th of June 2011

Located on the banks of the Maritsa river, Plovdiv developed on seven hills, thus being often referred to as "the city of the seven hills". Its settlement traces dating from the Neolithic, roughly 4000 BC  are said to have appeared on the Nebet, Taksim and Dzhambaz hills.

We started our visit to Plovdiv by walking around the old town, which in architectural and historical terms is quite unique with remains of Roman foundations, a Roman theatre built in the beginning of the 2nd Century during the reign of the Roman Emperor Trajan and  amazingly impressive 18th -19th century Revival houses, which were constructed under the rule of the Otoman Empire by rich citizens.

Entrance to the old city with part of the Balanov house on the right.

The early 19th century Balanov house (left). The house where the French poet Alphonse Lamartine stayed at in 1833 (right).

 

Street walking in the old city





We then visited the Plovdiv Regional Ethnographic Museum, which occupies the 1847 house of the rich merchant Argir Kuyumdzhioglu and exhibits a collection of over 40,000 artifacts distributed among crafts, fabrics, clothing, furniture, musical instruments and religious items.

An absolute "jewel" it was, not to mention the fact that the whole exhibition was very well organised.

I managed to buy a cross stich embroidered blouse in its little handicraft store and as I walked out I felt I was "hungry" for more and although it was time to have lunch, none of us seemed to be in a hurry to do so.

Our  morning scheduled visits still included the St. Constantine and Helen church and whilst walking towards it, we couldn't help but marvell at the sight of some Roman remains and the well preserved amphitheatre.

(To be continued)

The 7 day circuit to Bulgaria - The morning of day 4 (Hissarya) - the 15th of June 2011

By the time we reached Hissarya it was late evening though Christian and I still had time to walk into the town centre, so some of the places we visited this morning we had already seen yesterday, though not as thoroughly.

Located in the outskirts of the Sredna Gora mountain range, Hissarya is a famous balneotherapy resort, which during Roman rule (known as Augusta) was a wealthy resort centre.

The 4th century walls of the fortress looked impressive with its four gates, of which the Southern gate was the most interesting because of its camel shape (thus being called Kamilite), but there were quite a few Roman remains almost everywhere.

Roman remains (left). The Fortress Southern gate (right).

We then walked down to two mineral water springs, whose water temperature is 24° - 49° and said to cure diseases of the kidney, liver, gallbladder, gastritis and diabetes, among others.

Before driving off to Plovdiv we still had time to visit a little church whose interior is covered in mural paintings and although they are fairly recent, there is no doubt that they embelished it in a fairly unique way.

Exterior part of the church (left). Detail (right).

Several pictures taken to the interior of the church

I must confess we were impressed, particularly with some of the mural paintings ...

(To be continued)

The 7 day circuit to Bulgaria - The afternoon of day 3 (Kazanlak) - the 14th of June 2011

Part of the afternoon was spent at the Ethnographic Complex of Skobelevo, a rose oil production unit, where we got acquainted with the whole process, which we found to be very interesting.

The Skobelevo Ethnographic complex premises

The visit started with an exhibit of the old distillation machines and containers in an outside patio gallery.

The rose distillation process is very similar to the one used for making brandy, though in this case a double distillation is needed. Following it, the droplets of the pure rose oil are left floating on the surface of the condensed liquid separated from the rose water. To produce 1kg of rose oil 3.5 tons of rose blossoms are needed.

The rose picking season starts in May going through to mid-June (depending on the conditions) and the rose blossom and petals need to be picked up as soon as they open, in order to obtain the maximum quantity of essential oil.

Bags of collected rose petals

Old and modern distillation installations

Kazanlak is the centre of rose-oil extraction and its production for export to international perfumiers of major importance to the local economy. The Bulgarian "Rosa Damascena" oil is famous since the 17th century, making Bulgaria its major supplier in the world.

Many of us had the possibility not only to try the rose liqueur, but also buy some of the various of products made out of this oil. Taking into account the whole time consuming process to get it, we found the final products to be at fairly reasonable prices.

We then got ready for the 1 hour drive which would take us to Hissarya, famous for its mineral water baths, but most important of all where we would be spending the night.