From Veliko Tarnovo we drove to the nearby town of Arbanassi. This was a medieval town that has been nicely preserved. New homes being built today must conform visually to the original architecture. Typical features include red tile roofs, stone-clad ground floors, and timbered upper stories. This museum was formerly the home of a wealthy Jewish merchant and his family. Inside we saw large divans that were used for entertaining business guests, another that slept most of the family, a well equipped kitchen of the day, and even an indoor toilet of sorts. If you are interested, there are many more photos in the Picassa album linked in the column on the right.
Despite the evidence of comfort and ease in the house, it was also a fortress of sorts because of the danger of invasion by bands of thieves and other enemies and marauders. The well was located inside the walls of the dwelling in order to help the family survive a siege until outside help could arrive.
We see this wall as charming and the garden as a lovely secluded place to relax. I suspect the original occupants felt some of that, but primarily, they also probably saw it as a necessary part of their defense against dangerous intruders.
This is a monastery in the same town. Bulgarians are now mostly Eastern Orthodox Christians. Like most countries in this region, they were dominated by the Ottoman Empire for several centuries, however.
Before we left the area, we had a rest stop here in the Arbanassi Palace Hotel. This was an opulent vacation home of the last Communist leader of Bulgaria, complete with heliport. Funny how these guys managed to live so well while turning their people's lives upside down with restrictions against private ownership.
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