Ruse, Bulgaria

It's been a LONG time since I posted anything here.  I've been busy, I suppose, but I hope to continue now--and hope I remember enough details of the rest of our journey to do this!

We had docked in Ruse, Bulgaria before traveling to the places mentioned in the previous two posts, then returned to Ruse where we had time to walk around.  Ruse is  Bulgaria's largest river port, and the country's fifth largest city.  It's a nice town with some charming architecture and very colorful buildings.

This is Holy Trinity Church, which is still in use with an active congregation.

The main square is home to a beautiful opera house... 

...and surrounded by buildings painted in wonderfully exuberant colors.

As we strolled back to our boat, we discovered that not everything is as well maintained as the previous buildings, but also that the use of pretty colors must be traditional, because even when the paint is peeling, they are visible.

This contemporary home overlooks the Danube and continues the tradition in a much more modern way.

Here is our boat, Vantage's River Odyssey.

Back on board that evening, we enjoyed another excellent dinner.  We had an interesting conversation with our server, who was Bulgarian.  He said he hoped we would one day return--but that when we did, the area might be all Bulgaria, or all Romania.  When I asked how that could be, he predicted more wars in their future--because "We love to fight!"  He was so cheerful about it that I was truly aghast to realize that decades or centuries of war have apparently taught nothing about the advantages of peace. 

Arbanassi, Bulgaria

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.

Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria

After a terrific stay in Romania, our riverboat took us to the port city of Ruse, Bulgaria.  From there, we took a bus to visit some interesting sites.  Below is a farm field of sunflowers.  We passed many of these along the way in nearly every country we visited.  Alongside fields of wheat and corn, they represent a principle crop in the region--and have the added virtue of being beautiful.  It was interesting to see their faces change directions during the day as they followed the sun.

In the distance you can see farm fields, but in the foreground is a special treat--a stork nest full of birds.  Often smaller birds nest or at least feed in the outer parts of the stork's nest, which can weigh over a ton.  I knew they were large, but had no idea they weighed that much!

This is the town of Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria, beautifully reflected in the river below.  This town was once an important defense and political center of Bulgaria.  Today it is home to a couple of universities, and as one of the oldest settlements in the country, had several historic sites to explore.

There is a medieval wall guarding the old town.

It reminds me a little bit of the Great Wall in China as it wends its way through the countryside.