Day 2 - Velico Tarnovo, Bulgaria (BG) - Велико Търново -

Velico Tarnovo, Bulgaria (BG) - Велико Търново -  Day 2 

Eliza, Our Tour Guide 

Today, after our breakfast of baloney and cheese, still sore from the previous day’s climbing and walking, we took the ‘city’ tour. This day was a Sunday (Sept. 27/15) and we read that the town of V.T. gives free walking tours of the old merchandise streets. Kind of like a historic walking tour. We met a young woman, Eliza, in front of the Info Center. It took us 40 minutes to walk to this spot, so we already felt tired when we got there. Besides Carol and I, we had one more guy on this tour.  Eliza’s English was wonderful. She was our free tour guide for a few hours (3) on this Sunday and she knew her town and the right people and the right stores to go into. Eliza started off by giving us some insight into a few customs Bulgarians have that I did not know about. Here is one of the stories.

In a Magnolia Tree 

Along time ago during a battle, a General received a messenger pigeon that had a white cotton string attached to its leg with a message. During its flight the pigeon was attacked and blood had seeped from its body and mottled the white cotton string with flecks of red, giving the string a red/white, candy-cane stripped look. After receiving this pigeon with the red and white stringed message, the General won this deciding battle and thought that the red and white string brought him luck. He kept this string during all of March and April of every year  and he gave red/white strings to all his friends because he wanted to share his luck with them. Out of this story came the custom, just before May 1^st of every year, to give to your many friends red/white cotton string. Eliza said she wears them around her wrists and literally has both arms full on May 1^st.  Then on May 1^st, this ‘luck’ gets transferred or hung, into flowering trees so that the ‘good luck’ can transfer to nature and grow along with the trees. While we were standing under a magnolia tree I could still see here and there some red/white amulets hanging off branches. It made me smile when Eliza gave me a bracelet even though it was Sept., but I have had nothing but good luck since. I looked the story up on the internet and Wiki tells it a little differently. Still, its a good story. (Red and White Strings)

Eliza took us to an old street in town, still occupied by local artists making ceramic, copper, silver or other artistic items. She gave each of us an herbal mint, said to be good for cold sores and sore throats. This mint was used a lot during the communist era when medicine was scarce. It seems to work.

Turkish Coffee Making 

Our next visit was into a traditional candy shop where sugary treats were made and sold and homemade, original Turkish coffee was brewed. The coffee was thick as mud, brewed on top of the stove and the brew was heated in a sand box on top of a wood fired stove; an original way to heat the room, cook and make tea and/or coffee. We had a cup of coffee, of course and also some sweets, which were very sugary but sooo good. When the coffee was drunk, we were shown how to tip the coffee grinds onto the saucer plate so that from the grinds one’s fortune could be read. Some say, one can see the health of the individual, too. Unfortunately we did not have a ‘coffee grind reader’ at the store at the time, so I cannot tell you what my fortune will be or how long I will live, but so far I am healthy.

The Whole Town Is Built On Hills

Staircases Wherever We Went 

Traditional Balconies On Bulgarian Houses

Telephone Switch Boxes, Transformers, All Decorated 

More and More Stairs 

A Silversmith At Work 

And This Is His Monstrance 

 We chatted with the pottery woman, who sat at her wheel molding bowls and plates.

Making Plates and Bowls, Mostly

I Found It Difficult To Walk On  These Cobblestones

We stopped in at a Silversmith who was working on a monstrance for a church, very elaborate. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monstrance








 We walked cobble stone alleys, stone stairs and saw old churches, some of them abandoned. At one church we could only see the unusual layout and building techniques from the outside since it was Sunday and services were going on.

Each Color, Each Part Of the Dress Had It's Own Meaning 

We were shown traditional clothing; were told that a man’s mustache shows his status in society and his virility, too.

We were shown and yes, we danced in the streets, 2 or 3 traditional dance steps. All had a giggle and the mood was fun and we felt free and a little smarter.

Dancing In the Street With the Laughter Of People Around Me

We said good bye to Eliza and then found a small restaurant we had passed earlier, half way up a hill, that had a terrace overlooking the roofs of V.T. and it felt nostalgic and the food was wonderful.

But then………we went back to the hotel and had a nap. Phew, this town, V.T. has a lot to offer and it wore me out.

A Nice Spot For a Meal

For dinner we had Chicken Kavarma, it was served in an earthen pot, sealed tight so it can stew and cook in its own juices. It was delightful and a new experience. 

We slept like babies that night and after our 'breakfast' of baloney and cheese the next day, we left the garage but not without first 'walking' the route we would have to take to get us onto the main street. The exit was worse than the entrance. From a dead stop inside the flat garage, it was up a steep hill, make a sharp right, miss the potholes, avoid the traffic and don't slip on the cobblestones, through a tight stop avoiding the parked car, along an uphill alley into the busy main street. Phew, we made it.

Other than that, V.T. was a fun town, a good stop for anyone who visits BG.

 

Day 1 - Velico Tarnovo, BG - Велико Търново -

Velico Tarnovo, Bulgaria (BG) - Велико Търново - 

Look at the Cyrillic again, at least you can read ‘novo’ (hobo), right? And the 4^th letter и is an “I”, remember? By the way, novo in translation means ‘new’ and Velico means ‘Great’.

The Yantra River gorge gives this town its character. The river loops around itself a few times and within those large loops the town was built. I found the old town to be very hilly; all the streets were alongside steep hills that made ‘parking’ a challenge.

 Twists of the Yantra River 

Luckily we booked a hotel (Silver Star Hotel) near the center of the old town and the hotel had its own parking garage. Getting into the garage however was almost like an off-road ride. The curves were steep and the bends off-camber. I was glad to be parked inside the garage. Some spots were ‘iffy’ to get through, but we made it to the back of the hotel and into the garage. Getting out will be the other experience.

Rough Road Surface On Your Feet But Also When Riding Your Bike

We booked this hotel for 2 nights knowing we could not even touch on all there is to see in Velico Tarnovo and I am glad we did that. Carol put on her best walking shoes, walking up and down the hills on cobble stone streets sure would be a work out. There were stairs everywhere. The people here must be in great physical shape, everything is built on hills.

Dominating the old town is the Tsarevets Castle, the old Royal Palace. VelicoTarnovo (V.T.), in the time between the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Empire, was the Royal Capital. The powers that led Bulgaria at that time must have been strong, because the Bulgarian Empire reached way north and included part of today’s Romania.  I am always amazed how the borders between countries change. Just because countries today have an established ‘border’ means little when looking back through history; the lines between what is and what was, shift in seemingly random ways. Nothing is black and white; there are many tones of gray and even blotches where I expect pure white to be. So it is with V.T., once the capital of a powerful King, now a tourist attraction that brings income and new ideas from all over the world. V.T. at her height of power was as advanced as any other European city. The 400 houses, 18 churches and fortifications starting in the 5^th Century and growing until the 14^th Century, show it was a stronghold. The buildings also show that the defensive ideas were great, were well thought out, etc. Some part of the walls surrounding the Tsarevets Castle were 10 meters (30 feet) thick and up to 12 meters high (36 feet).

Bird's Eye View of Old Tarnovo

Carol and I ate up the historic part of town, however not the new part of the city. Bulgaria ‘recreated’, ‘fixed up’ or made explorable the old castle, the Tsarevets. This fortress and town had a very pleasing, very grand looking location. It was dreamlike and made me feel warm and comfortable, just looking at it from afar. 

The Church In the Foreground Is the Center Of the Tsarevets

 


Tsarevets gives you a very good idea how life used to be, how big and organized the society was and that good people were in charge. Ruins still abound and there are no real living sections within the old city walls but you do get the idea when you are inside the historic quarter of the castle. The castle (Tsarevets) occupies the pinnacle of a hill and at the very top is the “Patriarchal Cathedral of the Holy Ascension of God”.  To get to this Cathedral is a struggle. We made it after about one hour of going uphill and when we entered the Cathedral we were in for a shock. 

Inside the Cathedral After 'Improvements' 

The Style Screams Communism

Sad, Dull Colors, Primitive Painting

This was not what I expected. The whole interior of the church was ‘re’-done during the Communist era and now exhibits frescoes and decorations in a ‘modern’ style, bleak, with scary colors and execution. I did not like it; the church felt like it was ‘raped’ of its essence. It was more like a museum, done in a ‘bad’ way.

Stairs, Stairs and More Stairs 

We spent most of the afternoon exploring the Tsarevets and the ruins of the Royal Palace. Twenty-two successive kings ruled Bulgaria. The palace ruins showed it was huge (4500 square meters = 42,000 sq. feet). Our feet were sore and our calves ached from climbing all those stairs.

Colorful Light Show 

Massive Lights In All Kinds Of Hues

For dinner we went to a restaurant that had a fantastic view over the whole historic Tsarevets and while we ate, a sound and light show started. We could not hear the sounds, we did not buy a ticket to be in the right spot, but we did see the light show and it was stunning and colorful and Carol’s dinner turned cold while she was outside shooting pictures.