Oct 5 – Exploring Bulgaria

We moved into a more eastern time zone and needed to be sure to get up on time for an early bus to the interior of Bulgaria. I tried to set the clock in our room along with the one we brought, but never got a screen to change the time on and gave up. When the room clock went off, I was surprised, but we got up. After our showers, I turned on the computer and the time seemed early, so I checked the clock – 4:20 AM. So it was back to bed for 2 hours to try to catch up on sleep. OOPS!! Now I have to figure out how to turn the dumb thing off tonight!

Veliko Turnavo Fortress

We set off early on a 1.5 hour bus ride to Veliko Turnavo and Abernasi in the interior of Bulgaria. Veliko Turnavo was a fortress and place where the kings were crowned. It consists of a couple ridges and a deep river valley, with the fortresses at the top and housing up and down the sides of the ridges. Some are quite old and there was a souvenir shopping street that reminded me of home – one lane wide with parking and two-way traffic – except for the heavy rustic cobblestones. We stopped at a hotel there briefly for a snack and facility break before getting back on the bus for Abernasi.

Church exterior

There is a dome on the left
end hiding under this plain roof.

This was a wealthy community controlled by the Ottomans which had a Christian merchant population that did very well under Ottoman rule. The local ruler gave the merchants a tax break for guarding the mountain passes, allowed them to keep their religion, and even to build churches. The churches, however, had to be subdued – the one we visited looked almost like a large stone barn. The main way you could identify it as a church was a small bit of Christian-style artwork over the door. The interior, however, was a different story. They dug into the hill and created taller ceilings than expected. The one we visited, Archangels Gabriel and Michael, was unique because they also created the kinds of archways you see in cathedrals and a dome that was completely hidden by a standard sloped roof from the outside.

Constanta church with similar interior design

Inside, biblical stories were told with elaborate paintings that literally covered the walls and ceilings. The background color was either navy blue or black which reminded me of one of the pharaoh’s tombs we visited in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. Unfortunately, photos were not allowed and the postcard for this church was disappointing. Our guide explained many of the scenes – the local merchants who paid for all the work got to be featured as participants. The main room was for the men only, and the women and children were consigned to a smaller room in the back that also had extensive artwork, primarily featuring the Virgin Mary and various female saints. While we were there, a local singing/chanting group of 4 men came in a gave us a short concert. Their voices were terrific – kind of like a barbershop quartet – and the acoustics made it sound like many more people were singing. Their performance was the main highlights of the day for me. (While interior photos were not allowed here, another church we saw in Constanta had similar decorations inside, and are the photos you see on this page.)

Church Quartet

Winter drawing room for important (male) guests

Then we moved on to a typical merchant’s home, which was quite large by ancient standards, and pretty spacious even for today. Although the merchants were Christian, the decorations and furniture definitely could have been right out of Turkey, except for a few religious icons. They even had indoor toilets, tho they were about as rudimentary as you can get – basically a triangular hole in a wood floor – no obvious hand or foot holds. I wondered if there were issues with the users’ ability to aim, because the holes were not that big.

We headed back to Veliko Tarnovo and rode through the back side of the city to get a better view of the old sections of town. We ended with an hour to explore the souvenir and artisans shops and I managed to find a pair of earrings and a warmer scarf than the one I grabbed from home at the last minute. A nap on the bus on the way home pretty much completed our day.