Saturday 9 July: Travelling down the river, overnight, we transferred from Romania to Bulgaria.
We had very early morning excursion to
Veliko Tarnovo.Our guide, Rosen, was passionate about Bulgaria, Veliko Tarnovo and his home town of Ruse.
On the way we saw nesting storks and the rolling fields of sunflowers.
He told us that one of the main Bulgarian exports is rose oil which is refined to a very pure level.Veliko Tarnovo is actually located on the Yatra River and is famously known as the historical capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire.
For about 400 years Romania was part of the Ottoman Empire, and although brutal attempts were made to convert Bulgaria to Islam it resisted.
During this period Orthodox churches were allowed to exist, but were not allowed to be taller than other buildings, and it was said "no taller than a Turk on horseback". Consequently many churches were partially underground and lacked elaborate decoration.
We visited the 13the century church of St. Peter and St. Paul, originally Byzantine, but remodelled in the Renaissance style before it and Veliko Tarnovo was destroyed in an earthquake in 1913.It was partially reconstructed in the 1950’s with its remnants. Although small and a modest building, it still had some of its former frescoes. It was never destroyed by the Ottomans because it was under the protection of the Pope who at that time had considerable power.
Veliko Tarnovo is also the city where historically one of two brothers created the Cyrillic Alphabet. We had a short walk in the town, looking at the usual artisan and souvenir shops, many selling rose oil products – mildly interesting. We had refreshments in a Hotel café, including a selection of local cakes – we have to stop eating so much!Rosen talked about the time under communism, and the transition to democracy. He said that Bulgaria was less autocratic than other Baltic states such as Romania, and life was pretty good. With its high agricultural capacity there were only scarcities of manufactured goods. Many people now own their own homes and/or land, and there are almost no fences or farmhouses. People live in communities and manage their own land outside the town.
The older generation are nostalgic for the security of the past. He said that for 17 years after the fall of communism, the old guard and its cronies still controlled the economy and became a wealthy elite – they stripped assets and moved money out of the country into private accounts, leaving the country poverty stricken. It’s hard to determine the true story, but poor economic management and lack of transparency led to suspicion, rumour and mistrust. The population dropped from 9 to 7 million over that period as particularly young people left for better opportunities in Western Europe.
Among the historic buildings, churches and ruined fortifications in Eastern Europe are the bikers.Some of the bikes are heavily customised and really well-maintained.
In Veliko Tarnovo, we saw a customised Harley-Davidson 3-wheeler with the biggest sound system I’ve seen.
There was also a "Atrox Hungaria" biker. The more observant of you will notice that many of the larger motorcycles I've seen have 'crash bars' to protect the bike if it falls over.
