Bulgaria

We spent two days in Bulgaria during our cruise, starting with a trip to the Belogradchik Rocks and Fortress at one of the highest points in the Balkan Mountains. The Romans added some walls and gates but relied significantly on the fortifications provided by the natural rock formations, making this a highly unusual fort.

You can see the main part of the Belgradchik Rocks and Fortress in the photo at the top of this post. Roland and I walked through the first gate and up to the second but did not make the grueling climb up the steps to the third gate at the top of the formation. The following photos show the first gate, another view from the distance, a closeup (through a zoom lens) of the climb between the second and third gates, and a face carved by nature—no human hand at work here.

The next day we took a full-day bus tour to several other locations in Bulgaria. Our first stop was at Arbanasi, where we saw a 16^th century orthodox church. It is different than the more recent ones because the country was occupied by the Ottoman Empire (Muslims), and it tried to ban the building of Christian churches. Although money bought permission to build some, they were not allowed to stand out, so they looked like any other house rather than having the ornate exterior of most orthodox churches. The interior was highly decorated with murals depicting Christian scenes, however. Unfortunately, pictures were not allowed inside, so you’ll have to take my word for it.

In that village, we also saw a museum which showed what a rich man’s home looked like around that same time. These photos show the exterior of Nativity Church and one room in the rich man’s house.

From there we drove to Veliko Tarnovo, which was once the capital of Bulgaria. The main sight was an old fortress on top of a hill that was in use during Bulgaria’s first and second golden ages (centuries ago). We did not walk up to the fortress because it was 95 degrees out. We did, however, do some shopping before hopping on the bus and returning to our boat during a violent thunderstorm. The next photo shows the fortress from a distance.

Like many of the countries we toured, Bulgaria’s charm contrasted with the drabness of the communist era. The last two pictures show a street in Vidin that escaped the communist stamp and a typical apartment building that exemplifies it.

The final stop on our cruise was in Romania. I’ll finish this travelogue there next week.