Sunday, September 28, 2014

Plovdiv to Nessebar to Varna, Sept 22-25.

Monday, Sept. 22.


Plovdiv turns out to be a fine tourist destination.  This part of Bulgaria was conquered by Philip of Macedon. This town was named Philipopolis.  The vagaries of name changes yield Plovdiv.  It has been tentatively named a “European Capital of Culture” for 2019.  


Our hotel, the Ramada Princess, was built in the 50s, with weirdly wide hallways and spacious public areas. But it is not overly pompous like contemporary structures in Armenia.



We had a walking tour this morning, tracing the Roman streets. We passed the forum.



… and entered what was the axis of the hippodrome.



They have been able to reconstruct the closed end of the hippodrome, which is in front of the still-functioning main mosque.




From there, one can walk up the hill to the Old Town.  The Bulgarian stuff dates from the 19th century, when the Ottoman regime was ousted.


Roman theater:




Bulgarian Revival Houses (mid 19th Century):



One of the houses has been devoted to the painting of Zlatyu Boyadzhiev. After a stroke disabled his right hand while he was in his forties, he learned to paint with the left hand.


He was hard to photograph.  From the 'net:




We had a long lunch at a restaurant that was located in one of these Old Town houses.  After lunch, we went to a lecture with two young, enterprising Plovdivians. They were working for a new foundation that was trying to encourage local artists (including the performing arts) to take a greater initiative in marketing their works. After that, we walked over to the mid-19th Century church of St. Marina.  Its iconoatasis is graced with highly detailed wood carving:



At 5, we departed for the a local Todorov winery, which produces 400,000 bottles per year.  Pretty good wine. The good wine, and the snack served therewith, allowed us to skip dinner.


***
Tuesday, Sept 23.


We, like many on the tour, liked Plovdiv and wished we had more time.  But we depart for Kazanlak.  On the way we visit a rose oil distillery (distilling is distilling) and the Roman ruins at Hisarya.  Hisarya is a mineral water town.  We drink the water which is prophylactic for the liver.  The locals fill bottles for their health (tap water is safe to drink)


We visited a replica of a Thracian tomb at Kazanlak. The original is too fragile to allow visitors. It is still pretty amazing.



We had lunch at the Magnolia Restaurant near our destination.




No, it was not a Mexican restaurant.; Mexaha means folk or traditional.  One passes the garbage tips on the way in.  We ate something like a spanokopita and fried haloumi.   Wine was served in locally made pitchers.




We are staying at the Palas Hotel in Kazanlak.




The chandelier in the lobby matches the pretention of the name.




The unpleasant weather no doubt contributed to our impression, but Kazanlak seems a bit dreary.  



The excellent local Museum is the gathering place for Thracian artifacts.  This wreath is the most spectacular item.  It was found in the tomb of King Seuthes III, about 4th Century BC.



We dined at the hotel restaurant: lamb and potatoes. Very bland. Some of our fellow travelers tell us that the food is not a strong suit with Road Scholar.


***   
Wed. Sept. 24


We drove to the Black Sea Coast and stop at Nessebar. Nessebar was an island until the 1960s; a short causeway now connects it with the mainland.




Human settlement here goes back to the paleolithic…




… and was one of the earliest Black Sea cities created by the Greeks.



This funeral stele shows a mother with the body of her baby in her lap; her right hand grasps a dove.  Our guide associated this pre-Christian dove with the later representation of the holy spirit.




The ancient Greeks collected tears from the attendees at funerals in small vessels.  



We had lunch at one of the many restaurants overlooking the water.  Beautiful view, but this one, from the other side of the peninsula, was even better.




Disappointing food, again.


Nessebar is actually better known for its 5 old churches than for its ancient artifacts.  This one is the most impressive:




Icon from St Stefan church:



St Stefan had wonderfully preserved murals.  St Stefan was the first Christian martyr.  We were told that every town in Bulgaria should have a St Stefan church.  Our guide Martin was superb.


We went from Nessebar to Varna, about 1.5 hours driving, over some hills to another part of the same coast.  We are staying 2 nights here. Laundry prices more reasonable than elsewhere. Bruce took a long walk through town.


Dinner at the hotel restaurant. Blah meal, again: Unpopular salad,  "chicken cordon bleu", rice, chocolate cake.


*****
Thurs, Sept. 25.  We spent the morning at the local Varna Archaeological Museum.   We passed the Cathedral, built in 1914, on the way:



It has a great collection.  We were shown around by the Museum's Curator and former Director. No photos allowed. From the 'net, the most famous exhibit is a Thracian grave, presumably royal.



This fine experience was marred as we left the Museum.  One of our group fell on an unmarked step and tore some ligaments in her foot.   We expect her to drop out.


We passed up the opportunity to see another Roman bath ruin.  


Later, we had a discussion withfour young Bulgarian women, three finishing high school and one in graduate school.  They all study economics.  


A very good dinner at Nun Restaurant:  Good, but largely forgotten.

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