Bulgaria

Our Bulgarian guide said people saw her country as grey and crumbling and that is true.  Filled with the dull, grey buildings from the Communist era, the country is working to become democratic and regain economic stability.

Gone are the mandatory education requirements, steady jobs and guaranteed income.  Instead,
literacy is down, primarily due to the increasing Gypsy population, the educated and talented are emigrating to western Europe for jobs, and everyone has to support himself.  Such is the price of freedom.

We rode through flat farm land to Varna for lunch at an unmemorable touristy Pirate Restaurant.

We wandered through the streets of limited and empty shops until a tour of the Archeological Museum.  There are exhibits of gold jewelry and artifacts excavated from digs 7000 years old.

This is considered the oldest processed gold discovered and was worth the visit.  The museum also contains Roman, Greek and Thracian artifacts and early Christian mosaics.

The next day our drive was through a more hilly and scenic area.  In the town of Arbanassi, we toured a 17th century home of a wealthy family.  The rooms are filled with lovely items primarily influenced by the Ottoman style.  The bedrooms each had one very large shared bed covered with tapestry.

The kitchen and pantry were well equipped for their time.  They even had two indoor toilets, triangular holes.

We were taken across a footbridge with a couple of interesting features.  First was a monument to soldiers killed in one of the many wars waged in this area.  The second was to a pilot who wanted to impress his girlfriend by flying under the bridge.  Both were really interesting.

Next we went to the Nativity Church built from the 1600 to 1800 hundreds.  Every inch of the walls and ceiling are covered with excellent religious murals.  They are considered an “open bible” telling the stories of the old and new testaments.  There is a large gallery room with a wonderful “Wheel of Life” mural of the stages of life, signs of the zodiac and religious cycles.  The men and women have separate worship rooms.  Wooden chairs line the walls for when worshipers wish to sit.  Jerry thinks they would be great for Yom Kippur.   Sorry but no photos allowed.

Our drive to Veliko Tarnovo took us to lunch.  We were then given the choice of hiking up to the fortress or shopping.  You know which one we chose and Anna Lee will be glad to show you her earrings to prove it.