Saturday, October 7, 2017
Byala – Stara Zagora
It was sad to leave Byala. The past few days were sunny. The Black sea calmed down after a storm; its waters became clear and inviting again and everyone in the city headed for the beach to use perhaps the last chance to have a swim this year. The weather changed overnight. It was drizzling in the morning which made the parting with Byala easier. There would not be much to do in my retreat after the weather became nasty. Only a few dozens of foreigners with permanent residence permits live in Byala in winter.
A morning bus took me to the city of Stara Zagora. Its name means “old city behind the mountain”.
A room at FOX Rooms Aparthotel was booked in advance. I chose this hotel because of its proximity to the bus station, reasonable rates, and good reviews. The hotel did not disappoint.
The drizzle turned into a rain when I went to explore the city. Stara Zagora is not a popular tourist destination, but it has several historical buildings with Roman mosaics that I planned to see. The rain ruined everything. My windbreaker was supposed to be waterproof, but its seams leaked pretty soon. I hid from the elements in Sveti Nikolay Chudotvorets (St. Nicolas the Miracle-Maker) church.
It was cozy and quite inside. To ask God for better weather would be selfish and petty. I did not mention the weather to Him.
Back on the streets lined with chestnut trees the rain and strong wind threw ripe chestnuts at heads and backs of passersby.
The bad weather made me give up the idea of seeing the Roman mosaics in Stara Zagora in favor of visiting something that I did not want to miss – the Neolithic dwellings, discovered in 1969 when the local hospital was replacing its underground water pipes.
It is a small museum inside the hospital complex that is basically one room built over the digging. This dwelling is up to 8,000 years old. It was a 2-story building destroyed in a fire. Back then the dwelling was on the top of a hill. Now it is well below the street level. The archaeologists found a lot of pottery and animal bones, mostly pig, goat and sheep bones. The people escaped from the fire as no human bones were found. I probably was the only visitor that day. The guide unlocked the room and gave me a free tour of the museum including the basement where they have an exhibition of the findings from other excavation sites in Stara Zagora. The pottery is so well proportioned and beautifully decorated that it is hard to believe how old it is.
Taking photos at the museum is prohibited. I bought some postcards to better remember this place and tried to photograph the postcard with the dwelling. Unfortunately, its quality is not that good and the details are barely visible.
It was amazing to be at the place where people lived thousands of years ago.
Sunday, October 8, 2017
Stara Zagora – Plovdiv – Blagoevgrad
The heavy rain stopped during the night and the sun broke through the clouds. The weather was definitely improving. I was leaving Stara Zagora and heading deeper into the mountains.
It was going to be a traveling day, no sightseeing. My goal was to get from Stara Zagora to Blagoevgrad via the shortest route, i.e. without going to Sofia. I was in Sofia before and I did not want to travel the same roads. My research showed that I could make a connection in Plovdiv, but I was not sure how much I could trust the bus schedule found online.
I left Stara Zagora at 9 am and in 2.5 hours was in Plovdiv. Yes, there was a bus going to Blagoevgrad at 13 pm. The online schedule was correct. Having been in Plovdiv 2 years ago, I was familiar with the city and knew which way to go from the bus station. There was enough time between the buses to stretch my legs and to have lunch.
The bus to Blagoevgrad was comfortable and the mountain road was more scenic than via Sofia. The Rila Mountains are low, but pretty in their own way and I enjoyed the views.
When we got higher all of the sudden there was snow everywhere. The rain the day before turned into snow in the mountains. The bus windows were tinted and I could not take a good photo of the snow to post it here. It was astonishing to see snow and so much of it when the trees were still green. I thought this only happens in Colorado where we can experience all four seasons in one day. We only rode through the patch of snow for a few minutes. At the lower elevation, it was early fall again.
The bus reached Blagoevgrad at about 5.30 pm. I did not make a hotel reservation in advance since there was no guarantee I would get there today. I walked towards the city center until I found a place to stay. Nothing interesting can be said about Blagoevgrad itself. For me, it was just a convenient base for the trip to the Rila Monastery next day.
Monday, October 9, 2017
Blagoevgrad – Rila Monastery – Blagoevgrad
The Cardinal hotel in Blagoevgrad was my home for 2 nights. The room was worth its rate of 40 leva ($24) per night. In the morning I tried to have a long shower which is hardly possible in Bulgaria. Water heaters do not have tanks for that. Hot water lasted long enough to rinse shampoo out of my hair. After that, the water became tepid, then cold. I also did laundry. Carrying too many clothes makes the backpack heavy; so I have to wash them whenever I get a chance.
Breakfast was at the hotel restaurant. I ordered two breakfasts to compensate for erratic eating of fast food in the past 2 days. The mighty meal cost me 11.30 leva ($6.80). Last night when I checked in, the restaurant was closed. I asked the receptionist where I could find a place to eat. She said that it was Sunday and therefore there would not be anything open around here. My best bet was to run to a supermarket one block away and to buy something ready to eat. The supermarket did not have a wide selection of it at the end of the day. I bought two stuffed bell peppers and some stewed potatoes, ate them in my room and that was all. The food did not taste good and I only ate it to keep hunger at bay.
Before leaving my apartment in Byala I packed two power plug adapters – one for my laptop and another for the phone charger – in case I’d lose one of them on the road. Sometimes when I unplug the charger, the adapter gets separated from it and I forget it in the wall socket. I did just that after my very first night at a hotel. In the morning I noticed that the adapter was no longer attached to the phone charger plug. I left it in Stara Zagora. Bummer, but that’s why I took two adapters with me.
The plan for the day was to visit the Rila Monastery. It was my dream to see the famous frescoes.
I read online reports from the people who visited the monastery. Everyone said that public buses ran as far as the village of Rila. If you are not with an organized tour then the only way to get to the monastery is by taxi. At Blagoevgrad bus station I was given different information. Three buses run daily at 7 a.m., 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. to the village. From there three connecting buses leave for the monastery at 7.40 a.m., 12.40 p.m. and 15.40 p.m. This made visiting the Rila Monastery really easy.
I took the 12 pm bus and one hour later was at the Rila Monastery.
The monastery was founded in the 10th century and named after Ivan of Rila, the hermit who lived in a cave near this place. His students and followers built a monastery complex which developed into a spiritual and cultural center of Bulgarian people. During its long history, the Rila Monastery was destroyed and rebuilt several times. The monastery is a symbol of Bulgarian national identity. It never stopped functioning, not even under the Ottoman rule that lasted nearly 500 years. It was granted protected status under the communist regime.
Besides its historical and religious value, the Rila Monastery is an architectural masterpiece. The main church in the center of the complex is renowned for its external frescoes. Here are a few of them.
The church is very beautiful inside too with magnificent gold decorations, but no photos are allowed!
Visitors can climb Hrelyo’s Tower built in the 14th century and go to the museum. The most important object on display in the museum is a cross made out of one piece of wood with carved miniature religious scenes and figures. A monk named Rafail worked on the cross for 12 years and went blind upon completing his work. Visitors of the museum do not need to strain their eyesight to view the cross. Its enlarged paper copies are posted on the walls.
That’s about all that is possible to see at the Rila Monastery. I went outside and walked around the complex, down to the Rila River and a small monastery cemetery, then returned to the main entrance in time for the 3 pm return bus. It was a great day.
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Blagoevgrad – Sofia
I was going to Serbia from Blagoevgrad via Sofia. At the bus station in Blagoevgrad while waiting for the bus I made a mistake of waving my hand in front of my nose because a woman was blowing cigarette smoke into my face. Seeing my gesture, the woman launched a long tirade in Bulgarian not caring a bit that I did not understand her. I could only smile apologetically to show that I should not have done that. All Bulgarians smoke, men and women, and they smoke a lot. Although official rules prohibit smoking in public places, these rules are not always followed. A typical Bulgarian is often seen with a cigarette in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. Even bus drivers smoke behind the wheel.
Bulgaria has an excellent bus system. The buses here are a cheap and reliable means of transportation. All bus drives are melomanes and passengers must listen to music of their choice. I am happy to say that Bulgarian bus drivers and I have the same preferences in music.
By noon I was in Sofia at the Central bus station.
My next bus was scheduled to leave at 4 pm. I did not plan anything to do between the buses, just to have lunch and to walk around the station. Unexpectedly the walk brought me to some interesting places. After crossing the river I came to a synagogue, an Orthodox church, and a mosque, all three are in the same area. The mosque was closed for renovation; it cost 3 lv to visit the synagogue and the St. Nedelya Church was free.
This church was the place of a terrorist attack on 16 April 1925 when 150 people died and about 500 were injured. The explosion during a funeral service brought down the church dome burying many people inside. That was an attempt to assassinate Tsar Boris III who was expected to attend the service. The Tsar went to a different funeral service and thus survived.
Next to the St. Nedelya Church archaeologists were excavating Roman ruins; I watched them work for a while and then returned to the bus station. That was the time spent well.
The bus from Sofia got to the border with Serbia in one hour. The border formalities took almost another hour. After that, we were allowed to proceed into Serbia.