9 June

9 June

At 8:30 this morning we got on our D bus and headed to Veliko Tărnovo, which was the capital and imperial city of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom from the 12th to 14th centuries.  There was a statue, a castle like fortress, and houses perched on steep hillsides.  It was OK, but what was more interesting to me was the decay of the city as a result of Socialism from 1946 until 1989.  The largest hotel was considered a perk of the ruling elite, today is in bad need of refurbishing and general sprucing up.  Bulgaria did not go through the civil war that Romania did as a result of the demise of Soviet Socialism, but all the same there are a lot of run down and empty buildings.  Bulgaria is still an agrarian country, but is collectively farmed.  Consequently (like in the USA) small towns are suffering from the migration of young adults to cities in search of better paying jobs.  (Think in similar vane as the demise of Main Street USA.)

We then went to the village of Arbanasi.  It was under Turk rule from the 15th - 18th centuries.  During its "Golden Age" pottery, jewelry, silk, icons and silversmiths' works from local craftsmen had such a great reputation that they were in high demand in both Russia and the Austrian Empires.  Churches were low key due to the presence of Turkisk rule, so the Orthodox Christians built them according to the Turkish edict:  "No church could be higher than a man's staff while sitting on his horse."  This resulted in digging down in the ground enough so that the people could stand up, when the roof was added.  Churches were not suppose to be taller than mosques.  There is a "Bible Church" in Arbanasi, which has amazing iconic frescos on every inch of surface.  The frescos all tell the story of the New Testament, since most people couldn't read.  No pictures allowed.  From the outside the church just looked like an old building being held up by metal bracing.  You wouldn't know it was a church.

The countryside of Bulgaria that we bused through was planted with wheat, corn and sunflowers.  Since it's only June, the corn was short and the sunflowers weren't in bloom.

So far the food on the boat has been delicious.  The two traditional lunches we've had at the local restaurants both served similar things.  I wouldn't really expect much difference in regional food, because the Danube is the only thing that separates Romania from Bulgaria.  We had flat bread, soup, chicken goulash, and yogurt with honey.  I think the goulash was a little better than Saturdays.  If you put the dancers from Saturday next to the dancers today in plain clothes, I couldn't tell you the difference.

Time for our safety drill.  More later.