Walking the Wild Side

Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria

We meet the busy Danube again.   Taken from the Friendship Bridge

After a six hour train journey, 2 stops (forty minute each) at the Romanian/Bulgarian Border and a quick crossing over the Friendship Bridge, we arrived to see lights twinkling all over Veliko Tarnovo.  What an introduction!  We settled into our guest house tucked back into cobbled streets of the old town and used our time to catch up on personal admin.  Never waste time and opportunity to attend to laundry, restock the fast depleting bar with a sampling of local produce (beers & wines – never in short supply) and hit the streets for a bit of relaxing window shopping.  Bulgarians, we discovered, love fashionable clothes & shoes and GS was lusting after boots – it was getting a wee bit cold for sandals! 

View over the old Fortresses: Trapezitsa (L) & Tsarevets (R)

Veliko Tarnovo, once capital of the magnificent Second Bulgarian Empire, was renowned for its culture and learning.  Bulgaria was then a much larger empire but the “City of the Czars” still carries a cultural torch.  A free tour from the Tourist Information office was then an opportunity not to be missed.  Danika was our guide for an abridged version of both the town’s rich history (long on action against injustice and oppression) and its current involvement with artivists, youthful political comment if you will by street artists that continue to pressure and challenge world views in a contemporary (postmodern?) way.

Activists & liberators remembered in different ways:
Traditional bronze of Stefan Stambolov (photo from wiki)

Vasil Levski (1837-1873): a new age reminder 

To add to our day of cultural enlightenment, we attended the opera.  (Yes, I can hear those smug comments you know!)  The Konstantin Kisimov Music & Drama Theatre was hosting a concert dedicated to the life and works of opera singer, Boris Christoff.  Even more unbelievable was that we had front row seats - as you would expect for such seasoned opera goers (not)!  We couldn’t understand a word all night – presentations in Bulgarian & singing in Italian – but it was an amazing experience.  Even our Cap'n considered (for a brief second) giving up his beloved Guns 'n Roses for opera - sure!

Renaissance era houses in the old quarter

Along Gurko Street