Some More Pics from Veliko Tarnovo

Any idea what this sign says? Bulgaria uses the cyrillic script, the same as Russia and the Ukraine. Luckily my husband had studied Ukrainian when he was young so he was able to decipher it. Can't remember what it says.

The sign pointing to the left says Center

Can you figure out how to get to Romania?

We had frequently wondered why Europe doesn't grow the tasty corn we are so fond of in North America. Here was a stand selling corn, but we guessed it wasn't going to taste as good as ours.

They love their historical figures and have numerous statues of them.

a superb stew

 



Artisan Street in Veliko Tarnovo

The route between downtown and the Hostel Mostel took us by a street that veered off on an angle, off of the street we were travelling on. We would never have known what wonders awaited us there unless Tanya at the hostel hadn't told us.

I seems that once, again, Veliko Tarnovo hasn't quite got its act together regarding how to promote itself. No worries, that is part of its charm. I am just so happy that we found the ancient street of the artisans.

 The first store to catch my attention had an amazing display of pottery in the window. I must admit that I am not a big pottery fan, but I fell head over heels for the work of this potter:

I took home the one in the upper left corner

The sign above a shop declared Sand Coffee. So we had to find out what it was. It turns out that the sand is heated and the coffee is heated by the hot sand.

an amazing chess set!

if I remember correctly, there was an art gallery inside

this man was pounding copper to make pots

Gary, buying a still hot loaf of the most beautiful looking bread. Note that the money and bread are passed through a window

Market in Veliko Tarnovo

I love markets, especially when they have stall full of colourful fruits and vegetables. It was a bit of a struggle to find it (after the screwed up sign at the tourist info booth...should we be surprised?) but it was worth the effort:

I was smitten with the colourful peppers

The large pile of lime green vegetables are peppers

The roots with green tops are parsley. It seems they are edible. I did an online search and sure enough, there is one variety that is grown for its roots. Its Latin name is Petroselinum crispum tuberosum (also known as Petroselinum hortense). The common curly parsley is Petroselinum crispum. You can find a recipe and some further info on the Cook Almost Anything Blog, though the roots in the picture are much larger than these.

excellent cauliflower and cabbage

huge bags of red peppers

There was grocery store underground, in the market area. There

was lots of beautiful meat, particularly sausages

And a ready-to-eat section, with food that tasted good! On the left you can see eggplant slices, then potatoes, roasted peppers, coleslaw, various bean and tomato mixes and out of the picture on the right were

cooked chicken, sausages, etc. There was a line-up so we assumed the locals must know something and we bought the vegies pictured above. To our surprise, the least likely to taste good were the potatoes, but they were excellent!!

In another area there was a cooked fish store. I could definitely live in this town!!

Ever Heard of Veliko Tarnovo?

If you haven't heard of it, then I expect you will be hearing about it in the next 10 years and that it will be on a well-trodden tourist path.

This jewel of a city is in north-central Bulgaria. It is a former capital of Bulgaria, with a current population of about 80,000.

The Yantra River traces a very complex path through the town, at the base of the cliffs. Enlarge the map below to get a view of the river's path.

View Larger Map

The Yantra River winding through part of the town

Above the river, are cliffs, on which there is a magnificent display of houses stacked on top of each other:

Its amazing that they have lasted there for two centuries!

from the Wikipedia webpage on Veliko Tarnovo. This picture is
outstanding when enlarged

The Midnight Train to Sofia

After an overnight stop on Larissa, Greece, to visit a friend of a friend, we were off to Bulgaria. We caught the midnight train out of Thessaloniki. Within about 30 seconds of the train starting to move I realised that my camera was not with us. Panic! To jump off the train or not? I envisioned myself doing one of those leaps that they do in the movies. It was tempting...the train was still moving very slowly, but Gary was in the washroom and I wouldn't have had time to tell him what I was doing as making the jump would have had to happen immediately. Can you imagine his surprise if I simply wasn't there when he returned? Okay, its funny to think about now, but the pain of pulling away from the train station, knowing that your camera may be there somewhere...or not....almost would have made it worth it.

However, cooler heads prevailed and I remained on the train, heartbroken.

If you are considering taking a Bulgarian train, you should think twice. Yes, a night train is a good way to get from A to B, and in fact is the only train from Thessaloniki to Sofia, but.... 

We had sleeper. I was on the bottom. I must have been right over a wheel cause it was really noisy. I don't think most trains would be so noisy. My theory was that the rails were laid with a bit of space between them, resulting in a loud clackity-clack sound every few seconds.

Then there were the stops at the Bulgarian border for passport control...around 3:30am.

But the worst was the washroom....which still turns my stomach at the memory of it. The first trip to it was only mildly unpleasant. The one in the middle of the night was seriously revolting. A previous user had a problem that they should seek medical attention for. Their ability to spray the inside of the space is not normal!!!!! From the early '70's I have memories of Turkish toilets that one needed to wear boots when attending, but none came close to the Bulgarian train toilet. Okay, I gotta leave this subject alone. Dinner will be soon.