Rila Monastery, Plovdiv, Bachkovo Monastery.
Entering Bulgaria:
We leave Thessaloniki with our guide Philip Stanimirov (and new best friend) and drive three hours over rolling hills toward the Balkan mountain range to the Bulgarian border. Bulgaria is in the EU and – while we were there – about to find out that it was newly welcomed to the Euro zone; replacing its currency (Lev) with the Euro starting in 2026. There is much controversy about this as it will likely lead to local inflation while also encouraging more tourism and hence commerce for those who are already on the way up. It’s complicated, as we will find out.
The skies turn murky as we leave the highway and wind through small villages with bad roads, fenced yards with sleeping dogs and blooming roses, old cars (an occasional Lada) covered in dust, newly painted houses alongside abandoned buildings. Stork nests line the road atop telephone poles and chimneys. It starts to rain as we head into the misty Rila mountains to one of Bulgaria’s treasures: The Rila Monastery, founded in the 10th century and now a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Briefly, Bulgaria’s history prior to the Ottoman takeover in 1396 was one of the ancient kingdoms of Thrace and Macedonia, then the Roman invasion, Bulgar and Slav invasions, the First and Second Bulgarian Empires and then – full stop at the end of 1300’s under Ottoman rule which lasted almost 500 years (!) until 1878. We, in the West, are so used to thinking that the Turks were turned back from the Hapsburg Empire and Central Europe by the mid-1600s that it is astounding to remember that they did not vacate the last of Southeastern Europe until the end of the 19th century – and in the case of Northern Greece – not until 1912. And those wounds are still sharply felt.
Rila Monastery
In use since the 10th century and the dominant center of Eastern Orthodoxy in Bulgaria, it was heavily damaged by fire and rebuilt in the mid-1800’s as a masterpiece of the Bulgarian Renaissance National Revival style – an aesthetic that stood in defiance of and resistance to the Ottomans at the end of their dominion over Bulgaria. While roughly 1 million visitors arrive annually, we thankfully were among the very few on this rainy afternoon. The frescoes and paintings that cover the walls and ceilings are almost alive. In a time when people were illiterate these walls told the stories of the lineage of the saints, the prescripts of the church, the terms of good and evil: this way to heaven; that way to hell. No photos allowed on the inside, where the remains of King Boris III – who either contributed to or capitulated to the saving of the Jews (depends on the story and more of that later) are buried – actually reburied post Communism.
We leave Rila and descend back to the main road with a stop in the town of Samokov, once a thriving center of commerce with a large Jewish presence – but the town since 1940 has fallen on hard times: Nazis, Communists – it’s an endless tale of woe. (There appears to be a large gypsy presence at the moment and we are assured that this is not welcome news.) We step out to visit a restored mansion, the Saraf House, once owned by the Arieh family, formerly Viennese Jews who became the area’s primary employer. This is the only one of their original five mansions to survive and has been turned into a house museum – formerly used by Communist dignitaries for receptions. The layout of this – and the many other house museums we visit – is in the Turkish style, with a large central foyer, low seating, many luxurious rugs. The Bulgarian uniqueness is in the ornate wood everywhere – ceilings, window treatments, door frames, and the beautifully painted surrounds. Behind a wall next to the house is the former Synagogue (bottom right, below) – a ghost of its once proud self. There are plans to restore it, but from the look of the surroundings – I have my doubts.
Plovdiv
Later that afternoon we arrive in Plovdiv – the oldest continually inhabited city in Europe, named the European City of Culture in 2019 (just in time for the Pandemic). I have wanted to visit here for years! We check into the lovely Residence Garden Hotel next to the Tsar Simeon gardens and head through the gardens to a local restaurant with exactly the right combination of local wine, crisp salad and salty cheese.
Built into a hill with a view to the Rodotrope mountains, Plovdiv is a delightful meander through leafy parks with well-planned playgrounds, pedestrian-only cobbled streets, fountains, sculptures, Roman, Greek, early Christian and Byzantine relics beautifully preserved and integrated into the city through walkways and tunnels. There appears to be much restoration (gentrification) going on, and I predict that in a few years Plovdiv will take its rightful place as one of Europe’s smaller delights. Good news? Bad news? As with tourism everywhere, it’s a mixed bag.
Below top left: The Roman Theatre of Philipoppolis, one of the largest and best preserved Roman theaters in the world that could seat 6,000. Discovered only in the 1980s, it’s in use throughout the summer for opera, music and theatre. Center bottom: the mosaic floor of the enormous Byzantine Basilica built on the ruins of a pagan temple, an early church and a medieval necropolis. With its expansive and intricate floor mosaics, the museum is brand new, immersive, descriptive, user friendly and almost empty. At one point, floating above the mosaic floors on plexiglass walkways, we were literally the only people on the vast second floor, shaking our heads in disbelief. Nowhere else in Europe would this have been the case.
The adventure continues below: From L to R:
Top L: Climbing uphill to the old town on the rough cobblestones, many of the large revival homes (mid 1800s) have been beautifully restored with their many roofs, gables and wood-carved balconies. During the Ottoman era all houses had various escape routes; perhaps that is one reason why many of these houses are almost touching?
Top Middle: The Dzhumaya Mosque, (center, built on yet more Roman ruins), dates from the 15th century and is still in use. The Muslim population of Bulgaria is around 8% or 400,00. Most are descendants of those who converted during the Ottoman period. Some are newly arrived immigrants from Syria. And others are visitors/relatives from Turkey, a few hours drive away.
Note: The very presence of Bulgarian Muslims (and attempts as late as the 1980s to require only family names of Slavic origins) appears to be an open wound – a legacy of the hated Ottoman regime. In keeping with everything we think of as “Balkan” – it’s complicated.
Top R: Yet more Roman ruins with the city built in, over, and around, really well integrated into daily life.
Bottom L: Old guys hanging out in the park playing chess from dawn til dark.
Bottom Middle: Bulgarian revival style featured on the Plovdiv National House Museum.
Bottom R: Old town building in pretty bad shape with a fancy new boutique on the ground floor.
Bachkovo Church and Monastery
The Bachkovo Church and Monastery on the outskirts of Plovdiv date from the 11th century. The Patriarch Kiril and Metropolitan Stefan – who are primarily responsible for preventing Bulgaria’s Jews from deportation by the Nazis – are buried within. (Their’s is a remarkable story -there are plaques to their memory all over the country- as there should be. If interested, take a look at the section on Bulgaria and the Jews in WWII).
The Refectory (13th century, middle, bottom row) looks like we’ve been dropped back to the Middle Ages. Evidently we were the only people willing to pay the equivalent of $8 to enter this amazing room that could have been a stage set. Astounding. The icons and frescoes in the church (12th, 14th, 17th centuries have recently been cleaned and are remarkable; a living museum. There is something intimate and human scale about these Orthodox churches that is absent from the soaring cathedrals of Western Europe. The incense, the lack of seating, the rounded ceilings, every surfaced covered with iconography – we are very taken with it.
The road to the church draws quite a crowd picnicking, shopping, families hanging out eating ice dream, many groups waiting to baptize their new babies, carrying gifts and bunches of roses. It is also the weekend of high school graduation and girls everywhere parade in what look like prom dresses, trailed by photographers.
