Koprovitsa and Thracian Tombs

Koprovitsa: We head to the ‘National Revival’ village of Koprovitsa, a two hour drive from the capital, Sofia, where the initial uprising to oust the Ottomans in 1875 started. Many of the houses were built and refurbished in the National Revival style, and the town today attracts a local crowd seeking fresh air in the mountains with a dose of national pride and history.

The town is charming, hilly, very cobblestoned (wear good shoes!) and meanders through lanes with houses in various stages of rehabilitation. It is evidently a prime summer destination for local travel, and we are here just before the rush. We follow markers that describe some of the heroes of the initial skirmishes – most of whom met a gory end. Apparently the Ottomans preferred public hangings to deter more unrest. Of course it had the opposite effect, and they were finally gone by 1878. We happen upon a courtyard attached to a plain blue house – a barn maybe? but no – it’s actually a church: Sort of a cross between a revival tent and Byzantine folk art museum. Disguising churches is a holdover from the Ottoman period when they were built to look like barns or houses (even though the Ottomans were fairly tolerant of the Abrahamic religions – but you’ll get rolling eyes at that comment.) Just as we show up, a horse and cart complete the picture – loaded with firewood.

A perfect blend of folk art and iconography! The priest is very chatty and Philip interprets. I am back in the saddle in reading Cyrillic (Russian studies circa 1973) but can’t understand a thing, even though Bulgarian is supposed to the closest slavic language to Russian. The town feels both very real and a little bit Disney, but it’s so colorful and so quiet that we are entranced. An added plus is the delicious apricot nectar available at the local coffee house.

We are told that every house built during Ottoman times had at least one or more escape routes through a labyrinth of courtyards, back yards, lanes and gates.

This particular house was designed by the architect who rebuilt the Rila Monastery in the mid-1800s after a ruinous fire. Large and elegant with displays of local carpets, weaving, dioramas. (And the requisite escape doors.)

Not far from Koprovitsa is the Valley of the Roses and the Thracian Tombs (our actual destination) and off we go: It’s misty and a few days before the crowds (many southeast Asians evidently) descend en masse to tramp into the vast rose fields to assist in rose-picking, enjoy parades, folk dancing, and the crowning of the rose queen. The growing of roses and their essential oil production is a major agricultural concern in Bulgaria and peaks in late May and early June. Bingo. But just alongside, and mostly bypassed, are the remarkable Thracian tombs.

Thracian Tombs:

What was Thrace? Vaguely I recall warriors who showed up in the Iliad as fearsome horsemen, contemporaries of the Macedonians and Ancient Greeks. Southeastern Bulgaria is covered with tiny Thracian tombs scattered throughout the region, many in ongoing excavation, dating from the end of the Bronze Age, around 1200 BCE, to the end of the first century CE. They were known not only for their skills with horses (and paintings of them – wow) but also for their workmanship in gold and metallurgy. Finds are ongoing, and the area is dotted with small, mysterious royal tombs. The Kazanlak tomb is so extraordinary that – like the Lascaux cave paintings – is closed to all but researchers. It is recreated alongside as an exact replica. Only 4 people are allowed in at any one time and only for a few minutes. The paintings of prancing horses (300 BCE) with depth, delicacy and perspective are extraordinary, as are the accompanying figures.

The other the tombs that we visit (again – we are blessedly the only tourists) are small – they hold perhaps 4-5 people, with round, domed ceilings, the stones perfectly fitted. They are strangely intimate. And there are so many left to discover. How many are looted? Unclear, but all of the artifacts have been moved to the National Archeology Museum in Sofia.

One of the most stunning finds are these two solid gold death masks dating from 300 BCE. Seriously – when have you seen anything like this??

And on that note, we leave the Plovdiv area and head to the capital, Sofia.