Easter weekend in Bulgaria

Romania follows the orthodox Christian Calendar, which means that Easter his year was combined with the May Day bank holiday making it one BIG holiday weekend. This, we though was the perfect opportunity to visit neighbouring Bulgaria , which thus far, has been suffering from neglect on our parts when it comes to visits.
This time we'd decided to combine two historical (cue groans from both children) towns- Veliko Turnovo and Plovdiv.  Bulgaria is a lovely country with over 1/3 of the land still having green cover  If you look past the the communist remnants of rusty pipes and multi-hued matchbox residences in Ruse (the border town on the other side of Georghiu), you come across a vast countyside with hardly a human or house in sight.

The Tsaravets fortress

Veliko Turnovo, apart from the interesting bit like forts and churches also seems to have quite and active graffiti community, which seems to add to the character of the town.

See that tiled house in the top right corner? Keep that in mind. We'll come back to it later.

I don't know if this is a conscious effort by the Local Council or just a general rebellion after years of conforming to regulation, but I like it. 

We could see that Bulgarians shared the orthodox Easter with the Romanians and signs that the city was celebrating were everywhere. 

From shop windows to giant egg baskets.

Child 1 and Child 2, and their reactions to my clicking.

Dinner was at the city centre at a lovely restaurant named Ego. Well, technically, Veliko Turnovo has no town centre, but, close enough, geographically. Ego, interestingly has great taste in piped music (Tina Turner) and oven baked pizzas that are made right in front of you, 

The Portion sizes are pretty huge and they have a fairly decent vegetarian selection. Also, if you happen to go in, try and get a table at the far end, which boasts of an impressive panorama. 

That's not the view. That's just the restaurant interiors. :)

The castle and fort lit up at night looked beautiful, although we miss the light and sound show (it doesn't run every night, and when we asked around, the locals seemed pretty sketchy on the schedule)

The town is all either uphill or downhill. They simply didn't seem to do flats back when it was built. Our hotel was more uphill than downhill (or felt like it). 

Our hotel had an interesting choice of wine bottles. 

The next morning we set out to find our walking tour. Our guide was a lovely lady who gave us a quick rundown on the history of Bulgaria before we set off. There were descriptions of the city, and there were workmen working on authentic pewters (the baa-lamb was heard audibly snorting at the suggestion that we should own one of those)

Veliko Turnovo seems to have embraced the creations of a self-taught Bulgarian architect during the renaissance - Kolyu Ficheto. His structures were visible everywhere, and although I didn't find them particularly impressive - one of them being that tiled building on the top right of the graffiti steps picture, his story seems to be and interesting one. Particularly that of the 'Monkey house' as that slated edifice is called (local lore has it that the merchant who built it named it for his wife).

and here's the 'figure' that gave it its particular name

I leave it upto you to decided what exactly that figure looks like. Ficheto has several other structures to his name, but to me the most impressive was a church he's built that was designed to be earthquake resistant. And when an earthquake did hit the city in 1913, his is the one church that did survive! 

We also loved the 'skywalk' that was designed by students of architecture visiting the town in 2014.

The skywalk opened up to a fantastic view of the square in a neighbouring hill. That's the aristocrats hill and is currently closed to the public. (It was due to be opened in 2016, but the locals peg it at a more realistic 2018)

We  were headed to Plovdiv after lunch and it was only on our way back that we were able to visit the Tsravets fortress and the church at the very top. But for the sake of continuity, I'm going to mention it now, rather than later. 

The fortress was burned down by the marauding Ottomans in the 14th Century and the church was rebuilt in 1981. And since it was built in the communist era, it sin't exactly... the usual church. 

From the Altar to the murals to the windows, it is interesting the say the least. And quite unlike any church I've been to. 

The altar

Carvings on the dorrs

Personally, I really thought it was beautiful. It may not inspire feeling of peace or spirituality, but the murals depict this history of Bulgaria and are definitely eye-catching. 

The kids loved the restored Baldwin's tower and gleefully reenacted beheadings, complete with rubber axe, fake blood and soldiers' helmets. Also, it provided a lovely view of the city and the Yantra river. 

...and so we move on to the lovely city of Plovdiv. 

We arrived into Plovdiv in the afternoon. You see, our hotel was in a part of the city called 'Old Plovdiv' with entries not really sign posted or easy to find. After a bit of asking around (by us)  and mad gesticulating(by the locals), we did finally find our Hostel - the 'Guest House at Old Plovdiv' 

it was nothing like and hostel we've been to - starting with the personalised 'Welcome' boards. 

Yup. That's us. 

And the lovely, refreshing 'welcome drink' in the back garden as our concierge explained the sights and sounds of Plovdiv(the kids LOVED that. Okay, we might have loved it a tad bit too). Not to mention our room which was one of the prettiest I've ever seen. 

Sure, it's a bit unconventional not to have toilets and bathrooms in our rooms, but considering we were going to be out looking at Plovdiv for most of the day, I think we could work with that. Besides, our fellow guests were all really such a nice and friendly bunch. Despite the kids making general pets of themselves. 

We set out to walk the longest pedestrian street in Europe. It's a lovely street with signs of Easter here as well. 

Giant eggs

Roman theatre

Something else that's common with Romania - strings of Martisor

We passed through the Roman stadium that was still being excavated. Its interesting how they discovered it in the 60s when the Army corps decided to dig up the existing street to expand a stadium. The idea of preserving the old and the new in layers is brilliant and adds to the wonderful character of the city.

Dinner was a relaxed al fresco affair under a tree along the pedestrian pathway.  The streets were quite lively until pretty late into the night and we may have even witnessed a street party (We didn't go close enough to investigate the validity of our suspicions)

Day 2, after breakfast at the hostel - the Dining room shared an exterior wall with the remains of the Roman fortress. I was thrilled to bits at the setting, although the kids didn't see why I was mooning over a couple of giant boulders. 

Our guide for the day was a cheerful lady who was happy to help us explore Plovdiv despite it being Easter Sunday - pretty much the biggest religious festival for the Bulgarians.(Yup. Easter trumps Christmas here.) One of our first stops was at the top of one of the original seven hills that surrounded Plovdiv - there are only four in existence now. Pretty special views, and sunsets are rumoured to be particularly special. 

The Ethnographic Museum: Interesting if you're a history buff. or if you'd like a brief history of Bulgaria. 

This house originally belonged to one of the richest merchants in the city. 

and a whole host of interesting places.

These murals were spotted even in Veliko Tarnovo. Don't know quite what to make of them

One of Pickwick's favourites was the statue of Milo - an old town legend who was simply known for the Plovdivian attitute of 'Ay-lac' (spelling it as I heard it pronounced. Don't quite know the correct spelling in Cyrillic. Legend says that if you whisper in his ear, your wishes come true. And if you rub his knee, you'd find your true love.I cannot verify either claim, but Milo's knees were polished clean.

I loved the Bohemian part of town which had its own love story and the most interesting Graffiti.

But graffiti away from the Kapana was pretty interesting too. (you can probably tell by this point that I do love street art)

We ended up for lunch near the only mosque to exist in the city since the Ottomans. Bulgaria in general and Plovdiv in particular seem to have an abundance of Roses. The heady scent is quite something else. We learnt from our guide that Roses and rose products are Bulgaria's largest exports. 

I did get in a couple of sketches while the baa-lamb took the 'Aylac' life a bit too literally. It's not much, but it was a start.

The adjacent house...

...and the one opposite

The evening was spent less on sightseeing and more on enjoying the people of the city. There's something to be said about a a life where there's enough time to stop and smell the roses and greet neighbours and strangers alike with a cheery wave.  There's definitely something to be said about a town that creates statues of townsfolk not for deeds of greatness, but for way of life they represent. Or for being a person who questioned authority with humour. I leave you with a clipping of the townsfolk celebrating - one of my favourite memories from the trip. 

Mast Madrid

Well, if you've been reading the blog, you'll probably know that much to my distress, the travel posts have had to take a forced hiatus on account of a crashed hard drive and a distinct lack of back-up. But you can only keep a good thing (or a bad penny)down for so long, and we are back! This time with a weekend break in Madrid. And boy, did we need the break! Bucharest was getting cold, and rainy and we had just about had it with the crappy weather (okay, it was just me. The kids couldn't care either ways). So, on we hopped to a flight and 3.5 hours later, 'Hola, Madrid!'
The baa-lamb, bless his soul, booked us into a hostel in the heart of the city. Now, now, don't be misled by the 'hostel' tag. The family room was a brilliant room that was clean, quiet (which considering our location was a minor miracle), quirky and all of us, the finicky Pickwick included, loved it!

The Quirky TOC decor

Come morning, (we landed at midnight, so thank God for the city centre bit) we decided to explore the city. Our place was a two minute walk to Puerta del Sol,

It is the symbolic centre of Spain, and busy! Apart form the random comic book characters walking around, we stumbled upon a lovely little cafe that served fresh Tostadas and coffee and croissants.

Loved the giant Christmas tree!

...and looks even better when it's lit up!

See? I'm liking this city already. As with all short break, the best way to see a bit of the city is to take a walking tour.
This particular tour started at Plaza Mayor. which, when we visited was host to a bustling Christmas market.

 The place is a hubub of activity, both then and now, bearing witness to a host of events including, bullfights, public executions and football games.

 Pickwick, who is currently fascinated with history listened with rapt attention to stories of garrotting, but wasn't very enthused about the bull fights.

Plaza Mayor by night

Presently we walked to Las Cuevas de Luis Candelas - A restaurant with an interesting history.

Luis Candela was apparently a Spanish Robin hood- who robbed the rich to give to... his lovers, who may or may not have been poor. needless to say he met with a rather sticky end, leaving behind an interesting take and a restaurant that is served by bandits (or servers who are dressed as them).
While we are on the topic of restaurants, we visited another - Botin, made famous because of Visiting Royalty, Ernest Hemingway and the fact that its the oldest restaurant in the world.

The oldest restautant in the world- even have the Certificate to prove it :)

Also, apparently, it being a restaurant and stuff, the food is pretty good too. (I'll just take a local's word for it. The speciality was suckling pig, and the idea of babe-on-a-plate kind of threw me off)

The plaque outside Botin - Apparenly all establishments older than a century now carry it in Madrid

Madrid sports some interesting graffiti,

and this one in particular is meant to be especially significant.

It says: On water I was built, my walls are made of fire.

And in case you're wondering what it all means, this is why:

The Santa Maria de La Real de Almudena Cathedral with the Muralla Arabe (fortress walls) and the Star of  David

The walls that you see there are remnants of the old fortress, built on a creek,  made of flintstone by the Moors. Both the kids took immense delight in imagining the look on the enemies' faces when they rained arrows and weapons on the wall and the sparks made it look like they walls were on fire!
This image (it's got the star of David, moorish walls and a cathedral) is also a reminder of the time times in the past - before the Spanish inquisition where people were free to practice any religion of their choice without fear of persecution.
The Spanish inquisition though seems to have influenced a lot of the cultures and traditions still prevalent in the country - from children taking on the names of both parents to large shanks of ham of every kind hanging on store windows.

See? I kid you not.

After this visit, we decided to take a break. What is a Spanish holiday after all without a break for coffee and a chat? :) Suitably refreshed with a toilet break to boot, we headed out to the Almudena Cathedral and the Palacio Real de Madrid.

The Cathedral of Almudena

...and the palace opposite

The brief history of the Habsburgs were explained in to us in a wonderful roleplay where Pickwick was Philip I (the handsome), I (along with child 2) was Philip the Lazy and the husband was Philip the... nevermind (he apparently died of gout). The only good thing they had to say about him was that he was a patron of the arts! Whew!
The palace however, is still magnificent and has 1000 more rooms than the palace of versailles! Which is saying something...
Cityscapes and interesting stuff spotted along the way (ruthlessly edited version)

They seem to have a thing for art on balconies

All this history and walking made the baa-lamb very tired and irritable (did I mention he was nursing a man-flu?) and we took ourselves off to our digs to recuperate and gather energy for the evening's performance.
The evening saw us headed to Las Carboneras for the Flamenco - but not before we stopped off for a quick Paella at this fun little market.

The mercado de San Miguel

I loved the eggs- so pretty!

90s flashback!

 The flamenco - what can I say - We loved it! So much passion and speed and the powerful vocals- made for a pretty impactful performance. The little one even battled sleep (practically unheard of for her) to see it!

Their feet moved at lightning speed!

Day 2 - and we were off to see the Goyas in Prado and then head off to el Retiro. I loved the Prado (no pictures of the place, I'm afraid) - the family perhaps loved it a little less. El Retiro was more of a hit- there's something about trees that makes little kids want to climb it.

See those perfectly shaped trees in the middle? Yup, those were the ones my monkeys wanted to have a go at. 

So, much goodly fun and a goodly couple of hours enjoying the park and music. This evening we set out to look for a place called Las Cuevas the Sesamo - apparently serving the best sangrias in town. Well, the cuevas was great on the sangria, not so much on the ambience. Or maybe it was just me and people do like whitewashed caves with oddly placed paintings and writings on the wall.

Yummy Sangria

Amidst questionable art.

I'd love to tell you more about the Madrid nightlife, but unfortunately, that's possibly on another trip (did I mention the baa-lamb had the man-flu?). This trip has come to its end- but not before we sampled the Patatas Bravas from Las Bravas (clearly we weren't too sick for that) and the Churros and Chocolate ans San Gines, and the frozen yoghurt... (this might have been more of a gastronomic trip than a cultural one, perhaps - despite the absence on meat-eaters in our midst)

Churros and chocolate - our new favourite

This shop sells the most heavenly biscuits ever!

That frozen yoghurt is topped with mango sauce and nuts and mango bits *sigh* 

, and encountering a really sick teacher from the kids' School. No, people, not that kind of sick.She's a teacher! And no, children, not the sick that apparently means 'cool' in your world. I mean the really unwell kinds. Who had to be carted away in an ambulance. But, she's making a marvellous recovery from all accounts, so all's well.
So, until, next time, Madrid, you lovely thing, kisses!