A beautiful blend of old cultures
Bulgaria’s rich history and ancient cultures make it worth adding to any tourist trail, says Jill Worrall.
Afew years ago, a friend sent me a small glass paperweight bearing the word ‘‘Bulgaria’’. It sat beside my computer for years and occasionally I’d think to myself ‘‘Why would anyone bother going there?’’
Which was a shameful thing for someone as supposedly welltravelled as me and who is always telling people not to write-off certain countries before they’ve been there or at least done some research.
But, somehow, Bulgaria just sounded somewhat lumpen, stodgy and suggestive of an urban wastelands of Soviet-era concrete monstrosities. How wrong could I be. Well, there are still some gruesome reminders of Communist-era architectural horrors but otherwise, I was quite incorrect.
For starters, Bulgaria receives relatively few international visitors compared with most other Western European counties, so it is refreshingly uncrowded. In 2015, while France for example, was coping with about 84 million visitors, Bulgaria had less than 10 million and the majority of them were from nearby countries who were coming for either the Black Sea beach resorts in summer or skiing in winter.
Sofia is not as glamorous as other European capitals but it graphically illustrates the length of time the area has been under human settlement. Thracian tribes moved into this area about 5000BC, followed by the Greeks, then in AD100 it was absorbed into the Roman Empire. Amazingly, although Sofia’s Roman connections were well known, it was only between 2010 and 2012 during excavations for the city metro, that ruins covering six centuries, beginning in Roman times when the city was known as Serdica, were unearthed.
Today, the ruins themselves and many of the smaller finds from the site are incorporated into the Serdica metro station. There are artefacts in cases on platforms and at various entry levels remains of a basilica, water and sewage systems, mosaic floors and public baths were found. The site has only been open to the public since early 2016.
The neo-byzantine Aleksander Nevski Church is an impressive reminder of Sofia’s more recent history as it was built between 1882-1912 in memory of Russian soldiers killed during the fight for Bulgarian independence in the Russo-turkish war. It’s one of the largest Eastern Orthodox churches in the world. The interior features neo-byzantine mosaics from Venice, Italian marble, Brazilian onyx and some of the most unpleasant church guardians I’ve ever encountered.
Photography is banned inside (unless you want to pay) and these non-clerical guards in black cassocks prowl aggressively around the nave looking for transgressors. One came and peered over my shoulder in the hope of catching me out taking a photo on my cellphone. He was to be disappointed as I’d been reading a text message. I then set out to take an illegal photo just to spite him. But even obnoxious guards couldn’t take away from the magnificence of the church’s interior or its 45-metre-high goldplated dome.
South of Sofia in the mountains that form the border with Macedonia and Greece is Bulgaria’s most famous attraction, Rila Monastery, the largest in Bulgaria and a World Heritagelisted site. The narrow road (it’s in the process of being widened) winds up a densely-forested valley and ends in front of a formidable 24m-high wall, almost devoid of windows or decoration.
But once you are through the arched gateway Rila is unveiled in a glory of striped layers of white stone and brick, to which are attached wooden staircase and balconies.
Rila was originally founded 3 kilometres from its current location in AD927 by a hermit monk. The monastery was relocated to its current site in 1335. During the rule of the Muslim Ottomans (who did manage to destroy it several times), Rila played a vital part in preserving Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Bulgarian culture.
Tragically, the monastery was almost completely destroyed in a fire in 1833 but was painstakingly reconstructed soon afterwards. The centrepiece is the 19th century Church of the Holy Virgin. The interior is characteristic of Eastern Orthodox churches, being somewhat gloomy (Eastern Orthodoxy regards both light and dark as holy), although beams of light from the church’s three domes illuminate the interior like celestial spotlights.
What really leaves visitors rather speechless however, are the frescoes, the most spectacular of which are in the covered arcade that wrap around three sides of the church. High up are Jesus and his angels, while lower down, appropriately, are gruesome scenes of tortured sinners and portrayals of hell. A graphic warning to worshippers.
East of both Sofia and Rila is Plovdiv, which contests for the title, among a few other contenders, of the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. Plovdiv’s historians claim the city has been lived in since the 6th century BC, firstly by the Thracians, then later by a long line of conquerors from the Persians, Alexander the Great’s father Philip of Macedonia, through to the Romans, Byzantines and the Ottomans.
On first glance Plovdiv looked like it was going to live up to my misconceptions about Bulgaria. The drive into the city centre was through crumbling, depressing Soviet-era buildings that made me wish I hadn’t opted for even a onenight stay. As it turned out one night wasn’t nearly enough as the historic centre of Plovdiv has one of the most diverse and beautiful ranges of architectural treasures in a small city that I’ve ever seen.
A walk through town started along a pedestrianised street lined with icecream-coloured Art Noveau houses with ornate facades. A short climb uphill led to a spectacularly situated Roman amphitheatre set into one of the city’s seven hills.
From here, cobblestoned lanes wound past possibly Bulgaria’s best examples of what is known as Bulgarian Revival architecture. It’s so-named as it represents a blossoming of Bulgarian culture during the rule of the Ottomans. This period started in the late 18th century and lasted until 1878. During this time, Bulgaria’s economy began to thrive and merchants, such as those in Plovdiv began to amass great wealth. They spent some of their money on building beautiful and distinctive houses painted in vibrant colours, known as kashta, that feature a proliferation of bay windows and so-called gossip rooms on their upper floors. No doubt in time it will be discovered by more visitors but at present, it’s just a few other intrepid tourists and the Plovdiv craftsmen and labourers toiling over the neighbourhood’s restoration.