Sweet Memories from the Four-Day Weekend

It has been a week after my adventures around the country to write down this blog.

Firstly, time flies!

Secondly, I did not find either inspiration, or time to do it!

Thirdly, I waited for Andrew to share with me some of the pictures we took together on our trip. Since he did not do it, I will upload some of them later.

Fourthly, I have to admit I was split around and found it difficult to get myself together (but hey, how is not after a 4-day weekend?!)

I can come up with more and more reasons (call them excuses! ;-)) but better stop counting!

Here is the story!

It was a 4-day weekend here in Bulgaria. Why? Well, in short, on Sept 22 Bulgaria celebrated its Independence Day (101 anniversary) so we had a day off. Because it was on Tuesday, the government decided to pamper their citizens and gave Monday before that as a day off. It was not much of an indulgence because today Saturday Sept 26, yeash, Saturday, we make up for his small treat!!!

Never mind, let's just focus on the holiday I had!

I was so excited about it because during the whole summer I took my annual leave for studying and I was so exhausted and tired that I really needed badly (the stress is on badly) this small break.

We arrived in a rather cold and grayish rainy day but the rest of the weekend was fantastic!
First day we just spent sightseeing the town and stopping by my grandparents. The fact that I could read the joy in my grandfather's eyes who does not speak out of healthy problems was explicitly enough to say what a wonderful time we had there.

The next morning we went to the mountains with my parents. A lovely day out in the nature I believe is always a good spent time - I had craved for the woods for so long - the serenity and wilderness around was something I missed really a lot. We were so exhausted after the looong day that we both went to bed pretty early only to be waken up early on the next morning to drive around.

It was a wonderful idea my mom and I had decided to realize during this holiday. We had wanted to go to Troyan Monastery, a scenic small town on the other part of Stara Planina (The Balkans), 70 km away. My mom had talked accidentally with one of her friends and she and her husband were ready to join us in out day trip. Unfortunately (or not as it turned out later) the main icon we had been making plans to see was away from this monastery and would be brought back in two days. So when her friend and husband came this morning they came up with the idea that it might be better if you drive to Bachkovo Monastery, the second largest monastery in Bulgaria - a bit further away in the south from Plovdiv (the 2nd largest city in BG) and in, as people say, the most beautiful mountain in the country - the Rhodopi Mountains. It was a nice suggestion because first Andrew had never been before to that part of the country and secondly, it was a good almost without any turnings road since Andrew gets sick in a car when the road starts winding. The cute surprise was that in the morning this family came with two cars and gave one of them us for the day. Hey! Then we set off driving, following them on the road and enjoying the sunny and windless weather. On the way back we had a lunch at a near by restaurant and decided that rather than coming back straight to Karlovo we better turn aside and visit an ancient archeological site recently discovered. We ha some problems finding it because like everything in BG it is famous and of great archeological value but the road to there is through abandoned by God small villages with bumpy roads and no signs how to reach that place. On the top of it the village near was so desolate and we hardly found a single person to give us directions.

Well, finally we got to the right place, the Ancient Temple of Starosel as it is called. It was a mound you have to climb to from where a beautiful scenery reveals - a valley as long and big as your eye reaches it with a number of smaller hills splattered around all dived in greenery. This valley was rich of water - there were a number of smaller or bigger dams everywhere! What a nice place it is and how suitable for a worship temple for the old Thracians it used to be! Thracians are the first ancestors that lived in nowadays south Bulgaria long long ago and known for their wonderful wine. This particular temple dates back to 6th - 5th century BC and as there were decorations in the main part of it that were still preserved! What a paint they used I do not know but it was amazing to see green and red paints on the walls into the inner part. There were two rectangle corridors to the very inner part which by itself was a perfect circle. YEA! The guide made an emphasis on that. Even after the second most recent measurement this very inner part of the temple turned out to be absolutely precise circle without even a millimeter difference from any part of the circle! And this was all made of big heavy and thick rectangular stones! I stayed in awe! At the back of the hill they had dug out a place, a they call it a bathtub, for wine!

We drove back from there home but there was another historic town on our way that worth stopping for a pizza - the town of Hissar. Yes, my parents had a snack there while me Andrew and me just had a stroll in this town, known for the great number of its mineral springs and for its history dating back to Roman time with its beautifully preserved historical walls surrounding the inner part of the town (nowadays spreading further out of them)! It is more or less a resort place - a famous spa center as there are so many springs. Full of parks and gardens and teem with people in bathing suits and towels! It is really funny to see them all around! After an hour or so time of eating ice cream, enjoying the lovely fountain in the town garden and walking in a park we headed back home!

During the last day of stay we went to visit the house of Vasil Levski, the greatest revolutionary and patriotic person of Bulgaria. Yep, he was born in Karlovo and furthermore, I am a distant relative with him!!! Oh, I know it is hard to believe but to cut the long story short, his mom was part of my family tree before getting married Vasil Levski's father.
So, the house I had been to as a schoolgirl, was well kept and even modernized - I mean they put some speakers in every room so the moment you enter you can hear stories and poems for the life and heroic person Vasil Levski was! There was a small shrine attached to the house and yard I had never before visited either! It is beautifully decorated and in one of its corners you can see Vasil Levski's hair. The story around this hair is that he cut it in 1867 when he broke off with his everyday life as a monk to become a revolutionist fighting for Bulgarian freedom. This hair is now kept in this glassy aquarium-like small container and you can differentiate its blond color! The sun smiled at us as we basked on a bench for an hour in the yard, enjoying the newly white-washed walls of the house, the cobble stoned pathways, the small fountain near and the humming crowd around curious to see every nook of this lovely and full of history place!

After that we realized it is time to hurry up home, to have some lunch and to catch the bus to Sofia full of delight! The four day weekend was over unnoticeable and only the sweet memories of it were left! It is good to have such memories though!