Enchantment of Eastern Europe

Our guide was Ellie for our first stop in Northern Bulgaria.

We left the ship at 10:30 and learned a lot about Bulgaria during the 2 1/2 hour drive. We drove through the heavily treed, Bulgarian countryside broken up by large fields of wheat, corn, sunflowers. I think she said the farming is done under cooperatives. Almost every home had grape vines growing in their garden and there were lots of wildflowers in the tall grass and flowers in people’s gardens.

• The war in 1877 and 1878 liberated Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire
• 1944 – 1989 was the communist period, where many people moved into the cities to live in newly constructed apartments. Those “panel buildings” are coming to the end of their life apparently.
• The country’s population is 6.5 million, but that number is decreasing because young people are leaving and the citizens are dying off.

• All education is free but there is no incentive to stay in the country so they take their degrees elsewhere

• Bulgaria’s population is like Switzerland, and their size is like the state of Tennessee. Their rich agricultural land is seen as an important natural resource and it is not allowed for foreigners to own agricultural land.

• The country’s flag is white green and red and the country joined NATO in 2005.
• Joined the EU in 2007. Poorest country in EU based on income, but the highest percentage of homeowners, where property is passed from generation to generation.

May 24 was an important day celebrating the Bulgarian language and letters. The kids were dismissed from school and families were out together. They use the Cyrillic alphabet and speak a Slavic language. Without checking whether I heard her correctly, here is a short primer for the Bulgarian language:

• Dober dem (roll the r) – good day

• Dovizdonay – until I see you again (or they use Ciao)

• La co da ria (stress last syllable) – thank you (or they use Merci)

We were told that Tarnovo was the former capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire. The thing I really learned from all the information Ellie shared, is that Bulgarian has a long and complicated history!

During a bathroom stop enroute, I got talking to Avril from UK. Her daughter lives in Montreal, and her grandson will be studying medicine at McGill University.

We arrived to the Yantra Grand Hotel in Veliko Tarnovo at 1pm for a beautiful lunch consisting of salad, vegetable soup, chicken kebabs, potatoes, and yogurt with honey for dessert. Some Bulgarian folk dancers treated us to a really energetic show.

On our included tour, we had the chance to observe impressive medieval 12th century fortifications in Veliko Tarnovo. It was a tough walk uphill over rough steps and sidewalks but what a view!

At the top, we visited a rebuilt church but since it was decorated during the communist period, the decorations were very unusual. Ellie shared the name of the artist (Teofan Sokerov) and I’ll have to look him up.

We were back on the bus at 4pm headed for Svishtov to rejoin the ship. The ride on this country road was very rough! Cruise director Igor said this was the longest excursion of the itinerary.

While we were doing this, Sharon and Dean chose to embark on a guided hike to the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Rock-Hewn Churches of Ivanovo, known for their famous 14th-century frescoes.

We were back on the ship at 5:30, and enjoyed a drink on our balcony. We were puzzled as to why the ship was heading east, but then a mile or so out of the port, we discovered the boat had been backing up because we stopped and headed forward, going west.

We got dressed for dinner and went to the lounge for the port talk at 6:30. We sat with John and Sue from UK and met Margaret and Hardy, also from UK. After dinner we went to Dan and Luanne’s cabin to try out the Romanian blueberry liqueur he bought in Bucharest.

The group headed to the lounge for a name that tune contest and I headed to our cabin for some quiet time.