Bulgaria Trip

Introduction

People, who are interested in the dry details of history/geography/culture/politics etc. of Bulgaria, may refer to the following links or to the CIA World FactBook.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgaria

http://www.bulgariatravel.org/eng/index.php

Now that I have done my duty of educating my readers by giving the above links, I am free to write a non-official, non-standard, non-internet-researched, non-influenced-by-either-Communist-or-Western-propaganda account of my own Bulgarian experience.

Bulgaria, or the part of Bulgaria that I have seen, is such a beautiful, lush green, fertile country that no wonder that diverse people and nations have tried to win and hold the country. Its history is full of wars, foreign occupancy and uprisings, but all the same, Bulgarians are an innately calm and peace-loving people.

We had gone from Mumbai, Maharashtra to Germany and from there to Bulgaria. Whereas every hillock in Maharashtra and Germany is crowned by a fort or military stronghold, in Bulgaria, most of the mountains are only covered with evergreens, with a few monasteries nestling in them. I was surprised and asked the guide about it and he told me that Bulgarians, by nature, are not a warlike people. “So unlike the Germans or the Marathas”, I thought.

Bulgaria is a Democracy now and a member of NATO and EU, but the former Communist Iron-Curtain distrust of foreigners seems to be still lingering. We had to go to Delhi for an interview to get our visa to Bulgaria. We never had to do it for any other country’s visa.

However, this distrust is experienced only at the official, bureaucratic level. Bulgarian ‘average Vladimir’ (Read ‘Joe’ for Vladimir) is a charming, guileless, enthusiastic guy with a zest for good food, good wine, song and dance. He has a very optimistic attitude to life, and combined with his hard-working honesty, he makes a very lovable person. The ladies too share these characteristics.

Have you seen the movie ‘The Terminal’ and the superb portrayal of the man from ‘Krakosia’ (There is no such country) stranded in NY airport by Tom Hanks? The ‘average Vladimir’ is exactly like that character in the movie.

I had read in the guidebook that sometimes Bulgarians can overwhelm you with their hospitality.

I became convinced of it by my own experience. I was traveling on a tram to the city center and wanted to know which stop to get down at, and I ran into difficulties.

Most of the Bulgarians do NOT know English, though the younger generation seems to have a nodding acquaintance with it. Even though they do not know English, they are very helpful and will explain to you in great length how to go to a particular place – in Bulgarian language of course, which leaves you more puzzled than ever. Fortunately for me, there was a lady on the tram, who could speak English tolerably well and immediately she took upon herself the role of my friend, philosopher and guide. We chatted till my stop came, exchanged our phone-numbers and as I stepped off the tram, she pressed a packet in my hands, saying “This will make a good breakfast for you.” Before I could protest and tell her that I already had my breakfast in the hotel, she had waved me goodbye and the tram was receding in the distance.

Yes, sometimes they do overwhelm you by their generosity. An employee of the hotel took a special interest in me and arranged all my day-tours. She even came to put me on the proper bus to Boyana Church even though her home was 10 minutes walking distance in the opposite direction.

Boyana Church is an old medieval church high up in the Vitosha Mountains, surrounded by tall Pine trees. It is a beautiful and peaceful spot.

There is supposed to be organized crime in the capital, Sofia. We were warned about it, though we did not experience any.

Bulgarians always blame the Gypsies for any crime. However, to the best of my belief, Gypsies are really small fry and commit only low-level crimes. Commitment of big crimes needs a sophistication, high-technology and organizational genius, which they lack.

I suppose this is enough of an introduction about Bulgaria.

Sofia Stay



"Jyoti Kalash Zalke"

As we came out of the airport terminal, Evan was waiting for us. (That is not his real name, of course.)

He had been waiting there for us almost for half a second.

Before that, he was waiting for us at Terminal 2, when his wife phoned him and told him that she had checked on the Internet and our flight had landed.

“No, it hasn’t landed. I am waiting here for half an hour” he insisted.

Mrs. Evan is a smart lady.

“Which terminal are you waiting at?” she asked suspiciously.

When he said Terminal 2, she immediately directed him to Terminal 1, where our flight had already landed.

We were the last to come out because we were the only non-Europeans at the ‘Passport Control’ and that gave him enough time to take a taxi to Terminal 1 and welcome us. We came to know about the goof-up only when we met Mrs. Evan later.

He took us to the hotel he had booked and where Avi was to teach a class of 11 aspiring candidates for their exam.

Poor Avi did not leave the hotel for three days because throughout the day he was busy teaching and had to prepare for the next day’s course in the evenings.

I compensated for his ‘inaction’ by going to various touristy places in Sofia, Plovdiv and Koprivstitsa. (I won a lot of admiration because I could pronounce the last name accurately after 1-2 tries. In Evan’s opinion, it is a tongue-twister even for Bulgarians. Many Bulgarian names are hard to pronounce. I wonder why they do not name their sons “Rumpelstiltskin” and their daughters ‘Tribhuvansundari’. Surely these names are hard enough to please the Bulgarians?)



Nevski Church

I took Avi to the city center to see the ‘Nevski Cathedral’ on one evening and that’s all that he has seen of Bulgaria.

The first day that I went to the city center and saw the Nevski Cathedral, the sun was shining brightly and the gold-leaf-covered domes of the Cathedral shimmered blindingly in the sunlight. The vision was so evocative, that suddenly I understood the meaning of Marathi/Hindi phrase “Jyoti-Kalash” and remembered the song “Jyoti-Kalash Zalke”.

I suppose at such times one is reminded of one’s cultural ethos in a foreign land. The lush green countryside of Bulgaria with its velvety green pastures strongly brought the Marathi “Balkavi”’s poetic phrase “hirve hirve gar galiche, harit trunanchya makhmaliche” (Translation: ever so green, cool carpets of green velvety grass) to my mind.

The Russian Church with its golden domes is also charming.

Sofia downtown is small and can be covered on foot, though trams running on main streets make life a bit easier. The trams run on Electricity and I suppose faith in the commuters’ honesty. I believe that faith is well-placed because I did not see anyone cheating and traveling free even though there is hardly any checking.

A few very large, impressive buildings like the former Tsar’s Palace or Opera, take up expensive space within the downtown.

“Zhenski Pazar” (Ladies’ Market) is not mentioned in the guidebooks as a Sofia Top Attraction and most of the men tourists would give a wide berth to it, but being a woman tourist, I found the Pazar (actually, a corrupted form of ‘Bazaar’) particularly interesting and bought a lot of goodies there. (Mostly, ceramics) Poor Avi was teaching his students in the hotel and was not there to object, so I used the opportunity fully.

{Avi is fully justified in objecting to my ceramics-buying craze. He knows well enough that the said ceramics has a very limited life once it comes in my possession.}

I had finished my Sofia sightseeing and now it was time to visit other towns in Bulgaria.