Abanasi, Bulgaria (from port of Rousseau)

 

Our local guide reported that on Sunday, Bulgaria had their sixth election in three years among the 26 parties. It resulted in little change with six parties gaining seats in the legislature.  Her joke was: “what do diapers and politicians share in common? They need to be changed frequently and for the same reason.” After the end of communist control, the standard of living went down 40% and didn’t recover until 2002. Many of the youth left the country to find jobs in other countries. Farms were returned to their former owners, but only if you could provide documentation or neighbors’ testimony that you had owned the farm in the 1940’s. Yet today, 24% live below the poverty line, mostly pensioners. Seventy percent of the GDP is from farming: corn, wheat, and soybeans in the north; vegetables and roses in the south. Bulgaria provides 60% of the world’s rose oil. The good economic news is that 80% of the population own their flat.

Bulgaria is an old country, the first Bulgarian empire was established in 681 AD. In the 9th century, the conversion to Christianity began and the Cyrillic alphabet was created, a very phonetic alphabet. Bulgaria was ruled by the Ottomans for 500 years and was liberated in 1878 in the Russo-Turkish War.

Church of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel

We visited the village of Abanasi. The Church of Archangels Michael and Gabriel has murals from the 17^th century. The outer chamber is the women’s section decorated with women saints. The main altar has the icons of saints above and Old Testament stories below. The back wall depicts the death of Mary, while the Cupola has the holy trinity. While there we were serenaded by an acapella quartet.

Then we visited a fortified house built in the 17^th century. All the rooms had large platforms covered with carpets that were used for sitting, sleeping, eating or working. Each room had a heating unit fed by the fire in the dining room.

Dining Room of the Fortified House

We had a great Bulgarian lunch with a tomato and cucumber salad, a flavorful chicken stew, and baklava and a sweet yogurt, washed down with beer

In the afternoon we visited artisan shops in the town of Veliko Turnover, but the temperature was in the mid-90s so we quickly found a cooler spot in a hotel.