A slow start to the day, due a welcome catch up of sleep, showers and more chatting over breakfast, saw us setting off for a tour of Plovdiv’s old centre with Natasha at about 11. We talked non-stop – Natasha explaining and us asking questions, as well as all of us making comparisons to other times and other places – as we passed different residential, business and shopping areas, buildings, statues and monuments of note.
We knew nothing of the history of the Bulgarians when we arrived. During our walk we learnt that they were under Ottoman oppression for 500 years until the Independence War in 1876 – 1878, and under the dominion of the Greek Orthodox church until the independent Church of Bulgaria was finally recognised in 1871. Then there were the Balkan Wars a couple of years before World War I, with an outcome that had the north of the country as Bulgaria and the south of the country (Eastern Rumelia) with shared rule between England, Russia and France. Eventually they became a united country in 1885. In the 2nd World War they entered on the side of the Germans but changed sides just as the Russian troops were about to arrive. The king and the prime minister of the time had refused to allow any Bulgarian Jews to be taken from the country, thus saving many thousands of lives. They had a communist government from 1948 - 1990 with the party voluntarily giving up its power and the country going to a general election in 1991, when the Eastern Bloc was crumbling. There was an economic depression in the 1990s due to export markets in Russia disappearing, to the extent that people stopped having children - kindergartens and schools closed and were sold off. There was also a lot of difficulty in returning state property to original private owners and consequently lots of law cases, many of which Natasha assisted with.Under the socialist regime there were some certainties, along with some limitations. Basic items such as housing, food, heating, education and health care were assured for everyone. Wages were levelled out for everyone, with the state controlling enterprises in all areas. Now there are inequities, with some people prospering and others constantly worrying about how they will provide for themselves and their families. State owned farms have been returned to their original owners, with some people returning to work them and other, once productive areas, now lying deserted. Under the current system, and possibly as a consequence of becoming members of the European Union in 2007, prices have risen dramatically while wages have not. The rigorous and free education system has become less so, with most people supplementing school lessons with private tuition in the higher classes.
Two very poignant statues stood out for me – one showing a man who, at the time of the uprising and the Russian and Turkish war, had killed his wife and family and then himself, rather than have the Turks rape and murder them; and the wings on the other representing divided Bulgaria becoming whole again.
The streets were wide and lined with large trees, and although the open spaces are being consumed with building development, the overall impression was one of a green city with parks and shady squares scattered throughout. Built on seven hills (as are Lisbon, Rome and Istanbul), it has spread long beyond its original area to suburbs which have high density living and rectangular high rise blocks. The hills rise above the buildings, providing more green to the city landscape.
People, dressed only in western clothes, with many cleavages and midriffs on display and high heels distorting walks, were out and about on this sunny Saturday. In the whole day we only saw one headscarf. I commented to Natasha on the number of blondes but she said they were from a bottle and not the real thing, as quite clearly was the bright crimson hair on many ladies of all ages. Not so unlike Australia on a warm weekend day or any time at a beach town, or on a social evening out. The fact of us noticing reflects the five months that we have spent in Muslim countries with covered hair, conservative dress codes for older women above about thirty and a quieter style for women in general. Sexually explicit advertising was on billboards large and small – condoms, alcohol and ice-creams all being advertised with such subtlety that we didn’t know what the products were but with such blatant sexual images that our attention was gained. We doubted if one of them would be displayed in Australia where it would probably be considered politically incorrect.The older section of the city has a wide promenade lined with very pretty buildings, many built in the late 19th and early 20th century. Recent restorations have produced an effect which felt not unlike walking through a film set, with gorgeous facades in pastel colours with the details picked out in white, and nearly all of them looking ‘new’.
To one side is the only remaining mosque, now with scaffolding on it for restoration work. It is uncanny how little evidence there is of the five hundred years of Ottoman presence, but presumably part of the restoration of Bulgaria’s independence was the removal of reminders of its oppression. Only metres away, in the middle of the road, Alexander the Great’s father, King Philip, stands nonchalantly on a pillar, looking down at the hole in which a quarter of a Roman theatre lies uncovered, found when new road works were required in recent times. Natasha took us to a building where another part of the theatre is visible in the basement, and which should be available to the public since that was part of the agreement in the wheeling and dealing of officials which involved a lucrative land swap. However, we were not permitted to go down and see it.We took the very uneven cobblestone road up one of the hills, past an old house that had once been a chess house.
We heard of the sudden injuries to a national chess champion which thwarted his ambitions, and of current hopes for victories. The buildings were very old in this sector, with many of them having curved fence and roof lines. Some had been restored beautifully, with paintwork details and decorations, with a folk art look to them. A few, known as the gossiping houses, had first floor sections that jutted out over the street, with the rooves overlapping at some points. 
Everywhere there were sculptures – honouring individuals from the independence struggles, artists, musicians and statesmen, and others simply being artistic expressions.At the top of the hill there are the ruins of ancient walls, with different eras visible. This was generally a bit of a wild site with the remains of an ancient building and stones that surely were something once. The view was magnificent, with the other hills standing out above the city, particularly the ones with the clock tower and the enormous Russian soldier statue on them. A café near the top was called ‘Leisure Hill’ in Turkish, and there was other evidence of the Turkish influence in language.
Some gypsy children were collecting snails to sell for 30 cents a kilogram; fat snails that the rain had tempted out onto the grass and foliage.
At the top of another hill, on the site where Natasha and her mother had climbed to visit the dressmaker in Natasha’s youth, an excavation had discovered a massive Roman theatre, complete with three storey stage and statues. Concerts are still regularly performed here.
Back at the flat, Natasha cooked a beautiful meal of mushrooms with rice, salad and a dessert based on wheat and fruit, topped with walnuts and cherries. Suddenly we realised that we would be late for the choral concert we had planned to attend. We decided to go anyway and set off on the twenty minute walk at speed. The concert was a delight. A competition between choirs of an extremely high standard; the singing and arrangements were excellent and the choir members were obviously enjoying themselves. To generalise from the two conductresses: being big, having curly hair and an infectious smile are requirements for musical talent in conducting choirs. It took place in the former parliamentary building of Eastern Rumelia, of which Plovdiv was the capital. The building, which is lovingly cared for and beautifully decorated with painted decorations on the interior, had displays relating to the independence wars in the foyer. Natasha also explained that the Tsar, who was exiled when the communists took over and who came back in the 1990s, headed a political party and became the first Prime Minister. Really it seemed incredible, and we couldn’t help but laugh over what it must have been like for him and everyone to have that kind of change of role.
No longer pressed for time, and the time being still very early, we strolled back beyond the flat to the area where a great sporting complex lies mostly abandoned, a result of the changes in which there were complexities of ownership and responsibility between the state and the municipality to be resolved, and questions of privatising parts of something that was designed as an integrated whole to be discussed. The complex includes a massive football and athletics stadium, tennis courts and gymnasiums and an enormous rowing course with stands for a very large crowd. 
Parks surround it, with running tracks and a high school for athletes also in the area. Some parts are used but the towers stand empty of lights and the buildings portray their neglect. The police once had an office in the area because of crimes against other people, and suicides. There were many bronze statues of athletes performing various sports and there used to be more. 
They have apparently been stolen by gypsies. One delicate statue of a young girl performing her gymnastics routine on the beam was reduced to a pair of poised feet overnight.The river lay beyond the rowing course and was not nearly as neat and wide. In the distance we could see the high schools that Natasha’s sons had attended, one specialising in English and the other in Russian and German. The boys had risked the trains and adult disapproval to cross over the rail bridge, built by the Germans and with absolutely no allowance for pedestrians other than to balance on the edge and hold firm to a pillar for fear of being blown into the river. We know this because we went up to look, Natasha having assured us that there was at least 20 minutes between trains. We had only just finished our inspection when a surprise train came rattling over the bridge!
Luckily we were not swept off into the murky water, and, after cups of tea and chat, slept well. 
More buildings around Plovdiv
Like Turks, the Bulgarians are all smoking themselves to death. The difference here is that just as many women as men smoke in Bulgaria.
This house has been beautifully restored and is now an ethonographic museum. Below are a couple of locals we met in the garden.
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