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Natasha was gone when I got up. She and her cousins had gone to her uncle’s funeral in Sofia. It was remarkably kind of Natasha to have us to stay, at a time of family loss. We saw Chavdar briefly while we were Skyping Holly and Joel and were surprised to hear that it was the Queen’s Birthday weekend in Australia. We knew that all our teacher colleagues had been sweating it out over the reports and were happy to realise that most of them would now have finished. No, I didn’t miss this aspect of teaching at all and I am sure that I will look back longingly to these carefree days next year.
This relief carving depicts Bulgarians welcoming Russian soldiers near the end of World War I.
We took photos in every direction, then a friendly Bulgarian man and his son who lives in America pointed out the hole in the ground a kilometre away which is where the seventh hill once stood, all its stone being used to pave the streets.
Our trip into the city was to visit a few sites that we had been shown the day before. The first was the Philippopolus Art Gallery; a private collection of modern art in a museum house. Every wall was covered in paintings representing the works of many famous Bulgarian artists over the last 150 years. It was fascinating and, quite apart from the paintings, the building was a beautiful old style house, with intricate woodwork and painted decorations inside and out. It was furnished simply but elegantly with items of the period of the house. We each chose our favourites – for Keith a large painting of the revolution by Dimitar Gyudzhenov in 1975 and for me a portrait painted by Derina Georgieva in 1928, her final year of studies at the academy of Fine Arts.
The ornate ceiling in the gallery
Next we had a break and a coffee for Keith to fend off ‘museum fatigue’ at the gallery café, which gave us the opportunity to see how beautiful the house was from the back. It also gave us the opportunity to try to read the Bulgarian on the menu, written in Cyrilic script. The alphabet was developed by Cyril and Methodius, who based it on the Greek alphabet. Just like Greek, it was all Greek to us, since we didn’t have a hope of pronouncing anything.
Our energy levels restored, we visited the ethnographic museum which is in another beautiful old house with decorative woodwork, built-in cupboards, shelving and benches and the decorative paintwork both inside and out. In each room a different aspect of craft work or life in days of yore was featured. Decorative household items and extra large and ornate jewellery, as well as functional work and bells, showed the different aspects of the craft of metal working.
Different fabrics, from course woollens to fine linens and dainty embroidery, were shown in various rooms, with the tools and machines used to make them. We were intrigued by a braid making machine, and could see the mundane and very involved uses that the braid was put to. 
Uniforms and jackets regularly had decorative scrolls and loops of braid sewn on. The pottery room displayed many plates, jugs and bowls, all glazed in autumnal tones and with designs with larger elements in them, such as two or three large daisies in the centre and a border of dots. Nestinarstvo, the art of fire walking, is a speciality of Bulgaria and concludes rituals that end in an ecstatic dance. The skill of walking barefoot on coals is passed down through the men and women, usually in a family. The Christian church was able to work the practice into its own festivals, which enabled it to survive to today. Tobacco was a very big agricultural pursuit in the past, and bee keeping and perfume distilling still are. The equipment of former days showed how time consuming every task was. Upstairs we learnt more about Bulgarian musical instruments, particularly the bagpipe, one of which was so hairy it looked as if it had been made from a woolly mammoth. My favourite display was the traditional costumes from various areas. Every article of clothing was made from scratch – the fabrics woven, the wool grown, dyed, spun and knitted into socks, the aprons embroidered – I was really impressed, even though I was a little surprised at how practical, rather than simply pretty, they were. It was interesting to see the different interiors set up, with great variations according to wealth and region.
Finally I was amazed by the skills of a modern day master knife maker whose works were on display. He has made many ceremonial and film set pieces and developed the use of modern technologies for engraving the most detailed tiny designs on blades.
We just had time to speed walk down to the formal and gracious government building with its parks, sculptures and bird decorated fountain edging an enormous square. Many people were patronising the pavement cafes and there was an air of relaxation and ease.
We were now familiar with the way and knew to turn at the spot where senior men sat outdoors playing cards and backgammon. Later we heard that this area is a gambling den that is periodically cleaned up. Confused by the sameness of the buildings, we had to check the number to be sure. We let ourselves in and spent time writing to potential couch surfing hosts until Natasha returned. She helped us with our research and then we all set off for the village, via the supermarket and the local bus.
The village is close to Plovdiv and at the foot of a mountain that many Plovdiv residents use for recreation. It has tripled in size over recent times. The walk from the bus stop up the hill let us see the village houses, which are surrounded by productive gardens. Natasha’s house has its own wild and lovely garden with tall trees shading out other plants. Inside, we cooked some vegetable soup, using a Bulgarian herb that we don’t know the name of but which made the dish taste delicious. Some chocolate and lollies finished off the meal and we all retired, with us looking forward to a sleep in and poor Natasha rising to catch the 7.30 bus into Plovdiv to work.
A view over Plovdiv with the idle stadium in the distance.
Natasha was gone when I got up. She and her cousins had gone to her uncle’s funeral in Sofia. It was remarkably kind of Natasha to have us to stay, at a time of family loss. We saw Chavdar briefly while we were Skyping Holly and Joel and were surprised to hear that it was the Queen’s Birthday weekend in Australia. We knew that all our teacher colleagues had been sweating it out over the reports and were happy to realise that most of them would now have finished. No, I didn’t miss this aspect of teaching at all and I am sure that I will look back longingly to these carefree days next year.
We walked across town to the gardens that run up the hill topped by the Russian soldier monument. It is fairly steep so, being a hot day, we were making slow progress. 
Our morale was not boosted by being passed three times by a young jogger using the path for training. A the top of the hill the first monument we came to was for Independence war, when Russia fought the Turks in support of, and alongside the Bulgarians. It is dwarfed entirely by the massive figure of a Russian soldier, about 25 metres high, with reliefs on the base depicting the welcome given by the Bulgarian population and battle scenes with Russian and Bulgarian soldiers fighting side by side. Erected in 1956 after considerable public consultation, it dominates the skyline and we found it impossible to get far enough away, and yet to have a clear view, to take a photo of showing the whole figure. 
This relief carving shows Bulgarian soldiers fighting side by side with Russian troops in World War I.
Our morale was not boosted by being passed three times by a young jogger using the path for training. A the top of the hill the first monument we came to was for Independence war, when Russia fought the Turks in support of, and alongside the Bulgarians. It is dwarfed entirely by the massive figure of a Russian soldier, about 25 metres high, with reliefs on the base depicting the welcome given by the Bulgarian population and battle scenes with Russian and Bulgarian soldiers fighting side by side. Erected in 1956 after considerable public consultation, it dominates the skyline and we found it impossible to get far enough away, and yet to have a clear view, to take a photo of showing the whole figure. This relief carving shows Bulgarian soldiers fighting side by side with Russian troops in World War I.This relief carving depicts Bulgarians welcoming Russian soldiers near the end of World War I.
We took photos in every direction, then a friendly Bulgarian man and his son who lives in America pointed out the hole in the ground a kilometre away which is where the seventh hill once stood, all its stone being used to pave the streets.Our trip into the city was to visit a few sites that we had been shown the day before. The first was the Philippopolus Art Gallery; a private collection of modern art in a museum house. Every wall was covered in paintings representing the works of many famous Bulgarian artists over the last 150 years. It was fascinating and, quite apart from the paintings, the building was a beautiful old style house, with intricate woodwork and painted decorations inside and out. It was furnished simply but elegantly with items of the period of the house. We each chose our favourites – for Keith a large painting of the revolution by Dimitar Gyudzhenov in 1975 and for me a portrait painted by Derina Georgieva in 1928, her final year of studies at the academy of Fine Arts.
The ornate ceiling in the galleryOur energy levels restored, we visited the ethnographic museum which is in another beautiful old house with decorative woodwork, built-in cupboards, shelving and benches and the decorative paintwork both inside and out. In each room a different aspect of craft work or life in days of yore was featured. Decorative household items and extra large and ornate jewellery, as well as functional work and bells, showed the different aspects of the craft of metal working.
Different fabrics, from course woollens to fine linens and dainty embroidery, were shown in various rooms, with the tools and machines used to make them. We were intrigued by a braid making machine, and could see the mundane and very involved uses that the braid was put to. 
Uniforms and jackets regularly had decorative scrolls and loops of braid sewn on. The pottery room displayed many plates, jugs and bowls, all glazed in autumnal tones and with designs with larger elements in them, such as two or three large daisies in the centre and a border of dots. Nestinarstvo, the art of fire walking, is a speciality of Bulgaria and concludes rituals that end in an ecstatic dance. The skill of walking barefoot on coals is passed down through the men and women, usually in a family. The Christian church was able to work the practice into its own festivals, which enabled it to survive to today. Tobacco was a very big agricultural pursuit in the past, and bee keeping and perfume distilling still are. The equipment of former days showed how time consuming every task was. Upstairs we learnt more about Bulgarian musical instruments, particularly the bagpipe, one of which was so hairy it looked as if it had been made from a woolly mammoth. My favourite display was the traditional costumes from various areas. Every article of clothing was made from scratch – the fabrics woven, the wool grown, dyed, spun and knitted into socks, the aprons embroidered – I was really impressed, even though I was a little surprised at how practical, rather than simply pretty, they were. It was interesting to see the different interiors set up, with great variations according to wealth and region.
Finally I was amazed by the skills of a modern day master knife maker whose works were on display. He has made many ceremonial and film set pieces and developed the use of modern technologies for engraving the most detailed tiny designs on blades.We just had time to speed walk down to the formal and gracious government building with its parks, sculptures and bird decorated fountain edging an enormous square. Many people were patronising the pavement cafes and there was an air of relaxation and ease.
We were now familiar with the way and knew to turn at the spot where senior men sat outdoors playing cards and backgammon. Later we heard that this area is a gambling den that is periodically cleaned up. Confused by the sameness of the buildings, we had to check the number to be sure. We let ourselves in and spent time writing to potential couch surfing hosts until Natasha returned. She helped us with our research and then we all set off for the village, via the supermarket and the local bus.
The village is close to Plovdiv and at the foot of a mountain that many Plovdiv residents use for recreation. It has tripled in size over recent times. The walk from the bus stop up the hill let us see the village houses, which are surrounded by productive gardens. Natasha’s house has its own wild and lovely garden with tall trees shading out other plants. Inside, we cooked some vegetable soup, using a Bulgarian herb that we don’t know the name of but which made the dish taste delicious. Some chocolate and lollies finished off the meal and we all retired, with us looking forward to a sleep in and poor Natasha rising to catch the 7.30 bus into Plovdiv to work.
A view over Plovdiv with the idle stadium in the distance.
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