Sightseeing in the Mindfields
Current Events 70: Lola
July 28, 2022
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Radi enticed her husband, Nenad, to come to the Thermae to meet the members of her group. He brought their black and white, mixed breed dog, Lola, with him. Lola was a friendly dog, so I petted her for perhaps longer than politeness would dictate. Nenad was a tall, slim man with a shaven head. He wore blue jeans, a T-shirt, and a leather jacket, an...
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Current Events 69: The Thermae
July 21, 2022
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In Classical times, Varna was a Greek trading colony called Odessos. Successive empires realized the value of the Black Sea port and left their traces in its soil. Perhaps most visible were the Thermae, the ruins of the Roman baths. The Romans ruled Odessos for centuries, incorporating it into their province of Moesia. Varna's Thermae were among th...
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Current Events 68: The Gold of Varna
July 12, 2022
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Our bus halted at Varna's Archeological Museum. The museum was in a Neoclassical building from the 1880's that had been a girls' high school, or gymnasium. Within a few years of the school's opening, it began its transformation into a museum, thanks to the efforts of a pair of brother polymaths, the Skorpils. Both Herman and Karel Skorpil were amat...
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Current Events 67: The Martenitsa
July 06, 2022
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Though there was an excellent highway from Ruse to Varna, two hundred kilometers was a long ride in a bus. Radi's spirits were not dampened by the morning's overcast skies and cool temperatures. She was delighted that she would be able to introduce us to her home city. She was hoping that she could have us meet her husband, a Serbian man to whom sh...
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Current Events 66: Changing Course
June 29, 2022
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From Arbanassi, the bus did not return us to Nikopol, where we had breakfasted. Instead, we went to a berth downriver, at Ruse. Ruse is Bulgaria's major Danube port. It was also our last stop on the river, contrary to our original itinerary. From Ruse, we were to have cruised through the Danube delta to the black Sea port of Constanţa. Little rain...
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Current Events 65: More Oddities of Arbanassi
June 22, 2022
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We ended our afternoon in Arbanassi on a steep street where artisans produced jewelry, pottery, and embroidered linens for sale. There were art and antique galleries, too, among the inevitable souvenir shops. Prices were fairly low. Some of the ceramic wares would have made nice gifts, but I did not fancy hauling them back in my luggage. There were...
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Current Events 64: Archangels in Arbanassi
June 15, 2022
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Our guide, Radi, introduced the next attraction as remarkable, and advised us to have our cameras ready. We filed into a modest church dedicated to the Archangels Michael and Gabriel. From the outside, it could have been another merchant's manor. Inside, the walls and the entire barrel-vaulted ceiling were covered with stunning frescoes. On a dark...
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Current Events 63: Arbanassi
June 09, 2022
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Velikovo Tarnovo's population was close to 70,000. Velikovo, meaning "great", had been added to the name in 1908, when it was designated the capital of an independent Bulgaria. The adjective remained part of the city's name even after the seat of government moved to Sofia, the present capital. Velikovo Tarnovo was one of the few places in Bulgaria...
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Current Events 62: Velikovo Tarnovo
June 02, 2022
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I was feeling ill when I awoke on the morning that we docked in Nikopol. The Aria had sailed there from Vidin while I slept. My throat was sore, and I had developed laryngitis. We were not slated to tour Nikopol, another port that the Romans had fortiifed. Instead, our destination was the medieval capital of Bulgaria, Velikovo Tarnovo. It was about...
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Current Events 61: Roofless in Vidin
May 27, 2022
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After the Jews' departure from Vidin, the vacant synagogue deteriorated. In the 1970's, the Ministry of Culture drew up plans to restore the building for use as a center for the arts. Work began in 1983 and was still in progress six years later, when Communism ended. The timing could not have been worse. Workers had just removed the roof. There was...
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