back to Bulgaria

After a long train ride from Brasov, I arrived at Gorna Oryahovitsa in Bulgaria, a town some 12km from Veliko Tarnovo, where I was heading, with no idea how I was to complete the journey except that I'd been warned to avoid the rip-off taxis.  But as ever in this part of the world, in my experience so far, things just work out.  A bus pulled up in front of the station and I asked if they were going to Veliko Tarnovo - yes, they were!  & as we pulled into the town, another passenger indicated to me in sign language where I should get off and in which direction I should walk.

Veliko Tarnovo was beautiful (the two photos above looking in different directions from the town, both viewpoints only a short walk from my hostel) and the hostel was really nice with a terrace and garden as well as a really helpful manager.  It became the capital of Bulgaria in the twelfth century, until 1879 when a decision was made to transfer this status to Sofia.

I have to admit to having been a little disappointed to be told that the principal historic tourist site, the Tsarevets Fortress, was only built in the 1970s, the original walls having been destroyed by the Ottomans several centuries earlier!  But within the walls is a church built when the country was under Soviet rule - when the authorities were given permission to build a church provided it didn't look like a church, and so the frescoes inside should also not look too 'religious'.  The result was an amazing set of pictures of what look to me like torture scenes - so different from all of the other church frescoes and definitely worth seeing!

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