Quiet night in the lay-by with a dull, misty morning to wake up to. We set off for Plovdiv, about a hour away, and had a pit stop for secondary coffee while we filled up with water from a trickling roadside tap. 😆
Plovdiv. Hmmm, well, I couldn’t decide if it was just a hole filled with tacky shops or actually quite a nice town. Certainly, I think we came in from the rough end, with a giant underpass containing shops not dissimilar to the old West End Arcade in Nottingham. We went up to the old town first. Many cobbled streets uphill with a surprise ancient theatre which overlooked the whole city. By this time it had gone from being cold and rainy to hot and muggy. All the extra layers had to be tied round our waists ..or rather, where our waists used to be.
Back down in the newer part of town, cafe culture had taken over a few of the streets and then we came across another little amphitheatre just in the middle of the town plaza. Glass wall around it and restaurant above ..probably making best use of it really.
Nearby, there was an unusual monument called ‘The Witness’ – a metal version of a 100year old Mulberry tree which split in half. It was made in memory of the victims of communism – those killed or crippled in the 44 Bulgarian concentration camps or by the regional police department. Sobering.
As the parking was a very noisy place, we decided to move on to the next item on our hit list – the amazing Buzludzha monument.
A relic from the communist era that is visible for miles around. We could see it on top of the hill from 25km away. This really is like something frozen in time that’s just been left to ruin since the end of the communist era. Such a shame really, as good or bad – it’s all history!
A pot holed road took us right to the top, which was lucky as I don’t think either of us had the legs for a steep climb this evening. We walked all the way around looking up at the spaceship-like disc, opened in 1981, for the workers by army volunteers! Sad that you can no longer go inside as it’s now in a dangerous state. The views all around are stunning …it feels like you can see the whole of Bulgaria. Just as impressive, in a Soviet kind of way, are the torch sculptures further down. All in all, I think it has to go into my top ten things to see in Europe!
