Ellis and Jodie's Bulgarian Adventure

Our favorite Bob Dylan is the classic folk Dylan, with just his voice, guitar and harmonica, and those wonderful folk/rock/protest songs of pure poetry. Still, seeing him in concert is an unforgettable experience. A number of months ago, Ellis suggested that we go see Bob Dylan when he comes to Sofia in June. Since I am a big Bob Dylan fan, and he’s not, this was a very generous offer, which I immediately accepted. After waiting a number of months, the date finally arrived. Despite the on again/off again rain during the day, the skies were clear before the concert, so we walked the 20 minutes to NDK, where the concert was being held. We had great seats in the middle of the 3rd row from the front (there were still chairs set up in front of us in the “orchestra” area for VIPs – but I believe that we were more comfortable than they were!) Bob Dylan came out with his band, and gave a great performance for about 1 ½ hours. He sang a few of his old songs, and some newer ones (I must admit, I...

We didn't really know much about the Pri Orlite Restaurant before going there on Saturday night with a group of friends. We heard that it was on the 18th floor of a building in the center of Sofia, but we didn't even think that there were tall buildings in the center. We took the elevator up to the top of the building and stepped inside the restaurant and were amazed at what we saw. All of Sofia was displayed in the restaurant windows, scenes of our adopted city that we had never seen before or even knew existed. The windows were on all sides, so we walked around the room taking it all in, including the sun setting to the west. The best views of all were from the bathrooms! The golden domes of Alexander Nevski Cathedral sparkled in the city below us. As for the restaurant itself, it was a bit pricey, apparently because you paid for what you were looking at. Jodie had duck, which was very tasty, and I had salmon, which was good but not anything special. For those prices we could...

Yesterday, while Ellis was hiking in the Rila mountains, I joined a new friend for an outing with the Sofia HASH House Harriers . This is a group that meets twice a month for a bit of hiking, a bit of drinking, some food and a good time. Most of the members are ex-pats living in Bulgaria. The destination for this week’s get-together was a bit of a stray from their usual outing, but was well worth the trip (unfortunately, I only have a few photos taken with my phone, as Ellis had the camera…). We started out visiting a Monastery at Balsa, a short distance north of Sofia. We drove through a small village, and then parked in the fields at the edge of the village, and hiked up to the monastery. The walk took about ½ hour, but most of it was very much uphill (and I told Ellis that I didn’t want to come with him, since it was too much hiking!). The monastery itself is not lived in, and there’s a small chapel with very pretty paintings inside. After we returned to our cars, we drove a couple ...

The weather forecast threatened rain, but I bravely set out with 4 Bulgarian friends on a trek into the Rila Mountains and the Sedmete Ezera , or Seven Lakes. Jodie stayed behind as this was not the trek for her. The five of us drove up winding mountain roads through the village of Panichishte to the Rila Lakes Chair Lift, which would take us on an open-air ride of more than 2 kilometers to the altitude of 2,100 meters. At the top of the lift we reached the Rila Lakes Chalet and from there we began our hike. It was 8 Degrees Celsius and there was still plenty of snow around. It will all melt by the end of June. We looked up to the ridge on our right = that was where we were heading. It was a hard ascent even for me, but there were young children and even a woman carrying a young baby making the climb. The Rila Lakes are fed by snow water and are located on a series of steps down the mountain valley. We would see five of them, and they are viewed most spectacularly from above. After o...

Spring in Bulgaria is accompanied by an unusual occurrence that I’ve never seen anywhere else before – and I’m talking about the Fuzzie-Wuzzies that float in the air. They must come from some kind of tree, but I have yet to discover which – and considering the amount of fluff floating in the air, there must be a lot of them in the city. It starts off with very little balls of fluff that float around – almost reminding you of snow, but they don’t melt. As time goes on, they gather their forces together and unite in bigger and bigger balls of cottony-looking fluff. The heavier balls don’t float, but gather in the corners of your porch and wait for the chance to blow into your house as soon as you leave a door open. Then they dance around your room and dare you to try and catch them and throw them back outside where they’ll only gather together with other fluff balls, and make their way inside again. Sofia isn’t the only city in Bulgaria that I’ve seen these in. I remember encountering th...

During the last week of May, the streets of Sofia are full of cars racing along blaring their horns, with balloons tied to their antennas trailing behind. Sitting half outside the car in the open windows are high school graduates, celebrating loudly their first taste of freedom. High school graduation is a big thing to celebrate in Bulgaria and the graduates spare no expense when preparing for their final parties. The boys spend money on fancy suits and the girls empty their parents' pockets to purchase expensive gowns. It appears that they're all noisily bound for the Senior Prom. The graduates from one school gathered, with their parents and curious onlookers, in the street outside the Kempinski Hotel where their party would take place. As the cars drove up, bringing more and more teenagers, they were met by musicians, playing a lively Balkan beat. Each graduate bounced up to greet the next of his or her friends to arrive. Pictures were taken and cameramen filmed the festivit...

Today is a national holiday, Bulgarian Education and Culture, and Slavonic Literature Day , which celebrates the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet, which originated in Bulgaria. Although there is some dispute as to who really created the Slavic language alphabet, the main consensus goes to the brothers Saints Cyril and Methodius , who were born in Thessaloniki in the 9th century. They were missionaries in Moravia, and one of their main tasks was to translate the Bible, for which they first created the Glagolitic alphabet, which was then used for Slavonic manuscripts. The Cyrillic alphabet was a direct descendent of this alphabet. The early alphabet was very closely related to the Greek alphabet. At the time of the invention of the Cyrillic alphabet, the Byzantine Empire was expanding into Bulgaria, and many saw the preservation of the Old Slavonic language with its own alphabet as a way of preserving their national identity. To this day, the Bulgarians are very proud of their language ...