Sunday Aug 28. Road trip to the Bulgarian interior.

Written by Jack van Ommen on August 28th, 2011

This is a total change of scenery from the hot summer weather on the coast in busy seaside resorts to a cool quiet mountain village near the Shipka Pass. Our first stop was at the Neolithic Dwelling Museum in Stara Zagora. It is a small museum built over the excavated remains of Stone Age dwellings dating back to between 7 and 6 milleniums B.C. They are considered the oldest human dwellings known in S.E. Europe. Made from clay. From the picture you can make out the cooking area, post foundations and pottery and stone utensils, etc. The museum has a display of the pottery remains that have been reconstructed in their original state, some with the help of computer programs. Next we drove further north through the valley where a particular type of Damask roses is grown for the production of  rose oil and rose extract for the cosmetic industry. I bought a jar of jam made from it in Nessebar, great stuff. We stopped in the villlage of Shipka to take a look at the Orhtodox Cathedral of Saint Nicholas. We could see it from afar in the setting sun, reflecting on its gold leaf covered onion domes. It was built in 1902 as a memorial to the Russian soldiers who drove the Turks out of S.E. Europe in 1877. Inga had this travel program all rehearsed with Christoph their Bulgarian friend in the marina. We are now staying in a small hotel in a mountian vilage.

 

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