ISBN: 978-619-90319-1-9

Dimana Trankova ● Anthony Georgieff

HIDDEN TREASURES OF BULGARIA 2

by Dimana Trankova, Anthony Georgieff

© Dimana Trankova, 2014 (text)

© Anthony Georgieff, 2014 (text and photography)

© Tsvetomir Trankov, 2014 (photography on pp6, 36)

Subedited by Jane Keating

Graphic design by Gergana Shkodrova

Printed by Dimiter Blagoev Printing House, Sofia

© FSI Foundation, 2014

First published in November, 2014

The publication of this book is supported by the America for Bulgaria Foundation. The statements and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the America for Bulgaria Foundation and its partners.

HIDDEN TREASURESOF BULGARIA 2Всички права запазени. Без ограничения на правата, под които е установено

авторското право, нито една част от това произведение не може да бъде възпроизвеждана, съхранявана или въвеждана в система за циркулация, или препредавана под каквато и да била форма (електронна, механична, фотокопиране или друга) без писмено съгласие на издателя.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise), without the prior written consent of the publisher.

F R E E S P E E C H I N T E R N A T I O N A L F O U N D A T I O N

54

INTRODUCTION 9

FROM DURANKULAK TO REZOVO 12

BULGARIA'S SUNKEN CHURCHES 38

ANGLO-SAXON BULGARIA 42

IF ORPHEUS PLAYED BAGPIPES 50

BUZLUDZHA 58

OTTOMAN BULGARIA 66

AROMATIC BULGARIA 76

KOVACHEVITSA 80

LIONS AND EAGLES OF SOFIA 86

WALKING ON FIRE 98

STONES AND STORIES 110

CONTENTS

BULGARIAN MONASTERIES 126

BUYING BRIDES 148

THE DANUBE 160

BULGARIA'S BRIDGES 174

AMERICAN DREAM UNDER WATER 188

RIBNOVO WEDDINGS 194

STONE CROSSES 210

DIMITROVGRAD 218

JEWISH BULGARIA 226

BORDERLANDS 234

CAPITAL URBAN CULTURE 248

8 9

In 1933-1934, when he made his famous journey on foot from The Hook of Holland to Istanbul, Sir Patrick "Paddy" Leigh Fermor, the father of travel writing the way we know it today, wrote: "I have never met anyone who had been to Bulgaria. Romania and Hungary looked westwards to Vienna, Berlin, London and Paris, and the benighted region of the Balkans was terra incognita... in the eyes of everyone living north of the river, Bulgaria seemed the darkest, most backward and least inviting country except Albania."

Things have come a long way since those pre-war years. Organised tourism was a government policy priority up to 1989, mainly for groups from "fraternal" Communist states holidaying in purpose-built resorts on the Black Sea coast or skiing in the Rila and the Rhodope. Travelling on your own behind the Iron Curtain, however, was out of the question, and with the exception of a few very dedicated and very brave Westerners, no one dared take the challenge. Bulgaria continued to be the least known European land outside Albania.

When Communism collapsed, Bulgaria began in earnest to receive what initially was a tiny trickle of independent travellers. That trickle intensified and turned into a steady flow in the 2000s when many came to the country, loved it and started buying holiday homes. Inspired by its unknown culture, intoxicated by its climate, charmed by its cuisine and fascinated by its people, these newcomers brought in their friends and families, as well as the friends of their friends and families. Going-to-Bulgaria became an oft-heard adage in the lobbies of Western airports.

Going where? To Bulgaria?

What has been turned into huge Benidorm-type holiday complexes along the Black Sea coast tells only a part of the story. Many shy away from the sort of entertainment the new complexes promise, and venture into the Bulgarian heartland. That is where our story starts.

At first we were amazed. Even through we have been quite familiar with all aspects of Bulgaria for a long time, during our recent travels through the country we made numerous discoveries few visitors and even Bulgarians suspect could exist. One of them is the village of Gumoshtnik, in northern Bulgaria. If you happen to drive through, you will be unimpressed. But if you know the story, you will knock on the church door and the priest will emerge. After the obligatory chat, he will take you to the churchyard and point to you a monument to... the Titanic ship. Yes – what was a major maritime disaster for the world in 1912, was for the people of this village a sheer catastrophe – many young, able-bodied Gumoshtnik men perished with the Titanic as they were third-class passengers on their way to America. Some, curiously, lived on, Tom Sawyer-like, because they were too late to embark at Southampton...

Another is the dozen or so sunken churches in various locations through the country. From the 1950s, when massive industrialisation and collectivised farming started, the government ordered the construction of smaller and bigger reservoirs. Often, whole villages had to be resettled as they were to be submerged in water. These villages have long been forgotten. Yet locals will remember their names and point the right way to them. What remains of these villages is... their

INTRODUCTION

Once horse carts used to trundle along the roads of Bulgaria. They were

an integral part of this country's village culture, inspiring writer Yordan

Yovkov's (1880-1937) short story "The Wheel Song"

10 11

churches. Surreally, when the water is low, their belfries stick out: sad symbols of the passage of time and human fragility.

Yet another is this country's very interesting Jewish heritage. Bulgaria is obviously not Poland, and you should not expect to stumble upon synagogues and abandoned Jewish cemeteries at every road turn. But it once had a vibrant Jewish community that has left many traces of its existence. They are here for you to discover, if you know where to look: often poignant and in various stages of dilapidation, Bulgaria's Jewish heritage is a gateway to a lesser known but fascinating chapter of the history of the Balkans and of southeastern Europe.

By now you have probably heard the explanations of the 500 years of Ottoman domination of the Bulgarian lands, from the 14th to the late 19th centuries. Usually, this period is mentioned just in passing in Bulgarian textbooks, and usually the focus is put on the failed uprising and the atrocities they prompted. There is little if any reference to the amalgamation between the various constituent nations of the Ottoman Empire and how in many ways it predetermined what Bulgaria and the Bulgarians are today. For one, the Ottomans were great builders. Ottoman-era heritage in the form of public buildings, baths, clocktowers, water fountains, bridges and mosques is everywhere in modern Bulgaria. It provides yet another look into how Bulgaria's past continues to play a major role in Bulgaria's present

Then there are the legacies of Communism. Immediately after the Second World War and until 1989 Bulgaria was often referred to as the most loyal satellite of the Soviet Union. It was. The hundreds if not thousands of Communist-era monuments throughout the country stand silent witnesses to those years. Some of them are well kept and maintained, many have been abandoned and left to the elements. Buzludzha, dubbed Communism's Flying Saucer, is nothing like anything you've seen before. It's as incredible as a Cadillac in Pyongyang. We visited at night. You may, too.

But this book is not only about out-of-the-way hard-to-find curiosities. Bulgaria is not just material heritage. It is a living organism where many interesting things happen every day.

One of them is the annual Gypsy brides market held near Stara Zagora. You got it right – a market where Gypsy girls are passed on by their parents to their would-be husbands, and cash changes hands. Don't think anything nasty, however. No one sells human beings into slavery. This is a tradition that may seem odd and not particularly politically correct, but it has been

going on for a long time. Visiting provides a unique opportunity to glimpse into the lives of a significant chunk of the Bulgarian population.

Another is played out in the village of Ribnovo, on the western slopes of the Rhodope. A traditional Ribnovo wedding is an incredible mixture between pagan pageantry and... Islam. It is so drastically different from any mainstream wedding party that even many Bulgarians are stunned if they happen to be in the area at wedding time.

In his 1934 novel Thank You, Jeeves, P. G. Wodehouse placed this conversation: "You say that instrument, Jeeves. And you say it in an unpleasant, soupy voice. Am I to understand that you dislike this banjolele?'

'Yes, sir.''You've stood it all right up to now.''With grave difficulty, sir.''And let me tell you that better men than you have stood

worse than banjoleles. Are you aware that a certain Bulgarian, Elia Gospodinoff, once played the bagpipes for twenty-four hours without a stop? Ripley vouches for this in his Believe It Or Not.'

'Indeed, sir?''Well, do you suppose Gospodinoff 's personal attendant

kicked? A laughable idea. They are made of better stuff than that in Bulgaria. I am convinced that he was behind the young master from start to finish of his attempt on the Central European record, and I have no doubt frequently rallied round with ice packs and other restoratives. Be Bulgarian, Jeeves.'

'No, sir. I fear I cannot recede from my position."This is of course fiction, and funny at that, but Bulgaria is

indeed one of the few countries in the world, possibly outside Ireland and Scotland, where bagpiping is taken seriously. The best place to experience the mesmerising voices of the Bulgarian bagpipes is in Gela, a tiny hilltop village in southern Bulgaria. Again – nothing like Ireland or Scotland.

One of the most mysterious rites still practiced in Bulgaria is that of firewalking. It happens just twice a year, in two remote villages in the Strandzha, very near the border with Turkey. Partaking of the collective trance of the firewalkers as they step into the live embers is otherworldly. Whereas the Ribnovo weddings are a mixture between pagan pageantry and Islam, the Strandzha firewalking is an equally bizarre mixture between pagan pageantry and Orthodoxy. In this part of Europe,

Christianity arrived before heathenism had gone away, and an epitome of that are Bulgaria's nestinari.

To get to really know Bulgaria for what it is, one needs to venture off the beaten track. And to be able to understand what you see and experience you need to understand the language and know what is sometimes a very complex background. Bulgaria is no longer the unknown and reclusive country it once was, but despite the better roads, the airports and the steady tourist traffic it continues to hold many secrets. That's what makes it so intriguing! You stand a good chance of making your own discoveries. This a rare anywhere else in Europe these days.

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FROM DURANKULAK

TO REZOVO

You may like the bustle and vibes of Sunny Beach – or you may hate it; but do not judge the rest of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast by it. While Bulgaria's maritime border is only 378 kilometres long, it is rich and diverse. Venture along it, and you will encounter majestic cliffs and surreal remains of Socialism, busy cities and still unspoilt beaches, archaeological sites and wetlands and rare birds.

Before you start, here is some practical advice: there is no such thing as a Black Sea coastal highway in Bulgaria and most of the road will be inland, not by the sea. As always in Bulgaria, drive defensively, especially in high season.

For years, Durankulak, Bulgaria's northernmost village on the Black Sea coast, was popular mainly with people from Varna, who cherished its remoteness and complete lack of Sofianites. Here, they used to enjoy the fish soup at the Zlatna Ribka restaurant and the free camping on the almost empty sandy beach by the Durankulak lake.

This has changed dramatically in recent years as many Bulgarians swapped the overdeveloped southern Black Sea for the north, and Romanians have started to visit en masse for an easy and carefree vacation. However, Durankulak is still pretty much overlooked.

Bolata Bay north of Cape Kaliakra in wintertime

Black Sea road tripping from north to south unravels many off-the-beaten-

track locations that are at least as fascinating as the known landmarks

14 15

Situated on the Via Pontica bird migration route, Durankulak lake is one of Bulgaria's most important wetlands. It is home to over 250 rare and endangered plant and animal species, but it is not only nature that is of interest here. The larger of the two islands in the lake was dubbed the Troy of Europe, as in the 6th Millennium BC one of the first human settlements in the continent was established here.

Less than 20 kilometres south of Durankulak is Shabla. The town itself is unpromising but its fishermen's quarter, called Kariya after the old Roman town that existed there, may easily become one of the highlights of your journey. Marked by the red-and-white-striped lighthouse, the quarter fronts a big sandy bay and stinks of sulphur wafting from the piped hot mineral springs.

The lighthouse was built in 1857, and it is the easternmost, the tallest – at 32 metres, and the oldest in Bulgaria. It was constructed after Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid (1839-1861) commissioned the French Compagnie des Phares de l’Empire Ottomane to make navigation of the Black Sea safer with a series of lighthouses on the most dangerous spots of the coastline. Sadly, entering the Shabla lighthouse is banned, so you cannot take a closer look at two interesting details. One is the sultan's tuğra, or seal, on the main façade, and the other is a lion carved high on the wall. According to local lore, the lion was created by a Bulgarian builder to indicate his identity within the Ottoman Empire.

Next to the lighthouse there is a less pleasant remnant of the past – the rusting remains of a metal pier. It was built in the 1960s as the place where Soviet tankers would load tons of crude oil drilled from the plain around Shabla. Oil? In Shabla? Yes, the local deposits of crude oil were discovered in the 1950s and started a full scale oil rush in what at the time was Communist Bulgaria. The government started building infrastructure, but before it was finished it became clear that the quantities of crude were much less than initially thought, so everything was abandoned. It still remains, a sad memory of the megalomania of Communism left to the indifference of the 21st Century.

When you head south from Shabla, you will see more remains of the stillborn Bulgarian oil industry. The fields, which look endless as you are at the southernmost tip of the great Eurasian steppes, are dotted with rusting oil tanks and abandoned drills. In the past few years many of them have been removed and

now, among the fields of rapeseed, wheat and sunflowers, the beacons of the new fashion in Bulgarian power generation have appeared: wind turbines.

The village of Kamen Bryag, further south, would be a waste of your time if it were not for the Yaylata plateau, rising 60-70 metres above the sea. Magnificently unspoilt, this area combines steppe, rocky and marine ecosystems and an astonishing biodiversity. About 200 migratory species live in and around the plateau, which is a nature reserve. Rare plants like the wild peony are found in abundance, and the peak flowering period is the end of April and the beginning of May.

Yaylata is also a place with a historical heritage. The steppe is dotted with dozens of graves carved into the rocks, probably by Sarmatians in the 2-5th centuries. When you take the path leading deep into the reserve, you pass by caves, which in the 5-6th centuries were used as hermitages; archaeologists have identified more than 100, and a fortress from the same period rises from the tip of the plateau.

Many Bulgarians visit Yaylata to camp, swim, explore the water-level caves and climb the steep rocks. The crowd becomes enormous on 30 June, when people gather here to have fun and greet the sunrise by singing Uriah Heep's July Morning. The event, called Dzhulaya, came into being in the 1980s as an anti-establishment protest, but is now rather tame and somewhat commercialised.

The fortress at Cape Kaliakra, about a 10-kilometre drive from Yaylata, is the most visited archaeological site in the area. Situated on a long, narrow cape rising 70 metres above the sea, it was the stronghold of a powerful Bulgarian family in the 13th-14th centuries. One of its members, Despot Dobrotitsa, even gave his name to the whole region: Dobrudzha. At the tip of the promontory there is a chapel with the supposed grave of St Nicholas. According to legend, he ran towards the sea from the invading Ottomans, praying to God to rescue him. God did

Built by the Ottomans in the mid-19th century, the Shabla Lighthouse

marks Bulgaria's easternmost point

Next spread: The Yaylata Plateau, where the ecosystem has changed little

during the past 1,000 years, is the last chunk of the great Eurasian steppe in

Bulgaria. It holds many wonders, including a continuously burning natural

gas well known as The Little Fire

16 17

18 19

help by extending the solid ground of the promontory with every step he took, but the saint was also a man and eventually became tired, and he was killed when he stopped to rest.

The most popular legend about Kaliakra again involves the Ottoman invasion in the late 14th Century. When the fort was overrun, 40 Bulgarian maidens braided their hair together and jumped to their death to avoid capture. A modern sculpture of them now stands at the entrance to the promontory. Next to it there is a monument to Russian General Feodor Ushakov, who in 1791 won a decisive battle against the Ottomans at Cape Kaliakra, effectively ending the 1787-1792 Russo-Turkish war.

Kaliakra also explodes with wildlife, and Taukliman lake and the Bolata wetland, both north of the cape, are a true paradise for birdwatchers. Bolata also has a nice beach, sheltered in a cove.

Kavarna is the closest city to Kaliakra, and for a long time it was only a place to pass through on the way to somewhere else. Not anymore. In 2003, the local mayor organised a concert of rock and heavy metal groups who had long passed their zenith of popularity in the West, but had never been seen live in Bulgaria. Thousands of fans gathered, and the concert turned into a festival, appropriately named Kavarna Rocks. It has now lost some of its initial momentum, but it is still a major event. Kavarna called itself the Rock Capital of Bulgaria and Socialist-era blocks of apartments were adorned with now fading murals of visiting rock stars. After Ronnie James Dio died in 2010, a statue of him was placed in the city park.

The next big attraction on your way is Balchik. Overdevelopment has taken its toll on this once idyllic city looking out to sea at the foot of high white cliffs. Luckily, the lovely summer palace of the English-born Marie, Queen of Romania, built as a retreat in the 1920s, is still unspoilt. Marie was a Baha'ist and believed in the amalgamation of all religions, so she planned her palace as an embodiment of this principle. In the compound there is a mock Roman water temple, a garden dedicated to Allah, a Christian chapel, and a fine collection of Moldavian stone crosses.

The Botanical Garden next door is a nice addition, and if you are after picturesque bay views, take the panoramic road

towards the old Muslim cemetery. It is on the top of a hill overlooked by a Hollywood-style sign that reads B-A-L-C-H-I-K and is easily recognisable, as part of it has been turned into a lorry park.

Recently, right in the centre of the city, an ancient temple of Cybele, an Asia Minor goddess who was popular all over the Greco-Roman world, was discovered. Plans to turn the site into a museum are underway, but you can see statues of Cybele, votive tablets and architectural details from the temple in Balchik's small but fascinating history museum.

The next place of interest on the road south is Islamic, the tekke, or shrine, of the 16th Century sage Ak Yazılı Baba in the village of Obrochishte, near the resort of Albena. Only the beautiful stone heptagonal türbe, or tomb, and the shell of a large public kitchen remain of what was one of the great centres of Alevism in Bulgaria. This branch of Islam propagates the equality of religions and has borrowed some of its rites from Christianity. Even under the Ottomans, local Christians believed that St Atanas was buried in Ak Yazılı Baba tekke, and it was a place of pilgrimage. The shrine is still venerated by Muslims and Christians alike, as both light candles to the memory of the saint.

Then comes Varna. Bulgaria's largest seaside city is a place of contrasts. It is sprawling and congested, and most of the holidaymakers on the city beaches are Bulgarians combining a visit to their Varna relatives with a bit of sunbathing, but it is also a place to enjoy, with one of the best restaurant scenes in the region. A leisurely stroll along the tourist-crowded pedestrian area is fun, and the Greek Quarter, the oldest inhabited part of the city, is a patchwork of history, people and religions. Here the remains of the largest Roman bathhouse in the Balkans share space with Greek and Armenian churches, and elegant pre-1944 houses are squeezed between blocks of flats from the 2000s.

Varna's must-see attraction is the Archaeological Museum which, among other exhibits, houses the oldest gold treasure in the world. Beads, ritual sceptres and clothing adornments from the beginning of the 4th Millennium BC were interned with their owners in a few graves in a huge prehistoric burial ground. This makes the Varna necropolis one of the earliest examples of social stratification in human society.

The mouth of the Kamchiya River, about 35 kilometres south of Varna, is a complete contrast to the buzz of the big city. The river flows slow and wide, its banks covered with lush greenery.

The distinctive cliff shore south of Cape Kaliakra, or the nearest thing

to Dover you can find in Bulgaria

20 21

Big in Kavarna. Since the 2000s Kavarna has been known as the Rock

Capital of Bulgaria, with various bands such as Helloween, Manowar, Slayer

and Scorpions performing there. Communist-era housing projects have

been adorned with murals showing past and present rock stars

Left page: English-born Queen Marie of Romania built her Quiet Nest retreat

in the 1920s near Balchik, which at that time was in southern Romania.

Marie was a follower of Baha'ism, an amalgamation of world religions, and

had her palace decorated with symbols of all the major faiths including

crosses, crescents and six-pointed stars

23

Close by is Karadere, probably Bulgaria's best unspoiled beach. The road to it meanders between Byala and the village of Goritsa. In the years before overdevelopment took its toll on the southern Black Sea coast, Karadere was one among many pristine beaches in Bulgaria. The construction boom, however, has forced many holidaymakers, unhappy with what has become of their previous haunts, to flock here.

Cape Emine, about 25 kilometres south, is where the Stara Planina range meets the Black Sea. The cape is also the geographical division between the northern and the southern Bulgarian Black Sea coast, and with its 60 metres of steep rock rising above the sea it is an arresting sight.

Cape Emine is the end of the E-3 European long-distance path. This starts in Spain, follows the Camino of St James, crosses France, Slovakia and Romania, and enters Bulgaria. Then it traverses the Stara Planina range, from Kom Peak to the Black Sea. The hikers completing the Bulgarian section of the E-3 have created a peculiar tradition. Each takes two pebbles from Kom and carries them all the way to Cape Emine. There, they throw one of the pebbles into the sea and keep its partner as a memento of the journey.

After Emine, the most developed part of the Bulgarian coast begins. Resorts like St Vlas and Sunny Beach are well known for their crowds, but Nesebar, a UNESCO world heritage site, deserves a few hours. Situated on what was once an island but is now joined to the mainland by a narrow causeway, it is a place of ancient fortress walls, medieval churches, Revival Period houses and all the touristy kitsch you can squeeze in between.

There is evidence that Thracians lived here first, but the Greek settlers were the ones to recognise and develop ancient Mesembria's potential as a trading outpost, in the 7th Century BC. The city quickly became one of the major Greek colonies around the Black Sea – replete with fortress walls, theatre, temples and so on. It even minted its own coins.

In the Middle Ages, Mesembria regained its significance as a port. The wealthy traders filled the limited space inside the

fortress walls with churches in the latest Byzantine fashion. Many of these have been preserved, but if you want a shortlist of must-sees, check out the ruins of the Old Bishopric from the 4th Century and the churches of St John the Baptist, Ss Archangel Michail and Gabriel, and Christ Pantokratoros, all from the 11-13th centuries.

The houses of wood and stone which are the other part of Nesebar's claim to fame were built by wealthy merchants in the 18-19th centuries. With changes in the economy and trade routes, however, Nesebar began a steady decline, which was further increased by the exchange of populations between Bulgaria and Greece in the early 20th Century. Most of the Greeks, who had lived in Nesebar for millennia, departed and Bulgarians from Aegean Thrace and Macedonia took their place. Gradually, the once prosperous city turned into a backwater.

The city was revived by Socialist efforts to develop mass tourism in the 1950s, the creation of the Sunny Beach resort nearby and the UNESCO World Heritage list inclusion in 1983. However, overdevelopment, lack of regulation and hoards of day trippers have robbed Nesebar of much of its erstwhile charm.

Once Nesebar is behind you, you pass through Pomorie, whose newest hotels aspire to rival Las Vegas. Do stop at the nearby ancient tomb. Built in the 2nd-3rd centuries AD, the tomb belonged to a wealthy Thracian family and is unparalleled in Europe. In the middle of the rotund, brick-and-mortar chamber stands a massive hollow column. A staircase inside it leads up to the top of the mound. This strange construction probably reflected the ancient Thracian belief that, after death, those initiated into the secret teachings of Orpheus would turn into demi-gods.

After Pomorie there is Burgas, the largest city in the area, and which has won The Best Place to Live in Bulgaria title for several years in a row. In order to decide if you agree or disagree, you should spend a leisurely day in Burgas, strolling through the Maritime Garden and mingling with the crowds in the pedestrian area.

Around the city there are several lakes and wetlands which are good for birdwatchers eager to spot rare and endangered species such as Dalmatian pelicans, Eurasian bitterns, Ferruginous ducks and Pygmy cormorants.

Sozopol, at the southern tip of the Bay of Burgas, is almost as ancient, charming and overdeveloped as its rival, Nesebar.

Władysław III Warneńczyk, the Polish-Hungarian King, died in battle

with the Ottomans near Varna in 1444. His demise marked the end of the

Crusades. He is now honoured with a cenotaph inside a small mausoleum

on the battlefield, but his official tomb is in Wawel Cathedral in Cracow

24 25

What is now known as The Old Bishopric of Nesebar was built in the 5th-6th

centuries in the centre of the ancient town of Messemvria. The Venetians

attacked in 1257 and plundered the relics of St Theodore, bringing them to

La Serenissima

Left page: Rising 60 metres above the sea, Cape Emine marks the point

where the Stara Planina meets the Black Sea

This city was founded, again by Greeks on Thracian land, in the 7th Century BC. Nesebar and Sozopol were rivals throughout history, competing for their share of the market and the splendour of their architecture. While Sozopol lacks the fine collection of Byzantine churches that Nesebar has, it has plenty to offer. Roam around the cobbled streets and, if you visit off-season, you will experience what life in the early 20th Century was like for the local fishing community.

One of the landmarks, sadly off limits as it was once a military area, is the erstwhile School for Fishermen. Built by royal decree in the 1920s to provide schooling for Bulgarian children belonging to the families who were replacing the departing Greeks, it has some famous alumni. One of them is Asen Peykov, who was schooled as a fisherman but fell in for... sculpture. After graduating, Peykov left for Italy where he became a famous artist. Next time you are in Rome you may find yourself in Piazza Assen Peykov, the square named after the famous Bulgarian. The statue of Leonardo da Vinci in front of Rome's Fiumicino Airport was sculpted by Peykov, who depicted the great Renaissance man holding models of his flying contraptions. It all started in Sozopol...

Development spreads far south after Sozopol and your first gulp of tranquil sea air will be at Ropotamo. This protected area covers the mouth of the river, and natural phenomena including the Lion's Head and the Arkutino wetland. The mouth

26 27

of the Ropotamo River is a popular sunbathing spot. A little to the north is the small St Thomas Island, popularly referred to as Snake Island, the only place in Bulgaria where cacti grow in the wild. Actually, they are not indigenous, as they were brought there by King Boris III, in 1933. The island takes its name from the snakes that live in the waters around, but there is no reason to be alarmed – they are quite harmless.

Mass tourism prevails over the following 35 kilometres south, with centres in Primorsko, Kiten, Lozenets and Tsarevo. In the thick oak forests around Primorsko, however, there is a megalithic Thracian sanctuary which has been dubbed by the local media the Bulgarian Stonehenge. Its real name, Begliktash, is harder to pronounce. Until recently, this strange collection of megaliths was off-limits, as it was situated in the Perla Residence, a gated playground for the Communist elite. Today you can walk around freely, inspecting the huge rocks aligned in a formation which some people claim is a gigantic sundial and marvelling at the heart-shaped boulder which balances as if in defiance of the law of gravity. The sanctuary's most popular attraction is a narrow, claustrophobic crevice between two upright rocks. Only the righteous can squeeze through, and it helps not to be overweight.

Ahtopol is packed with Bulgarians holidaying on a budget, and yet it stands out. The unofficial Bonito Capital of Bulgaria still preserves the charm of a fishing settlement. Like Sozopol and Nesebar, Ahtopol was founded by Greeks during their Black Sea colonisation in the 7-5th centuries, and the remains of ancient fortifications still loom among the tiny houses in the old centre. The bay, with its fishing boats and lighthouse, is one of the most romantic places on this part of the coast.

Further south, Sinemorets is a place to visit for its natural features. The northern beach is a combination of a liman and a picturesque bay, but swimming there is not advised, as the liman water squeezes under the sand and flows into the sea, creating a strong undertow. The south beach is safer – and more crowded. A walking route along the coast starts here, leading you past some amazing rock formations and instructing you on the geological past of the area.

Founded by refugees and migrants at the end of the 19th Century, Burgas

quickly became one of the most cosmopolitan and prosperous cities in

Bulgaria. For several years now it has been voted Best City To Live In

28 29

Ever since its foundation as a Greek colony in the 7th Century BC, Sozopol

has been a major rival of Nesebar, 60 kilometres to the north. It is now

chiefly a tourist attraction

Left page: Black Sea dried-and-salted fish, known as chiroz, is the ultimate

Bulgarian seaside delicacy. Traditionally made with local mackerel, which

has disappeared due to pollution and the massive industrial fishing of the

1960s, it is now made with scad or cod

Next spread: Storms over the Island of St Ivan, near Sozopol, help explain

where the Black Sea gets its name from

30 31

32 33

34 35

Sinemorets, 10 kilometres from the Turkish border, has preserved much

of its natural beauty owing to it being cordoned off as a border zone until

the 1990s. The Veleka River, which rises in Turkey and flows through the

Strandzha, meets the Black Sea north of Sinemorets in a spectacular estuary

Left page: Begliktash, a Thracian megalithic sanctuary, was a no-go area

until the 2000s as it was inside a government holiday compound. Located

north of Primorsko, it is now a major site of interest

Previous spread: The estuary of the Ropotamo River is a nature reserve

boasting one of the last pristine beaches on the southern Bulgarian Black

Sea coast

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If this path does not sound like much, you will change your mind when you see Listi Beach. Protected by the thick Strandzha forest and high cliffs, it is one of the few stretches of sand in the southern Bulgarian Black Sea coast that is still unspoilt by hotels, parasols, taverns, water sports and booming music.

Silistar Beach, the last on Bulgarian territory before Turkey, is farther south along the eco path, but it can be reached by car, via the road to Rezovo. It is beautiful, but far more developed, with a camping site, a tavern and a forest of umbrellas taking up a good proportion of the sand.

The eco path, and the asphalt road, end at Rezovo, Bulgaria's last village before the border with Turkey. Unlike Durankulak, there is no border crossing here, which is a shame as the Rezovska River mouth, which forms the border, is just a few metres wide. The small local beach is too muddy for swimming, but the satisfaction of having reached one of Bulgaria's furthermost points is sufficient justification for the 378 kilometres travelled all the way from Durankulak.

Dzhulaya, which can be roughly translated as The July, is a massive all-

night seaside party, which started in the 1980s as a form of counterculture

protest near the village of Kamen Bryag. It is now much tamer and more

commercialised

July morninig

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BUZLUDZHA

You may have stumbled upon it in the various World's Ghostliest Derelict Sites lists circulating on the Internet. This monument on Mount Buzludzha is the largest completely useless structure in Bulgaria and on a clear day its oval body and 70-metre high pylon are clearly visible from miles around in the central part of the Stara Planina mountain range.

The Buzludzha concrete behemoth was built in 1981 to commemorate the establishment of Bulgaria's Socialist Party, which post-1944 Communists and present-day Socialists regard as their spiritual progenitor.

The first Bulgarian Socialist Party was founded at the end of the 19th Century by Dimitar Blagoev, a dedicated Socialist, after whom the modern Bulgarian city of Blagoevgrad is named. At that time, Bulgaria was overwhelmingly a peasant society. It remained so until the Communist coup of 1944, which brought about forced collectivisation and massive, if not not very well thoughtout, industrialisation. At the end of the 19th Century some intellectuals had embraced Marxist ideas of a proletarian revolution, even though no genuine working class existed in the country. However, they faced a problem. Prime Minister Stefan Stambolov was firmly leading the country towards modernisation, but "democracy" was not among his bywords. Whoever opposed

True or false? The Buzludzha monument was inspired by the Annunciation

Greek Orthodox Church in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, designed by Frank Lloyd

Wright in 1956? Probably false

'Flying Saucer' designed to assert supremacy of Communism lies exposed to the elements

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him was subjected to persecution. Consequently, the future of organised Socialism did not look rosy.

Dimitar Blagoev came up with a bold idea. Though he sensed the Stambolov authorities would clamp down on any public expression of Socialism, he and his associates decided to hold their constituent assembly right under their noses. On 2 August 1891, about 20 Socialists mixed with the crowds climbing Mount Buzludzha to commemorate the revolutionary leader Hadzhi Dimitar, who had died there in battle with the Ottomans, in 1868. Dimitar Blagoev's small group, which adopted the first statutes of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Party, or BSDP, remained unnoticed; simply one of the many groups of young enthusiasts who had come to attend the remembrance ceremony.

In the following years, the BDSP grew in prominence, and entered parliament. In 1903, the party split into a reformist "broad" wing and a radical "narrow" branch, which became increasingly committed to Bolshevik ideas and changed its name to the Bulgarian Communist Party, or BKP. In 1944, it finally seized power, later cementing its position with the notorious Article One of the 1971 Constitution: "The leading force in the country and society is the Bulgarian Communist Party."

In 1981, Bulgaria was feverishly spending millions of leva to subsidise its megalomaniacal projects for the celebration of the 1,300th anniversary of the Bulgarian state. Significantly, the BKP wanted to underline that Bulgaria was not only an ancient but also a Communist country. The public had to be manipulated into believing that the BKP "crowned" 1,300 years of Bulgarian statehood. So, the BKP decided to build a monument on Mount Buzludzha. It had to be truly colossal, blending the idea of Bulgarian patriotism with the commemoration of the 90th anniversary of Blagoev's party.

The project cost over 14 million leva, an enormous sum in those days when the starting wages of an engineer or a schoolteacher amounted to about 120 leva. As the government did not have the cash, it resorted to "voluntary donations," a euphemism coined to explain the 50 stotinki deducted from the salaries of all taxpaying Bulgarians each month. The huge construction work cost next to nothing. The men toiling on the scaffolds were unpaid soldiers from the so-called Construction Corps. Several died in work accidents, but no commemorative plaque was erected for them, as the regime tried to hide any hint of "demoralising" information from the public.

The final result was stunning. The "monument" was instantly dubbed The Flying Saucer, and the anonymous person who coined the term did so with good reason. The building, designed by architect Georgi Stoilov, embodied both absolute authority and Communist luxury, with its sumptuous chandeliers and 2001 A Space Odyssey interior. The diameter of the congress hall was 42 metres and it was more than 14 metres high. It was decorated with 500 square metres of mosaics, and more covered the walls of the corridors. Two five-pointed stars, each 15 metres high and made from artificial rubies imported from the USSR, shone from the pylon.

The decoration of the monument took more than 60 artists 18 months to complete.

Ironically, the mountain top monstrosity that was supposed to shine upon happy Communist Bulgaria forever did not last long. When the winds of democracy swept through the East bloc at the end of the 1980s, the BKP changed itself in name if not in essence, becoming the Bulgarian Socialist Party, or BSP; in 1990. In 1992, ownership of The Flying Saucer passed to the state through the Nationalisation of Bulgarian Communist Party Property Act. In 2011, the BSP restored its property rights to the monument. Significantly, even when it was in power during the last 25 years of Bulgarian democracy, the BSP did nothing to maintain the building, which explains its current surreal dereliction.

Today, when you follow the official brown signs to Mount Buzludzha, you will find only traces of its erstwhile opulence. The building is as oppressive sizewise as it always has been, but it is falling to pieces. The stars are a wreck: some people shot at them with handguns to steal the "rubies," only to find that they were worthless coloured glass. The windows were smashed and all their aluminium frames taken away and sold for scrap years ago. The entrance doors are all bricked up now to prevent entry, as the building is listed as dangerous. Unfortunately, your last chance to see the shattered mosaics portraying Marx, Engels,

Clockwise, from top left: A sculpture, supposed to show two hands holding

torches, has been dubbed the Ice Cream Cones; An extraterrestrial landing

on the Stara Planina?; A gigantic mosaic depicting Friedrich Engels, Karl

Marx and Lenin; The main entrance to the building has been boarded up

for safety reasons; Huge mosaics showing happy Socialist workers; The

meadows around the monument are a favourite trotting ground for local

horses

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Lenin and Georgi Dimitrov, next to hundreds of jolly Bulgarian workers and bosomy Bulgarian women, may have gone.

The dereliction does not, however, stop the modern BSP from gathering thousands of its supporters every year at the beginning of August in the so-called Historical Meadow, to mark the anniversary of the foundation of their party with rousing speeches, popular music and grilled kebapcheta.

For a truly unique experience however, visit Mount Buzludzha at night, when the starry heavens above you make the monument really resemble a flying saucer.

Previous spread: Buzludzha's main hall is 42 metres in diameter and 14.5

metres in height. It contains at least 550 square metres of mosaics depicting

the history of the Bulgarian Communist Party

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WALKING ON FIRE

The unusual, almost Native American-like drum rhythm and the bagpipe tunes echo over the silent crowd gathered around a large circle of live embers glowing in the dark. A tiny group of barefoot men and women dressed in traditional costumes dance slowly at the edge of the circle, holding icons draped in embroidered kerchiefs.

"They are in a trance," says one of the onlookers."No, they are afraid," whispers another.One of the barefoot women raises her icon and quickly steps

into the fire. There is a collective gasp from the audience, but the woman is oblivious. Her feet move expertly, treading firmly on the embers. She walks quickly but with tiny steps, holding the icon close to her breast, circles and then crosses the fire. The others follow, their icons raised high, their feet nimbly tramping upon the embers. The firedancers come and go, some leave after a short time, others linger, the drum and the bagpipe repeat again and again the simple yet mesmerising melody, until the last of the nestinari leaves the fire.

The dances of nestinari, or firewalkers, have been the staple show of "traditional" restaurants targeted at package tourists on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast since the sunset days of Communism. What you see in these programmes is what you see in tourist areas around the world when taken to the obligatory "traditional" show, such as Thai kickboxing, Turkish dervish-whirling or Tunisian wedding reenactments. The customs have been so commercialised that it is hard to believe that the real thing still exists, and takes place a couple of times a year far from the tourist crowds.

One of the places where nestinarstvo, or genuine Bulgarian firewalking, is still alive is the Strandzha, the oak-covered mountain range on the border with Turkey. Its isolation, lack of economic development and its traditionalism that blends the Christian and the pagan have made it possible to preserve the firewalking tradition that is not unique to Bulgaria, but that has successfully been included in the UNESCO world heritage lists.

The most popular nestinari event takes place in the village of Balgari, on the evening of 21 May, the day of Ss Constantine and Helena. Another celebration of firewalking happens 13 days later, on the evening of 2 June. Why this is so is a very long and complex story that has to do with the extremely complicated mathematical computations regarding the Julian calendar, which was used in Bulgaria until the First World War, and the Gregorian calendar, which was introduced in 1916 when Bulgarians went to bed on 1 April and woke up on 14 April.

No one knows when and how firedancing appeared in what is now the Bulgarian part of the Strandzha. Ancient sources mention heathen firewalkers in the 1st-3rd centuries, but these lived in the Apennine Peninsula and Asia Minor, not in the Balkans.

The earliest records for nestinari in southeastern Thrace, where the Strandzha is, are from the 19th Century.

Strandzha's nestinari recreate millennia-old ecstatic rites amalgamating paganism and Christianity

An elderly Strandzha woman wafts incense over the icons of Ss Constantine

and Helena before a firewalking rite

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At that time, firewalking was already popular in the area. It was practiced in several villages, and although its name is Greek by origin, from anastenaria, it was performed by non-Greeks, too. Nestinari were mostly women, and they danced on glowing embers not only on the day of Ss Constantine and Helena, but also during the feasts of saints such as John the Baptist, Elijah and Marina. Unsurprisingly, the nestinari were thought to possess occult powers. "It is almost a sect," a witness wrote in the early 20th Century, "although they don't want to proselytise."

Every detail related to nestinarstvo is important and treated in keeping with tradition. Take, for example, the icons. These are not the usual fare you see in Bulgarian Orthodox churches. They inevitably portray two people, the Roman Emperor Constantine who moved the capital of the empire from Rome to Constantinople and introduced Christianity as an official religion, and his mother Helena, who is said to have found the true cross of Jesus Christ. On non-firewalking days, these icons are kept not in church, but in what the people of the Strandzha refer to as konaks, small outhouses kept locked for most of the year. Inside, the likenesses of Constantine of Helena remain dressed up in "clothes" – except when they are taken out to a nearby brook (predictably, with healing powers), "undressed," and washed in the running water. Then follows a traditional meal with plenty of rakiya for the whole village while the icons dry on makeshift outdoor stands called odarche.

The 1912-1913 Balkan Wars and the exchange of populations between Bulgaria and Greece changed firewalking forever. Ethnic Greeks from the Black Sea coast and the Strandzha resettled in Greece, bringing nestinarstvo with them, most notably to the village of Langada, near modern-day Thessaloniki. The fire dances there take place each year on 20 and 21 May.

The next wave of changes came with Communism. Initially, the Communist Party apparatchiks persecuted nestinarstvo as a "dark superstition." The fire dances stopped. By the 1960s the rite was practiced only in the village of Balgari, in secret and away from the watchful eyes of the authorities.

Firewalking, which had survived through harsh times of war and ethnic cleansing was about to became extinct.

In the 1970s, however, historians began to reevaluate the heritage of the Strandzha as the last stronghold of the culture and beliefs of the ancient Thracians. Interest in nestinarstvo intensified. About the same time, commercial nestinari started appearing at seaside resorts.

It was only in 1990, after the collapse of Communism, that the original rite was reestablished in Balgari.

Obviously, what the uninitiated find most amazing about nestinarstvo is how you can walk on fire without getting your feet burned. The physiological explanation is quite simple: do it fast, and keep your toes tight together to avoid an ember getting inside. However, the people of the Strandzha will tell you a host of very different stories.

Traditionally, none other than Ss Constantine and Helena themselves protect firewalkers by pouring invisible water onto the fire. To ensure this happens, no one would go into the fire without holding an icon. If someone does get burned, which may happen sometimes, the interpretation has to do with sin.

Devoted nestinari have strong feelings about sin and anything that might contaminate their souls. They must enter the fire "cleansed," which usually involves some meditation before the actual firedancing.

The origins of the nestinari dance are unclear. According to a popular theory, the nestinarstvo is the Christianised version of a much older Thracian rite devoted to the omnipotent, but nameless, Great God and Great Goddess. Waking on fire combines the main features of these deities – Darkness, Cold and Water associated with the Goddess and Heat, Light, and Fire possessed by the God. That this theory may be valid is indicated by the nestinari belief that Constantine and Helena were actually man and wife, rather than mother and son, just as the Great God and Goddess were thought to be a couple.

Nestinarstvo may also be explained as a Christianised version of the ecstatic festivities surrounding the cult of Dionysos, the Greek God of divine madness provoked by wine, who was also associated with the Thracians. Firedancing is also probably related to Shamanism, where priests achieved a trance-like state in order to connect with spirits and translate their messages to ordinary people.

The nestinari themselves talk of a great fire that once gutted the church in Kosti, one of the villages in the Strandzha where

Previous spread: Lighting the fire for firewalking is a complicated affair,

which can take several hours

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nestinarstvo is practiced. People gathered around, unable to do anything to stop the fire. However, the icons inside the church began to scream with human voices, and some villagers entered the flames and soon emerged unscathed with the icons in their arms, protected by the powers of the icons they had saved.

The church in Kosti is a curiosity in itself. Originally built by Greeks, it was named after Ss Constantine and Helena. It was destroyed in 1909 and soon reerected by Bulgarians who renamed it Ss Cyril and Methodius – the Greeks had left, and the village was being settled by ethnic Bulgarians from eastern Thrace.

Curiously, the Orthodox Church objected to nestinarstvo only relatively recently. In the Middle Ages, unlike other rites from the heathen past, nestinarstvo was not even mentioned among the practices banned by the Church, prompting some researchers to question its very existence at the time. Much later, in the 19th Century, in spite of "the lack of proper Christianity" in nestinarstvo, not a priest in the Strandzha would dare to object to the rite. If he did so, he would be chased out by his own parishioners.

As late as the 1930s-1940s, when the non-Orthodox Good Samaritan Society propagated nestinarstvo as a way of communicating with the divine, the Bulgarian Church responded by proclaiming it a form of demonic possession. Today the Church is officially opposed to firewalking, but that does not prevent local priests from hanging around and making themselves seen on the days when firewalking is performed.

A firewalking session usually starts with a retinue of bagpipe and drum

players, and local dignitaries

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Though the actual firewalking takes place only twice a year, the locals

attend to their icons and other paraphernalia on various church holidays.

In early June, the icons are removed from their sanctuary, where they are

kept under lock and key throughout the year, taken to a nearby river and

washed in the running water. Bagpipers and drummers form the procession.

This procedure is followed by a mighty feast