It was a quick bus ride (only 45 minutes or so) to Melnik, a tiny village that is known both for its wine and for its National Revival Period architecture. The town is so cute and tiny and nestled amongst the sandstone cliffs (more about those later).
Here is a tree outside of the house we toured that has martenitsas hanging in it. The month of March is called Marta in Bulgaria. Baba Marta (or Grandmother March), as legend goes, has quite a temper and can make life quite hard just when you are craving spring. So, on March 1st friends and family exchange red and white bracelets (Baba Marta's favorite colors are red and white) and you wear them to make her happy. When you see a tree blooming or a stork flying, you take off your martenitsa and tie it on a tree. Really cute tradition, huh? So right now, as everything is just starting to bloom, all of the trees are decorated! I have yet to see a stork, but by golly, I'm not leaving Bulgaria until I do.
This is inside the house we toured. It was really cool to see the intersection of Italian, Turkish and Bulgarian architecture and interior design. Below is a fireplace which is undeniably Turkish, but I think it would be darling in a fairy princess room too. You can laugh, but I'm pretty sure my nieces would agree.
The house museum makes wine it now sells to tourists, but you can walk through the original owner's wine cellar. Cellar is really not the correct word...I think cave labyrinth might be more correct. It was huge! I don't have a good picture of the walls, but because they are carved from sandstone and underground they are moist and everyone who visits pushes statinki into the walls. It was really cooling to see all of the coins glittering. Here is a picture of Natia, from Georgia (the country), walking into the cave.
We then had a leisurely lunch where I finally got to try mish-mash. Dee-li-cious. It is roasted red peppers, feta and some other breakfast, scrambly stuff all cooked together. It looked disgusting, but tasted wonderful. To work that off (and because the bus couldn't fit on the road to the monastery) we hiked 1 kilometer straight up hill to the monastery. Here's the view from the top:
You can see the sandstone cliffs really well in these pictures. They are gorgeous and this part of Bulgaria is called pyramid country because of the formations made when the sandstone wears down.
The monastery was really cool, but alas, you aren't allowed to take pictures. I never get tired of looking at icons and it was really cool to be with someone, my friend Costadin, who actually knows what the symbols mean. Also, it was really interesting to see how all of the Bulgarian students, most of whom would not identify themselves as religious in the least, purchase candles, say prayers and cross themselves immediately upon entering the chapel.Sometimes I really crave that intense liturgy and symbology that Orthodox and Catholic Christians have. I think that powerful connection is really cool.
Also, we got to hear a really eloquent priest lecture on the existence of God and try to convert my professor. That, and meeting a Marxist Jew (a branch of Jewry I had no idea even existed), really made my day.
As a side note, it is pouring down rain while I write this. It hasn't substantially rained the entire time we've been here. Some days have been drizzly, but I haven't worn my raincoat since I've been in Asheville.
So that's that for today...we leave for Istanbul on Thursday and I'm so, so, so, so excited...because once we get back it is only 3 days until Mama and Daddy come to visit!
PS--Did you see the fun new gadget we added to the sidebar? It shows where all of our readers are from. Nathan and I love to see how many people are reading and where they are from!
1 comment:
In America that fireplace would be a fairy princess room! SO COOL.
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