Storyline: Bulgaria with Alex
We dance to the rhythm of the English song a Bulgarian restaurant entertainer sings. It is almost dark and the beauty of this city is on full display with the flickering lights of its houses perched over the steep hills chiselled by the river Yantra.
Further out, the mighty walls of Tzarevets stronghold, the reconstructed patriarch church and the main entrance of the palace of a once powerful empire and now reconstructed tourist attraction, are artfully lit.
The terrace is overlooking one of the hairpins of the river, with the Monument to the Asen Dynasty being the hair pinned by it, lights reflecting in the waters.
We had just finished our delicious dinner, anticipating a long walk through the cobbled streets of the city and stopping for another drink and melba on the terrace of Lino café-bar where the cheerful youth of the city congregate, when the entertainment began. We are patsies for music and nothing will prevent us from dancing to a decent tune.
It is a small terrace and most of the tables are taken, but we find our way between them. I am in the most ridiculous outfit that no Bulgarian would wear. Having walked up and down the sharply inclined terrain as we do every time we are here in a hot summer, I have my light grey running shoes with pink laces, my pants-skirt in an orange, brown and blue flowery pattern and a brown top to match it. By now we have mastered fitting all our life into two carry-ons when travel. I opt for comfort, being a firm believer that looks come from nature and carrying a big suitcase of useless vanity items just to alter them is plain silly. But it is obvious that we are not local, not even Bulgarian, although technically I am.
As soon as we took to the floor, the musician switched to English songs. We dance, we laugh, and we feel like teenagers, happily ignoring the curious looks of the other diners. Light breeze cooling off the hot air as the dark settles over the hills. You guessed it – we are in Veliko Tarnovo, Alex’s favorite city in the world. And my happiest place, as long as I am with him. “Farewell strangers”, says the musician as we prepare to leave. He begins to sing “Strangers in the night”. Of course, we had to dance to it. It is 2014.
We both fell in love with the town during our visit in 2004, Alex for the first time feeling more comfortable with my home country and me rediscovering it and reconstructing the memories from my youth. Since then we’ve been there whenever in Bulgaria. Partly because it was close to my parents, but also because we love its romantic atmosphere,
the little restaurants overhanging the cliff edges above the serpentine river, with patios directly above the roofs of the houses below, the glittering lights of Tzarevets Fortress in the evenings, the summer festivals, the friendly locals. It is cozy, compact and small enough to create the feeling of home.
Tarnovo is a beautiful old city with a rich history, including its once being the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire.
Tucked into several hills, holding tightly to the sharp bends of the meandering Yantra river, houses staggered in amphitheatrical fashion and cobbled streets threading carefully between the roofs on one side of a street and entrances on the other, make up its unique architecture. In the old town full of boutique artisanal and gift shops, we had our favourites.
In 2004 when the city, still authentic, was not that popular with tourists, we met a very friendly and chatty lady working in one of them. Alex was her first (and probably still the only) Canadian client. She was over the moon when she learned that I was born in Gorna Oriahovitsa, just 6 km from Tarnovo, over the hill of Arbanasi village. We had a long chat and ended up with as many traditionally-patterned pottery bowls as our suitcases could fit (I am experienced in packing fragile objects in checked luggage). With every revisit we’d stop in, say hi to her and buy another set of plates, bowls, a wine or rakia set, tablecloths, you name it.
I remember this area from my childhood. We used to live on the street that led to the hills of Arbanasi and Tarnovo. There were not many cars then, and even fewer that could negotiate the steep, winding roads over the hills. There was a long way around that would take a bus about an hour to meander from one city to the other. As kids, we used to hike over the hill from our home to this area of Tarnovo. This more direct route also took us about an hour.
Then we’d play in the ruins of the old town, wander around the cliffs above the river, then, covered with dust and mud, dash back home before our parents returned from work and noticed our absence. But of course, how would they know if we’d played in the nearby canal or 6 km away? Unless we were caught doing something stupid, like jumping from someone’s roof or window, no one would care where we’d been or what we’d done.
The first few trips here with Alex we stayed in the old hotel Etar, the only tall building in the city center and a relic from communist times. The bus from Sofia stopped in front of the hotel, which made it convenient. Every year we’d be greeted by the same receptionist and the same waiters in the buffet-breakfast area. They knew us well. They’d bring my espresso before we ordered omelets or chose something from the buffet. When the hotel closed for renovations, we found other options still in the centre, close to the bus stop.
We visited most of the historic monuments in 2004: the medieval stronghold Tzarevets being the first of them.
Tarnovo is an ancient city with known settlements dating back to the 13th century BCE. The earlier settlers were Thracians. The Slavs settled there during the 7th to 10th centuries. Tzarevets, built high on the cliffs of a peninsula formed by a hairpin curve in the river, was once the most important fortification of Tarnovgrad, the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire.
It hosts the remains of more than 400 houses, 22 churches, 4 monasteries, Baldwin’s Tower, Execution Rock and the reconstructed Patriarch church. With its three rings of fortification walls, it was unconquerable for centuries. The stronghold was besieged and burned down by the Ottomans in 1393, which marked the end the Bulgarian Empire.
Trapezitsa, across the river from Tzarevets, was the second most important fortress of Tarnovgrad, and contains the ruins of several medieval churches and monasteries, some of them restored.
The Assenov Quarter hosts the churches of Forty Holy Martyrs, St. George, St. Demetrius, and Saints Peter & Paul.
If you are a museum fan, there are plenty in the central part of the city, the Archeological museum being one of them. The Rectorate and a few faculty buildings of Veliko Tarnovo University are spread on Sveta Gora hill. Just don comfortable shoes and pack a bottle of water in the summer, because you’ll be walking up and down these steep streets all day or more.
As context for the steepness of the old city, many buildings of 3, 4 or 5 floors have their front doors on the ground floor of one street and back doors on the top floor of the street above.
At the end of a long day head off to the nearest pub, restaurant, bar or café. We would usually opt for those overlooking the river. This provides the additional benefit of having a great view – and a refreshing breeze in the summer heat.
And strolling down the timeless, narrow street named Samodivska Charshia, it is our ritual to visit the only café I know that still makes original Turkish coffee, heated over hot sand.
They also have my childhood lemonade and cider. In the glass bottles with the old-style porcelain swing-tops.
We have walked every corner of the old town, and some of the suburbs of the new city. During our first visits before Bulgaria was discovered by the tourists the old residential areas outside of the main attractions were dilapidated, sewer water running over the serpentine streets or under the eroding surfaces.
Nowadays the city has become very touristy, with many new houses being built and the old being renovated, streets paved and upgraded with new sewer systems. There are hotels at every corner and restaurants popping up in most unexpected places.
There is a multitude of cultural events during the summer months. In 2015 we were there just in time for the opening night of the open-air festival “Stage of the Ages 2015” presented in the ruins of Tzarevets palace where in 1185 the events portrayed in Georgi Atanasov’s opera “Borislav” occurred. The subtitles were in Bulgarian and English, although aside from Alex I didn’t hear any English speech in the audience.
There was sparkling wine to buy, in glasses with the logo of the festival. We found this a great idea, since the price included the glasses which kept the place clean from broken glass (it was a souvenir after all) and no scattered polluting plastic either.
In 2017 we happen to be there during the International Folklore Festival, which drew participants from all over the world, including as far as Africa and South America. We enjoyed a variety song and dance forms in the park beside our hotel.
A stone’s throw away, set on a higher plateau between my home town of Gorna Oriahovitsa and V. Tarnovo is the picturesque village of Arbanasi, with stone-paved streets and stone houses, many of which I remember as semi demolished ruins. When we visited in 2004 it had all been restored and renovated. The old houses that were not museums were now guest houses and restaurants.
We had dinner in one of them. In later years we’d revisit with friends and have dinner at another one with exceptional views over V. Tarnovo. It is easily accessible. If you are not up to walking, grab a cab (they are still cheap) and you’ll be there in 10 min.
Given our current circumstances we don’t know when and if we’ll visit there again. But Veliko Tarnovo is the most beautiful city in Bulgaria. Many say, and I completely agree with them, you haven’t been to Bulgaria if you haven’t been to V. Tarnovo.
Note: If the photos look tilted, it is not the photographer, it is the city.
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