Bulgaria

**Maggie has pointed out that I did not mention the large amounts of fried cheese consumed, as well as a random friend we made from Australia. This oversight was unfortunate, and I want to clarify that our diets pretty much consisted of beer, pork, and dairy products, which were usually covered in batter of some kind. Heavenly

First, I want to apologize for not posting much to the blog lately. I am really excited because in the middle of March I am going to be giving a talk on calligraphy in Erzurum (a snowy and remote city in north-eastern Turkey, near the border to Georgia and Armenia) at Ataturk University. Because most of my audience will not be native English speakers, I need to write up my talk beforehand for translation purposes, and I have been entrenched with this task for the last several days.

That being said, I want to relate to you my first adventure outside of Turkey, to the magical world of Bulgaria. I have wanted to go there, because I have never been to "Eastern Europe" before, and the border is only a four hour drive west from Istanbul. It is because of the latter that many ex-pats living in Istanbul go to Bulgaria, to renew their Turkish tourist visa which only lasts for 3 months. When my friend Maggie came to visit, we decided to make a weekend of it. I am really glad Maggie came with me, not only because she is wonderful company, of course, but also because she is fluent in Russian. Bulgarian is extremely close to Russian, and for the most part Maggie could understand everything that was said to us and was able to read all of the signs. Without her, I would have been pretty lost, as I cannot read the Cyrilic alphabet worth a damn (although Maggie kindly taught me a little bit on the bus ride there).

Maggie and I only went to the city of Plovdiv. We gave Sofya, the capital, a miss because we heard it was large but generally unpretty with big white concrete buildings being the majority of the scenery. Plovdiv, in comparison, was an exceedingly charming town full of history and culture. There are some neat Roman ruins there, as well as some nice Ottoman mosques. In the 19th century, Plovdiv was the center of the Bohemian revival of Bulgarian painting and music, and there are many cute house-museums of famous Bulgarian artists and musicians. Once again, Maggie and I were hopelessly off-season; we heard Plovdiv is really kicking in the spring and summer with cool outdoor music festivals. I am getting a tad frustrated though when people always question my going places in the dead of winter, insisting that it would be better I go in the spring. It is an obvious fact that every travel destination in Turkey is optimal in the spring and summer, but on the other hand I am only in Turkey for so long, and I refuse to sit in my house for the length of winter. It would be too depressing. So, Maggie and I got on our bus at the Istanbul Otogar, and set off on our way to shoo away our winter blues with churches, beer, and pork products across the border.

Arriving in Plovdiv in the evening, we settled into our very comfy hostel and headed out to find some grub. We went to this restaurant that had about a 20-page menu, most of the items either being meat or alcoholic, and, in rare cases, both! I opted for the gigantic skillet of pork, which was brought to our table still sizzling on its platter. (left) Because I cannot readily obtain pork in Turkey, as it is a Muslim country, I was, no pun intended, in hog heaven.

The next morning, after a hearty breakfast of tea and toast, we headed out to tour the sites of the city. Check out what we found:

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There were a lot of random murals on the sides of buildings, all in a vague Cubist/Futurist style. I suppose this one is a testament to culture and industry? Why not, eh?

<<-- Plovdiv was the capital of the Eastern European province of the Ottoman empire, so there are two significant mosques in the city from the Ottoman period. Unfortunately, we could not find a way to get inside of this one, but I still really liked the zig-zag design in brick on the minaret.

Maggie and I also saw houses plopped right on top of Roman walls, making for a very picturesque site. There were also giant Soviet monuments, Jesus hovering over Rio-style. There were also beautiful pastel murals in Orthodox churches that any Art Nouveau movement would be proud of, and many nice paintings featuring the local scenery, including my favorite mosque!