A Tour of Monasteries

The first weekend in April I went on a 2-day tour of 7 monasteries in the Veliko Turnovo region of Bulgaria.  About 28 of us boarded a bus on Saturday morning and headed to the countryside and villages.  As we visited each monastery one man gave detailed talks on the history and interesting facts ….. in Bulgarian.  My language skills have not developed to the point of being able to understand much of what he was saying.  However, thanks to fellow PCV Tricia T.  I was able to learn some of the more important details. 

Most are very old and many had a role as a secret meeting place for revolutionaries in the late 1800s as Bulgaria fought for its independence from Turkey.  During the communism years, religion was, of course, de-emphasized. 

It was a wonderful weekend – seeing villages and areas new to me.  Late afternoon on Saturday, several of us hiked up to the ridge above Dryanovo Monastery the location of our lodging for the night.  It was good to stretch my legs after a day in the bus and the view was beautiful (see photos). 

Saturday evening we had an indoor picnic – everyone brought their own food to eat and share.  There was traditional Bulgarian horo dancing and a celebration of Tricia’s birthday.  Sunday morning I visited Bacho Kiro cave. There was tour guide here as well.  I looked where he pointed and could see shapes of the words I recognized – horse, Mary and child, etc.  He talked about the cave qualities – stalagtites and stalagmites, water and the fact that this was the first cave in Bulgaria to have electricity for lighting.  Often I smiled because it seemed like the stories he told were very similar to the stories I’ve heard when visiting caves in America.  There was a “lucky penny” wall where you could affix a “stotinki”­ for good luck. I guess wherever there are mountains there are caves and wherever there are caves there are explorers and eventually tours with stories for entertainment as well as education.  :>)

On our return we also stopped at Etar which is an “open-air museum” presenting the Bulgarian customs, culture and craftsmanship.  Artisans craft and sell their wares as they have done for centuries…..(see photos). There were woven goods, pottery, hand-made knives, wood carving, a bakery – lots of interesting shops.