Our last 3 days were a whirlwind of driving and stopping to see sights in random cities across the country. In truth we needed to get all the way back east and so instead of just driving straight, we went a little travel crazy. But it was worth less sleep to see these amazing places.
This first one is a Thracian tomb in Kazanlak, Bulgaria. It was discovered in 1942 which is really amazing because it's in the middle of a city park in the middle of a good size city. But apparently it was buried under a mound and then unearthed. The original tomb is now protected by a building so you can't go in and see it but UNESCO has built an exact replica for tourists.
Which of course you still can't take pictures in so you'll have to google it if you want to see what it looks like inside. Amazing paintings on the walls and ceilings. And all from the 4th century BC is pretty amazing.
Then we were off driving to find more places and of course Taylor's dad wanted us to stop at each and every random statue to take a picture. No idea who or what it is of but there's thousands of just random artwork along the roads.
And Taylor finally found is Yabalka Lift. Apparently this was an apple soda that was very popular when he was a missionary and he drank it all the time. Apparently not popular anymore and really hard to find.
We drove up a steep road to the top of a mountain (Buzludzha) overlooking 3 different valleys on each side. Great views... and ... a random communist building decaying.
Apparently this was the Headquarters of the Communist party in Bulgaria. It's this huge round saucerlike building at the top of a random mountain in the middle of the country. Kind of strange and unecomonical to build there but to each his own. Sadly, the building was pristine and very impressive back in it's hayday and now it's just a crumbling ruin showing how angry the Bulgarian peoples were. From the base you can see rebar and glass everywhere. All the long windows are broken away and the whole building is exposed to the elements.
The sides all have grafiti on them and the letters have been broken off.
We walked all the way around just marveling at the destruction and lack or care. The building's entrances are all locked and barred off.
And then Taylor found some other tourists climbing OUT of a hole in the wall which apparently he'd read about online so...
He decided to go in himself.
He finally came back out to join his dad and I and showed me the pictures on his phone and insisted I climb inside too. The inside is even more impressive. You climb up into the hole and enter in a set of staircases that are concrete mostly but you can see where small bits of marble are still attached and larger pieces of marble have literally just been broken off and stolen. You walk up and up and then enter a giant ampitheatre rimmed in the most intricate murals I've ever seen.
You can see they're missing little tile pieces all over and in some cases an entire area has been removed (like the 3rd head in the communist leaders portraits). You can also see sunshine coming right through the destroyed roof.
The place is huge- probably big enough for 5,000 people to meet in.
You can kind of get an idea of how big it is and all open to the ceiling with the big communist sickle.
From the outside you can tell that the roof is broken but from the inside the damage is so much more heartbreaking.
I had no idea what most of these mosaics represented but they were breathtaking.
The building is basically one giant ampitheatre with a hallway around the outside. All those windows are broken and the tile mosaics in the hallway are much more destroyed.
Just amazing and heartbreaking to see all the time, expense, and effort that went into such a beautiful building and all the waste it is going to. We drove down the other side and the views of the building were much more impressive.
And of course there were more random works of art.
Next we were off to the Shipka Memorial Church. Really it was like a lot of the other churches/cathedrals we saw. Beautiful and ornate on the inside and the outside.
They let us go downstairs into the crypt and of course Taylor couldn't resist going.
It was totally creepy so I didn't stay long.
Next we drove to the tiny town of Hisarya which, because of it's natural springs, was an important town to the Thracians and then the Romans afterwards. There was a 20+ foot wall surrounding the town during Roman times and though it is crumbling in some places, it just amazing to see it 2000 years later still standing.
The wall surround a quiet neighborhood in the downtown area and there's gaps where there are modern day roads. You can drive through and climb anywhere you like.
Taylor and his dad weren't too impressed with Hisarya since they've been to Italy and Greece and seem more well preserved Roman ruins but I was in awe. And then we went to Plovdiv, which blew everything we'd seen out of the water.
Apparently Plovdiv is one of the oldest cities in Europe dating back to 4000 BC. It's been a main city for almost every empire in Europe. The old town is situated on a very tall hill with cobblestone streets and parts of an ancient fortress wall.
The most impressive ruins are of a Roman Ampitheater.
Taylor again wasn't that impressed because it's not that well preserved but I thought it was amazing.
Kind of amazing (and sad) to see all the effort that went into these detailed buildings.
The ampitheater is still used for concerts and plays which is why there are green pads for seating.
Speaking of seating, the stairs to get down to and up from the stage floor were majorly steep and indented from all the millions of people that have walked up and down them over thousands of years. Amazing to see.
See? Ridiculously steep.
Old Town Plovdiv is really neat too with winding, cobblestone streets and old fortress walls.
Taylor's dad was a trooper walking up and down on his boot.
The one thing I kept telling Taylor I wanted to see was the Roman sports arena. He kept telling me there wasn't one and just an ampitheater. But I'd read about it online so I persisted and sure enough, they've found one during excavations since Taylor came home from his mission. Sadly it's quite literally right smack dab in the middle of an outdoor shopping mall, buried underground.
See? You can see the shops surrounding it. Apparently this is the top seating section of 4 or 5 levels they think plus the fighting and sports arena in the middle. So it's huge... but it's been buried under layers and layers of other civilizations. Kind of interesting to see how cities grow higher just on top of one another.
It was an incredible place to see and well worth the exhausting day of sight hopping.
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