Veliko Turnovo and Arbanasi, Bulgaria
On Monday, we took a 2 hour bus ride from the ship to the town of Veliko Turnovo. Our tour guide's name was Kremena. Kremena told us that she learned English from watching Dr. Phil and Judge Judy. She said her favorite Judge Judy phrase is "Beauty fades; dumb is forever."
Along the way we drove through rural areas and little villages, with flat brown fields in the foreground and rolling foothills in the background. It was very nice scenery.
Along the way, Kremena shared some history of Bulgaria with us. Bulgaria suffered a lot under Ottoman (Turkish) domination for many centuries. Then, in 1878, Russia fought with them against the Turks and liberated them. At that time, Bulgaria became a monarchy until 1944, when the Communists took over.
Before the Ottoman domination, Bulgaria had been a monarchy. But during the centuries of domination, the monarch family line was lost. So when they became a monarchy again in 1878, they didn't have a king. So they invited a foreign royalty to be their king. This person was of German-Austrian origin. Because of this German connection, Bulgaria became a German ally during World War II.
Bulgaria is the only country that saved the lives of all their Jewish people during the war. Hitler asked Bulgaria - like other countries - to put all Jews in the country on trains and deport them to the concentration camps. The King refused to do so, and in his defiance of Hitler's order, managed to save the lives of the Jews in Bulgaria. Today there is not a large Jewish community in Bulgaria because most of them have emigrated to Israel.
Kremena shared with us what life was like under communism. She said that the main idea of communism is equality. It sounds like a great idea, Kremena said, but in reality, what happens when a government tries to implement such a notion, is that inevitably "some people are more equal than others." And she said the Communist leader of Bulgaria was "the most equal of all." Kremena referred to some privileges he enjoyed on more than one occasion, and also pointed out the large mansion where he lived, always calling him "the most equal of all." Ordinary people had one house to live in; the Communist leader - the most equal of all - had over 30 houses.
Kremena said that today when his name is mentioned what people think of is some of the gaffes that he often made. One example she gave us is that when he mentioned, in a speech, that Bulgaria had opened a semi-conductor plant, he opined that maybe next year they would open a full conductor plant. Another time, he was giving a speech at the opening of the Olympics. Like most leaders, he had speech writers and so did not write the speech himself. When he began to read the speech, he started by saying, "Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh" at which time his assistant quickly ran to him and pointed out that those were the five Olympic circles and not actually part of the speech.
Apparently the Communist leader was not hated because he was not mean to the people, unlike other Communist leaders such as Ceausescu of Romania. So when communism fell, the leader of Bulgaria spent one month under house arrest and then was set free.
Kremena shared with us that during Communism, religious practices were greatly restricted. She said the Communists didn't outright close the churches, lest there be a public outcry. They really didn't care if older people went to church, but they were very strict with young people; they would lose their jobs if they went to church. She shared this true story with us. Her mother worked for the government department that issued passports, visas, etc. One of the secretaries that she worked with went to church on Easter. The next day, they called a big meeting, shamed her in front of all the other employees, and said if she or anyone else was caught attending church again, they would be fired.
Kremena said that during Communist rule, they did not celebrate Christmas. Typically in Bulgaria, Santa Claus is known as "Grandpa Christmas." During Communist times, he was called "Grandpa Frost."
While most people despised Communism, Kremena shared that occasionally you will hear someone say they liked it. Kremena said it is because of the fact that since all businesses were owned by the state (private business was not allowed), most everyone was employed. Under Communism, making a profit was not allowed; it was considered immoral. So there was limited number and variety of goods. Kremena said the big joke under this system was "They're pretending to pay me and I'm pretending to work." The Communist countries would typically have an agreement to only buy and sell from other Communist countries. So at times the economy did reasonably well.
When explaining why most people hated Communism, given that sometimes the employment and economy did well, Kremena said that there was a lack of freedom, and a sense that "Big Brother" was always watching you. The lack of freedom of religion was already mentioned. Freedom of speech was lacking because if you criticized Communism or any Communist leader, you could go to jail. The government paid people, like the neighbors, to report such criticism. So it appears that while Communism can, at times, be good for the economy, it is bad for the human spirit.
When Communism fell, Kremena said that they just woke up one day and heard on the news that there would be major changes in the country. They were informed that the Communist leader was no longer in charge. The country then embarked on a long and difficult transition.
Sts. Cyril and Methodius are prominent in Bulgaria since Bulgaria uses the cyrillic alphabet which they invented. We passed St. Cyril and Methodius churches, as well as St. Cyril and Methodius University.
Once we arrived in Veliko Turnovo, we stopped to take pictures of a nice view, where houses were situated on a hillside overlooking the city.
Along the way we drove through rural areas and little villages, with flat brown fields in the foreground and rolling foothills in the background. It was very nice scenery.
Along the way, Kremena shared some history of Bulgaria with us. Bulgaria suffered a lot under Ottoman (Turkish) domination for many centuries. Then, in 1878, Russia fought with them against the Turks and liberated them. At that time, Bulgaria became a monarchy until 1944, when the Communists took over.
Before the Ottoman domination, Bulgaria had been a monarchy. But during the centuries of domination, the monarch family line was lost. So when they became a monarchy again in 1878, they didn't have a king. So they invited a foreign royalty to be their king. This person was of German-Austrian origin. Because of this German connection, Bulgaria became a German ally during World War II.
Bulgaria is the only country that saved the lives of all their Jewish people during the war. Hitler asked Bulgaria - like other countries - to put all Jews in the country on trains and deport them to the concentration camps. The King refused to do so, and in his defiance of Hitler's order, managed to save the lives of the Jews in Bulgaria. Today there is not a large Jewish community in Bulgaria because most of them have emigrated to Israel.
Kremena shared with us what life was like under communism. She said that the main idea of communism is equality. It sounds like a great idea, Kremena said, but in reality, what happens when a government tries to implement such a notion, is that inevitably "some people are more equal than others." And she said the Communist leader of Bulgaria was "the most equal of all." Kremena referred to some privileges he enjoyed on more than one occasion, and also pointed out the large mansion where he lived, always calling him "the most equal of all." Ordinary people had one house to live in; the Communist leader - the most equal of all - had over 30 houses.
Kremena said that today when his name is mentioned what people think of is some of the gaffes that he often made. One example she gave us is that when he mentioned, in a speech, that Bulgaria had opened a semi-conductor plant, he opined that maybe next year they would open a full conductor plant. Another time, he was giving a speech at the opening of the Olympics. Like most leaders, he had speech writers and so did not write the speech himself. When he began to read the speech, he started by saying, "Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh" at which time his assistant quickly ran to him and pointed out that those were the five Olympic circles and not actually part of the speech.
Apparently the Communist leader was not hated because he was not mean to the people, unlike other Communist leaders such as Ceausescu of Romania. So when communism fell, the leader of Bulgaria spent one month under house arrest and then was set free.
Kremena shared with us that during Communism, religious practices were greatly restricted. She said the Communists didn't outright close the churches, lest there be a public outcry. They really didn't care if older people went to church, but they were very strict with young people; they would lose their jobs if they went to church. She shared this true story with us. Her mother worked for the government department that issued passports, visas, etc. One of the secretaries that she worked with went to church on Easter. The next day, they called a big meeting, shamed her in front of all the other employees, and said if she or anyone else was caught attending church again, they would be fired.
Kremena said that during Communist rule, they did not celebrate Christmas. Typically in Bulgaria, Santa Claus is known as "Grandpa Christmas." During Communist times, he was called "Grandpa Frost."
While most people despised Communism, Kremena shared that occasionally you will hear someone say they liked it. Kremena said it is because of the fact that since all businesses were owned by the state (private business was not allowed), most everyone was employed. Under Communism, making a profit was not allowed; it was considered immoral. So there was limited number and variety of goods. Kremena said the big joke under this system was "They're pretending to pay me and I'm pretending to work." The Communist countries would typically have an agreement to only buy and sell from other Communist countries. So at times the economy did reasonably well.
When explaining why most people hated Communism, given that sometimes the employment and economy did well, Kremena said that there was a lack of freedom, and a sense that "Big Brother" was always watching you. The lack of freedom of religion was already mentioned. Freedom of speech was lacking because if you criticized Communism or any Communist leader, you could go to jail. The government paid people, like the neighbors, to report such criticism. So it appears that while Communism can, at times, be good for the economy, it is bad for the human spirit.
When Communism fell, Kremena said that they just woke up one day and heard on the news that there would be major changes in the country. They were informed that the Communist leader was no longer in charge. The country then embarked on a long and difficult transition.
Sts. Cyril and Methodius are prominent in Bulgaria since Bulgaria uses the cyrillic alphabet which they invented. We passed St. Cyril and Methodius churches, as well as St. Cyril and Methodius University.
Once we arrived in Veliko Turnovo, we stopped to take pictures of a nice view, where houses were situated on a hillside overlooking the city.
We then went to a museum where we saw a house restored to how it originally looked centuries ago.
We then went to the Orthodox Church of the Nativity, which had separate rooms for men and women to use for worship. When the church was built, Bulgaria was under Turkish rule. Because the Turks were Muslims, they did allow the church to be built but said it could not look pretty. As a result, the outside of the church looks like a barn.
We took a break for lunch at a local restaurant, which was accompanied by Bulgarian singers, dancers, and musicians.
After lunch, we went to the nearby town of Arbanasi, which is a unique village built by wealthy Albanian merchants. Arbanasi is on top of a hill and affords beautiful views of the surrounding countryside.
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