Arbanassi

The boat docked early this morning at Ruse (RU-seh) on the Bulgarian side of the Danube. After breakfast, we got on a bus to take us on the optional tour inland to the village of Arbanassi and the city of Veliko Turnovo. It was a beautiful sunny day with a high in the low 80s.

The bus ride was nearly two hours through Bulgarian farmland. In some places the land was fairly flat, and in other places it was rolling hills. It might have been eastern Iowa, except that the fields were huge (possibly a carry over from collective farms in the communist period?) and, more startling, there were no farmsteads.

We didn't see a barn, shed, or farmhouse anywhere. The local guide indicated that farmers live in the villages, park their tractors and other equipment on the edge of town, and go out to their fields from there. But we also saw no equipment working in any fields, so that was hard to verify.

Arbanassi is a village that has escaped the ravages of many wars and is a collection of "fortified houses" dating back other the 17th century. The houses were fortified, with stone walls around them, stone lower floors, barred windows, and other security features because of bandits and marauding gangs. During the Ottoman period there was little in the way of law enforcement.

The interior of the home we visited (now a museum) had many Turkish features, including the "beds" on which people sat in the living and dining areas, and even the indoor squat "toilets" (which were just holes in the floor.

From the home, we went to visit an Orthodox church that also dates from the 17th century. The church was fascinating! 

During Ottoman occupation the building of churches was heavily restricted. No church could be larger than the smallest mosque in the region. No steeples, domes, or bell towers were allowed. Nothing on the exterior could indicate the purpose of the building or display any religious symbols.

The interior was a different matter. Because Muslims were forbidden by their religion to enter a church, the Orthodox Christians could pretty much get by with anything. No Ottoman official would ever see it.

So the entry room to the church was plain whitewash. If anyone standing outside happened to look through the doorway, it would appear to be absolutely without any decoration or symbols. But turning the corner, one entered an ornately and opulently decorated vision of heaven.

Because the church could not be built very tall, the builders dug into the ground so that the ceilings could still be high. Though no dome was permitted on the exterior, a domed ceiling was hidden within a plain, square exterior.

Nearly every inch of the interior was covered with icons, and gold leaf was used extensively. Roman bricks were retrieved from old ruins and repurposed to create the highest quality floors.

Unfortunately, candles and oil lamps were the only source of light. So the icons became caked in soot. But the post-communist Bulgarian government had recently paid for art restorers to clean the walls and reveal the original brightness of the decor.

Four elderly local men came into the church to perform Orthodox liturgical music for us. The acoustics were great. The elderly voices, not so much.

From the church we walked to a local restaurant for an excellent lunch, including some of the best baklava we have ever tasted. Then it was on to the nearby city of Veliko Turnovo. 

This city of about 140,000 was once, in pre-Ottoman times, the capital of Bulgaria. From a distance, we were able to see the fortress castle from which the Bulgarian kings ruled. 

Then we were taken on a tour of the craft shops that cater to tourists and given free time to shop. I'm afraid that we did little to help the local economy, but of course, some of our fellow travelers made up for us.

The local guide yammered continuously with useless trivia throughout the day, but was mercifully silent during most of the trip back to Ruse. The aged and infirm remained on the bus to go back to the boat, but those of us who had energy remaining were dropped off for an hour in the city center of Ruse.

Both Veliko Turnovo and Ruse definitely still display their communist heritage. The old buildings need restoration, and the newer buildings are still the depressing, grey Soviet style piles of concrete that one sees all over the former Soviet block.

However, Ruse was celebrating the Children's Day holiday, and the city center was filled with families, with many kids dressed up in traditional costumes. It was a grand party all through town.

Back on the boat, we were fed and watered in typical style as we left port to sail for Romania and the Black Sea. This cruise will soon be over.