Perhaps we should have dug out our Edith Piaf tape as the car nosed through the narrow and enchanting tree-lined roads that link the towns and villages of central Bulgaria. When autumn leaves start to fall...
Less than systematic in the route we chose, the theme was a journey of some days among a part of Bulgaria appropriate to visit during the change of seasons. Neither among the traditional summer nor most popular winter destinations, it is an area that truly is central Bulgaria, given that Gabrovo, its principal town, is not far from Uzuna, held to be the geographic centre of Bulgaria.
If autumn is a time of contemplation as the seasons of change, Sokolski Monastery is a fitting place to muse on first. Consecrated in 1834, it is set in front of the Sokolova Peshtera (Falcon’s Cave). A symbol of the work done during the Bulgarian Revival period and closely linked to the struggle for liberation from Ottoman rule, when the monastery served as the rallying point for the Gabrovo detachment in the April Uprising, the monastery was restored in recent years with help from European Union funding. The monastery offers overnight accommodation, 10 leva for a room with bath and seven leva without.
But let us be a little bit systematic, for the sake of the narrative. Only hawks arrive at Sokolski by air, and our ramblings around the monastery were part of a journey that started after we took the road from Plovdiv in the direction of Gabrovo. The journey took us over the Shipka pass, enabling a visit to Shipka Peak. Yet even before we reached the summit, renowned in the hearts of all Bulgarians for its landmark place in the epic of liberation from the Ottomans, from far away along the road we could see the golden onion domes of the Church of the Nativity glinting in the autumn sunlight.
Consecrated on September 27 1902, in the style of 17th-century Russian churches, the church is in magnificent condition, thanks successively to help from the Russian Orthodox Church (under communism - an event commemorated with a marble plaque affixed to an outer wall, topped by the hammer-and-sickle and “CCCP”) and European funds. As with many a historic church site that serves more as an icon of cultural tourism rather than a focus of the Divine, and even given that its juxtaposition of the symbols of faith and atheism is more dramatic than most, you must first pass by the latter-day equivalent of the money changers before reaching the temple. From the market below the church, spurning the garish plastic goods and even the more tasteful crafts, we picked up a bottle of rose wine from Kazanluk.
At Shipka Peak, a cold and harsh wind swept the heights, and the memorial, reached by ascending a calf-crunchingly long flight of stone steps, was framed against a bleak and forbidding sky. Inside the Shipka monument, each floor depicted scenes from the battle, and some of the figures who took part, with notes in a number of languages, including English. Among the battlefield memorabilia are rifles and bayonets used by the forces. Seeing the rifle number stamped on one - many veterans remember their rifle numbers for the rest of their lives - brought home that it was an individual who had grasped this weapon. I wondered what had become of him. Up a narrow staircase and through a narrow door, we reached the top deck, and stood briefly in the slicing wind, contemplating the countryside over which the battle was fought.
We took the winding road down towards Gabrovo. The town, in the valley of the Yantra River, is the home of the House of Humour and Satire, and is noted for its Bulgarian National Revival architecture. Not only, as noted, does Gabrovo linger near Bulgaria’s geographical centre, it is also known as the longest town in Bulgaria, stretching over 25km along the Yantra, yet in places spanning only one km in width.
Down the winding road of the pass, to Tryavna (about 22km east of Gabrovo, and 400m above sea level), where at the lower altitude, the afternoon was warmer than on the peak. Wandering the architectural reserve, created by an initiative some decades back that thankfully preserved much of the Revival architecture, we came on the Museum of Woodcarving and Icon-Painting. As someone who was caned at school for gross incompetence in woodwork, I could but stand in wonder at the two wood-carved ceilings on display, representing stylised interpretations of the sun. They were created in the early 1800s in competition by rival master woodcarvers Dimitar Oshanina and Ivan Bochukovetsa. I declared it a draw. Elsewhere in the architectural reserve, there is a wealth of houses and churches, and I noted that Swiss and European Union money was helping to keep it going.
Tryavna has a wealth of places to see: the Old Square, PR Slaveikov Street, Kachaunska neighbourhood, Tepavitsite, Skortsite village, the St. Archangel Michael and St. George churches, and in the museums known as Daskalov’s house, Raykov’s house, Angel Kunchev’s and PR Slaveikov’s houses, Staroto Shkolo (the old school) and the Museum of Icon Painting and Woodcarving, art exhibitions of work by Dimitur and Nikola Kazakovi, Nikolai Maistorov and Ivan Kolev, and the Gubenskies’ collection of pictures.
An experience similar to the delight in discovering Tryavna was a visit to the architectural-ethnographic museum village at Etar, nine km from Gabrovo. The complex covers seven ha and contains a total of 50 attractions, including water installations and houses with craftsmen’s workshops attached. The complex is intended to illustrate the architecture, way of life and economy of Gabrovo and the region during the Bulgarian National Revival. The park features typical Bulgarian revival double-storey houses, bay windows, a clock tower, and a beautifully decorated house by Saakov featuring 21 windows. The park boasts numerous restaurants, including one boasting traditional Bulgarian bread-baking. Happily avoiding the kitsch of a theme park, the Etar complex offers the chance to see craftspeople at work, and buy what they have produced.
On then, to the village of Kmetovtsi, at the foot of the Stara Planina, eight km from Gabrovo and 32km from Veliko Turnovo. And further, following the road north-east from Gabrovo, through Kmetovtsi, we drove the 16km to Bozhentsi, an architectural reserve of about 100 houses beyond which lies only forest. No road was ever built to link Bozhentsi to Veliko Turnovo, a fact that, along with the decision about 40 years ago to declare the village a protected reserve, has done much to distil its character, much like the pure home-made rakiyas made in the region.
Unsure of the road and parking situation in the village, we left our car where the tar road gave way to cobblestones, and sauntered among the 18th century Bulgarian Revival buildings. The settlement is said to date back more than 600 years, when a member of the nobility, Bozhana, brought her family here from a Veliko Turnovo being laid waste by the Ottomans. The village became prosperous, and is believed to have expanded to more than 1000 households, shrinking again when stability and liberation saw people returning to Veliko Turnovo and Gabrovo. In the interval, it became somewhat of an artists’ and writers’ colony. (Few of them seemed to have achieved very much; I suspect if I lived in a place that tranquil, indolence might too seduce my work ethic.)
We ambled Bozhentsi’s cobbled streets, sampled the delicious home-made yoghurt, Turkish coffee and byalo sladko (a traditional sweet that may be dipped in the coffee).
Many of the houses appeared to be in private hands, and not only because they had been sold to foreigners. Within, or just outside, the solid stone walls that characterise the narrow lanes of the village were luxury cars with “C” (for Sofia) licence plates.
We returned the short distance to Kmetovtsi, which boasts three-star accommodation (and conference facilities, bicycle and video hire, fitness centre, and so on) at the Fenerite hotel complex. With no rooms available at Fenerite that night, we were blessed to find accommodation at a house next door, in a clean, large room, complete with complimentary soap and shampoo in the bathroom. A true bargain because our hosts invited them to join them for supper, at no extra charge, lavishing salads, fish, grilled chicken, home-made rakiya and beer on us.
Well-rested, we headed the following day for Dryanovo, 20km from Gabrovo, 24km from Veliko Tarnovo, 17km from Tryavna and about 30km from Sevlievo. The town lies on the Rousse-Veliko Tarnovo-Gabrovo-Shipka-Kazanlak-Stara Zagora highway and has a station of the main railway route that links the north and the south part of Bulgaria.
After an early lunch at the Dryanovo monastery, noted in Bulgarian history for the bravery of the detachment of rebels that held out within its walls during the 1876 April uprising, and whose surroundings of sheer stone cliffs mesmerise the gaze, we strolled on along the road beyond the monastery to the Dryanovo Eco-Trail and the Bacho Kiro cave, which is little more than 300m from the monastery, and is embedded among the enchanting canyons of the Andaka and Dryanovo rivers. The cave is a four-storey labyrinth of galleries and corridors with a total length of 3600m, 700m of which are open to tourists. The cave is lit by electric light. Guides and brochures are available in a number of European languages, but we decided to make our own way in the cool recesses of the cave. From there, we essayed a hike part of the way up the steep steps and enchanting glades of the trail, stopping to watch the river surge over the rocks.
