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The Phodopes and the Plain of Thrace
The Rhodope Mountains to the south of the plain harbour Bachkovo Monastery and small towns such as Shiroka Laka and Batak, whose fortified houses testify to the insecurity of life in the old days, when bandits and Muslim zealots marauded through the hills. The spa-town of Velingrad, and Pamporovo, Bulgaria`s premier ski resort, attract thousands of tourists, but otherwise foreigners rarely venture into the Rhodopes, where poor roads and a relative lack of tourist facilities form an effective deterrent. This is a shame, because the scenery in Bulgaria`s southern margins can be truly stupendous; ranging from rugged gorges to dense pine forests and grassy high-altitude pasturelands. THE PLAIN OF THRACE Watered by the Maritsa and numerous tributaries descending from the Balkans and the Rhodopes, the Plain of Thrace has been a fertile, productive land since antiquity. The ancient Greeks called it Upper or Northern Thrace, to distinguish it from the lush plains on the far side of the Rhodopes in Greece and Turkey, collectively known as Thrace after the tribes who lived there. A Bulgarian legend has it that God, dividing the world among different peoples, forgot them until a delegation of Bulgars mentioned the oversight. God replied, "There is nothing left, but since you are hard-working folk I will give you a portion of Paradise". And so the Bulgars received part of Thrace. The E80, which now links Istanbul and Sofia, essentially follows the course of the Roman Serdica-Constantinople road, past towns formerly ruled by the Ottomans for so long that foreigners used to call this "European Turkey". The most important town, of course, is Plovdiv, which quite simply overshadows all the others. Pazardzhik, Haskovo, Harmanli and Svilengrad are pleasant enough provincial centres, but hardly warrant extensive investigation. Communications along this route are all fairly straightforward. Roughly every hour, trains depart from Sofia bound for Plovdiv - a journey which takes two and a half hours by express (barz), or three to three and a half if you use Patnicheshki services. By road, Plovdiv is two hours from Sofia, and is easily hitched. From other parts of Bulgaria, there is at least one direct train a day from both Burgas and Varna on the coast; while travellers coming from Ruse and Veliko Tarnovo will probably need to change trains at Stara Zagora. Numerous buses and at least two trains link Plovdiv with Istanbul: travelling by road you`ll cross the border at Kapitan Andreevo; by train at Svilengrad. IHTIMAN, KOSTENETS, BELOVO, SEMPTEMVRI Travelling west to east along the E80, the first town you come across after leaving Sofia is IHTIMAN, set amid beautiful subalpine scenery, with a hotel, the Eledzhik (0724/2405), in the centre and a costlier motel out on the highway If you`re driving in a hurry, or riding on one of the direct bus services, you`ll follow the dual carriageway almost as far as Plovdiv, bypassing all the towns along the way. Along with the Sofia-Plovdiv rail line, the old E80 winds its much more leisurely way through the hills that precede the Maritsa Valley, passing the Leshta han restaurant (where lentil dishes are the speciality) 9 km beyond Ihtiman, before entering KOSTENETS, a small town encroaching on Momin Prohod or the "Virgin s Pass . This gets its name from the daughter of a rich merchant of philippopolis, whose long-standing paralysis vanished when she bathed in the nuneral spnngs here - whose mildly radioactive waters are nowadays used to treat diabetes, ulcers, rheumatism and skin diseases. BELOVO the next town like Kostenets a stop for most express trains, has a campsite (May-Sept) and a mineral swimming pool situated 5km to the east beside the highway From the next proper town SEMPTEMVRI, you can catch trains to Velingrad in the western Rhodopes and Bansko in the Pirin Mountains Pazardzhik A market town founded by Crimean Tatars during the reign of Sultan Bajezid II PAZARDZHIK was the site of the third-largest fair in the Ottoman Empire, capable of stabling 3000 horses and 2000 camels in its caravanserai, and until the late nineteenth century commercially more important than Sofia. Many of the Bulgarian artisans who began settling here towards the end of the sixteenth century adopted Islam, and Pazardzhik remained a predominantly Turkish and Muslim town until comparatively recently. In 1971, the state`s policy of assimi-lation by foisting "approved" names on Muslims provoked outbursts of rioting (reportedly, two Party officials were murdered), followed by a police crackdown on the Turkish and Pomak (Bulgarian Muslim) communities. If tension still remains it`s unlikely to be apparent to casual travellers: the evening promenade has all the relaxed good humour of small-town Bulgaria, and buildings are strewn with lush grapevines, giving Pazardzhik an abundant, welcoming feel. Arrival and information Pazardzhik`s train station is about 5km south of the centre, and all arrivals are met by buses into town. The bus terminal, a couple of blocks north of the town centre, is a more convenient point of entry. With regular buses to Plovdiv, Panagyurishte in the Sredna Gora, and Peshtera and Batak in the Rhodopes, Pazardzhik is the kind of place you spend an afternoon en route to somewhere else. For those who wish to stay, however, there`s the standard 2-star Hotel Trakiya, in the central Cherven pl. 2 (034/ 26006); the smaller Riva, ul. G. Tsvetanov 21 (034/20334), a quiet pension in backstreets near the bus station; and the Elbrus, pl. Olimpiiski 2 (034/26530), which features a late-night bar and disco. The Town Although this predominantly modern town has long since lost the appearance of an Ottoman bazaar, Pazardzhik`s mercantile traditions live on in one of Bulgaria`s liveliest street markets, which lines the alleys of the pedestrianized downtown area just east of the main square, Cherven ploshtad. Directly behind the square at Georgi Kirkov 34 is the City Museum and Art Gallery (Tues-Sun 9am-noon & 2-6pm), largely concentrating on Thracian oddments. Ulitsa 9 septemvri heads south from the centre, leading soon to the Cathedral of Sveta Bogoroditsa. Built in 1837 of pink stone, it`s an example of the National Revival style applied to church architecture, partly sunk beneath street level to comply with the Ottoman restrictions on Christian places of worship. Its walnut iconostasis is perhaps the finest product of the nineteenth-century School of Debar (a town in western Macedonia), whose craftsmen endeavoured to show the psychological relationships between human figures rather than fill the icon screen with plant and zoomorphic motifs in the manner of the Samokov woodcarvers. Zahari Zograf aside, Bulgaria`s most famous nineteenth-century painter was probably Stanislav Dospevski (1826-76), whose former house and studio opposite the cathedral at bul. Dimitrov 50 is now a museum (Mon-Fri 9am-noon & 2-5pm). Born in Pazardzhik and educated at the Academy of Fine Art in St. Petersburg, Dospevski drew extensively during visits to Odessa and Constantinople, but is best remembered for his icons, portraits and murals. several of which decorate the walls of the house. A participant in the April Rising, he was flung into the dungeons of Constantinople and died before Bulgaria`s Liberation. Most of Pazardzhik`s surviving nineteenth-century houses lie near the Dospevski museum, where squat pastel-coloured structures huddle along either side of a stream, or among the tree-lined residential streets just west of the cathe¬dral Here, at Kiril i Metodii 4, is an Ethnographic Museum (Tues-Sun 9am-noon & 2-6pm), which has the usual selection of costumes and crafts from the National Revival period. Another block west is the rather delapidated walled Church of SS Konstantin i Elena, with faded murals of the saints above the portal. Pazardzhik`s Kurshum or bullet mosque, built in 1667, stands just north of the centre, on the far side of the town park. PLOVDIV The road between Pazardzhik and Plovdiv runs straight as an arrow across the widening plain beside the River Maritsa, flanked by acres of trees bearing apples, plums and pears. Bulgarians say that by custom, passers-by may pick fruit from roadside orchards providing they eat it on the spot, but removing any consti¬tutes theft in the eyes of the law. Twenty-seven kilometres east of Pazardzhik, the highway passes the Maritsa motel-campsite complex, followed shortly by Trakiya campsite, and then the northern suburbs of Plovdiv. Plovdiv Lucian the Greek called PLOVDIV "the biggest and most beautiful of all towns" in Thrace; he might have added "and Bulgaria", for the country`s second-largest city (with a population of 360,000) is one of its most attractive and vibrant centres. Certainly, there`s plenty to see: the old town embodies Plovdiv`s long and varied history - Thracian fortifications utilized by Macedonian masonry, overlaid with Byzantine walls, and by great timber-framed mansions erected during the Bulgarian renaissance, looking down on the derelict Ottoman mosques and arti¬sans` dwellings of the lower town. But Plovdiv isn`t merely a parade of antiquities: the city`s arts festivals and trade fairs rival Sofia`s in number, and its restaurants and promenade compare favourably with those of the capital. Some history An ancient Thracian site, rebuilt and renamed by Philip II of Macedonia in 342 BC, classical Philippopolis was initially little more than a military outpost designed to keep a watchful eye over the troublesome natives. It was a rough frontier town that the Macedonians deliberately colonized with criminals and dropouts - Roman writer Pliny later identifying Philipoppolis with Poneropolis, the semi-legendary "City of Thieves". Under Roman rule urban culture developed apace, with the town`s position on the Belgrade-Constantinople highway bring- ing both economic wealth and a strategic role in the defence of Thrace. Plovdiv was sacked by the Huns in 447, and by the seventh century, with the Danube frontier increasingly breached by barbarians, the city was in decline. With the arrival of the Bulgars, Byzantine control over the area became increasingly tenuous. "Once upon a time", lamented Byzantine chronicler Anna Comnena in the twelfth century, "Philipoppolis must have been a large and beautiful city, but after the Tauri and Scyths [Slavs] enslaved the inhabitants ... it was reduced to the condition in which we saw it". In Comnena`s time Philipoppolis was a notorious hotbed of heretics, a situation usually blamed on local Armenians, who migrated to Thrace en masse in the eighth and tenth centuries, bringing with them the dualistic doctrines of Manichaeanism and Paulicianism. Although these heresies eventually fizzled out, Plovdiv`s Armenian population has endured to this day. The Byzantine town was further damaged by the Bulgarian Tsar Kaloyan in 1206, and it was a rather run-down place that the Turks inherited in the four¬teenth century, renaming it Filibe. It soon recovered as a commercial centre, with a thriving Muslim quarter, complete with bazaars and mosques, growing up at the base of the hill where Plovdiv`s Christian communities continued to live. Many of the latter were rising members of a rich mercantile class by the mid-nineteenth century, and they expressed their affluence in the construction of opulent town houses that showcased the very best of native arts and crafts. Plovdiv`s urban elite also patronized Bulgarian culture, and had the Great Powers of Europe not broken up the infant state of Bulgaria at the Congress of Berlin in 1878, Plovdiv would probably have been designated as its capital. In the event, it became instead the main city of eastern Rumelia, an Ottoman province adminis¬tered by a Christian governor-general. Much of the Christian population naturally wanted union with the rest of Bulgaria, which was finally attained in 1885. Plovdiv has continued to rival Sofia as a cultural and business centre ever since, not least because of the prestigious international trade fairs held here in May and September. Close proximity to Bulgaria`s capitalist neighbours Turkey and Greece ensures that Plovdiv is well placed to take advantage of recent changes - and private enterprise seems to have taken root here more quickly than anywhere else in the country. THE PLOVDIV FAIR A trade centre of long standing, Plovdiv became Bulgaria`s principal marketplace during the 1870s, when the railway between Europe and Istanbul was completed and the great annual fair held at Uzundzhovo since the sixteenth century was moved here. Plovdiv`s first international trade fair (1892) was a rather homespun affair - a man from Aitos proposed to show his hunting dogs, while Bohemia exhi¬bited beehives - but since 1933 the event has gone from strength to strength, and nowadays claims to be the largest of its kind in the Balkans. There are actually two annual fairs: the spring event, devoted to consumer goods in early May, and the larger autumn industrial fair, during the second half of September. Both are held at the complex on the north bank of the river. Members of the public are free to come| along, and there`s a special bus service laid on between the train station and the fairground. Arrival, orientation and information Trains arrive at the Tsentralna gara on central Plovdiv`s southern fringe, near the two main bus terminals: Rodopi, serving the mountain resorts of the south, is just on the other side of the train tracks (accessible via the underground walkway from the station), while Avtogara Yug, serving the southeast, is one block east of the train station. A brisk walk - or three stops on buses #2 or #102 - down Ivan Vazov brings you to Tsentralen ploshtad. immediately north of which is the modern town centre. Most of Plovdiv`s sights are compact enough to be explored on foot, although the town is divided into two distinct parts, quite different from each other in atmosphere: the nineteenth-century Stariyat grad or "old town", which occupies the easternmost of Plovdiv`s three hills; and the lower town - predominantly modern with a scattering of Turkish relics - which spreads itself across the plain below. For information, brochures and maps, head for Puldin Tour (daily 8.45am-12.30pm & 1.30-6.30pm) at the north end of town at bul. Balgariya 34 -take bus #2 or #102 from the station and alight once you`ve crossed the river. Accommodation Puldin Tour can book you into private rooms, which despite being relatively pricey ($15 a double, $20 during the autumn trade fair), are usually quite central. A smaller room-letting agency, Prima Vista at ul. Gurko 8 (272778), offers simi¬lar accommodation for roughly the same price. Private rooms are preferable to Plovdiv`s hotels, which are almost as expensive as those in the capital. The city`s three campsites are some way from town along the Sofia-Plovdiv-Istanbul E80 highway - too far away for those who want to be at the centre of things. Hotels Balgariya, Patriarh Evtimii 13 (226064). Average 2-star hotel, probably the best mid-price choice by virtue of its central location. . Feniks, Kapitan Raicho 79 (224729). New privately owned hotel in a high-rise residential area a 15-min walk from the centre. Situated on the third floor of an apartment block, most rooms have TV.. Laipzig. bul. Ruski 20 (232251). Another modern, high-rise, 2-star hotel, near the train station but almost lkm west of the town centre. Maritsa, bul. Vazrazhdane 32 (552735). Modern business hotel next door to the inter¬national fairgrounds on the north bank of the Maritsa (bus #2 or #102 from the station). Novotel, Zlatyu Boyadzhiev 2 (55892). Plush establishment on the north bank of the Maritsa, with swimming pool and tennis courts. Park-Hotel Sankt Peterburg, bul. Balgariya 97 (55803). Soulless 200-room high-rise amid modern suburbs north of the Maritsa. The least convenient of Plovdiv`s hotels for the centre. Trimontsium, Kapitan Raicho 2 (225561). Old-fashioned hotel with largish, atmospheric rooms, but lacks the standards of service you would expect for a low price. Campsites Chaya,15km east of Plovdiv just off the E80 to Istanbul, on the banks of the River Chepelarska. Open mid-April to mid-Oct. Maritsa, 10km west of town, well signed from the main road from Sofia. Open April-Nov. Trakiya, on Plovdiv`s western outskirts. Most convenient of the sites, though somewhat unkempt; take bus #4 from bul. Vazrazhdane or bus #23 from the station. Open April-Nov. Modern Plovdiv Modern Plovdiv revolves around the large Tsentralen ploshtad, an arid concrete plaza dominated by the ponderously Stalinist Hotel Trimontsium, whose restaurant-garden with its brass lamps has a faded Thirties ambience Remnants of the Roman forum were discovered during the development of the area - you can explore this marble-paved, once-colonnaded square by descendining into a sunken area in front of the hotel. Just east of here is ul. Kapitan Raicho, a leafy residential street enlivened by a vast open-air clothes market. To the west of Tsentralen is Freedom Park, a shaded area of lawns and fountains that marks the tail end of the evening korso, an animated promenade bring. ing hundreds of people onto Plovdiv`s main downtown street, Aleksandrovska lined with shops, cinemas and bars with terraces from where to watch the world go by. At Aleksandrovska 15 is the City Art Gallery (Mon-Fri 10.30am-lpm & 1.30-6pm), one of Bulgaria`s better collections, with some fine nineteenth-century portraits including one deeply reverent, almost iconic, Portrait of Bishop Sofronii of Vratsa, painted in 1812 by an unknown artist. Look out too for Tsanko Lavrenov`s pictures of nineteenth-century Plovdiv, painted in the 1930s and 1940s and suffused with a dreamlike nostalgia. Around ploshtad Stamboliiski Further north, Aleksandrovska gives onto the arresting pl. Stamboliiski, surrounded by small cafes packed with a variety of students, whiskery elders and corpulent bon viveurs. The ruins of a Roman stadium, visible in a pit beneath the square, are but a paltry fragment of the original, horseshoe-shaped arena where the Alexandrine Games were held during the second and third centuries: as many as 30,000 spectators watched chariot races, wrestling, athletics and other events from the marble stands that once lined the slopes of the neighbouring heights. Among the variously styled buildings around here, the Dzhumaiya dzhamiya or "Friday mosque", with its diamond-patterned minaret and lead-sheathed domes, steals the show. Its thick walls and the configuration of the prayer hall (divided by 4 columns into 9 squares) are typical of the so-called "popular mosques" of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, although it`s believed that the Dzhumaiya mosque might actually date back to the reign of Sultan Murad II (1359-85). It tends to be locked up outside prayer times, so you`ll have to time your visit carefully if you want to admire the fountain, floral motifs, and medal¬lions bearing Koranic texts that adorn its interior. A plaque on the western wall commemorates the five Communists shot here in 1919, thus explaining the name borne by the square for many years during the Communist period: pi. 19 Noemvri. Immediately northeast of the mosque lies the site of the old charshiya, or bazaar quarter, where narrow streets still bear the names of the trades that used to operate from here: ul. Zhelezarska, for example, was the preserve of the ironmongers; Abadzhiiska, that of the weavers and cloth merchants. The name abadzhiya derives from abas, the coarse woolen cloth that the Plovdiv merchants bought from Rhodopi shepherds before re-exporting it throughout the Levant. In Ottoman times Plovdiv`s main commercial district stretched from here north¬wards to the River Maritsa, roughly following the course of the modern ul. Raiko Daskalov - around which, in the sixteenth century, Arab traveller Evliya Chelebi counted 880 shops raised "storey above storey". You won`t find much of the area`s erstwhile bazaar atmosphere these days, but it`s a nice experience to wander along the streets, shaded by red awnings and dusty foliage. The Imaret mosque and the Archeological Museum Nearer the river are a number of further relics of Turkish rule, many of which are in a bad state of repair and have long been closed for restoration. With an eye for 1eaden domes and sturdy masonry, you can identify the Chifte hammam (several blocks east of Raiko Daskalov at the end of Hristo Danov) as an original Turkish bath, but you don`t have to be an expert to recognize the Imaret mosque on Han Kubrat. Zigzag brickwork gives the minaret a corkscrew twist, jazzing up the ponderous bulk of the building, which a frieze of "sawtoothed" bricks and a row of keel arches with tie beams fails to do. Built on Sultan Bajazet`s orders in 1444, it contains the tomb of Gazi Shahabedin Pasha, and got its name from the pilgrims` hostel (imaret) that formerly stood nearby. Opposite Milenkov`s surreal monument to the union of 1885 on pl. Saedinenie, there`s the Archeological Museum (Tues-Sun 9am-12.30pm & 1.30-5.30pm). Although the region`s greatest treasure, the Gold Treasure of Panagyurishte, has been carried off to the National History Museum in Sofia, there`s still ample evidence of the culture of Bulgaria`s Thracian forebears, much of it drawn from excavations of tribal burial grounds at Duvanli, 20km north of Plovdiv. Austere, locally made earthenware stands in stark contrast to a series of exquisitely deco¬rated pots imported by Thracian warlords from Greece. Abundant weaponry, including a bronze helmet found near the village of Brestovitsa, points to the more down-to-earth concerns of daily Thracian life. Life in Roman Trimontsium is well documented, with a range of bronze and terracotta artefacts; the medieval period is represented by a twelfth-century Byzantine coin hoard found near Asenovgrad and the vibrant, expressive pottery of the Second Kingdom, decorated with multi¬coloured swirls and coils punctuated by the occasional bird or animal figure. Old Plovdiv With its cobbled, hilly streets and orieled mansions, Plovdiv`s old quarter, most of which is designated as an "Architectural-Historical Reserve", is a painter`s dream and a cartographer`s nightmare. Attempting to follow - let alone describe - an itinerary is impractical given the topography and the numerous approaches, each leading to a different point in the old quarter. Glimpses of ornate facades or interiors tempt visitors to stray down the occasional alleyway, or into a courtyard - and generally speaking, that`s by far the best way to see the area. National Revival architecture Blackened fortress walls dating from Byzantine times can be seen lurking beyond several streets, sometimes incorporated into the dozens of National Revival-style houses that are Plovdiv`s speciality. Typically, these rest upon an incline and expand with each storey by means of timber-framed oriels - cleverly resolving the problem posed by the scarcity of ground space and the nineteenth-century merchants who demanded roomy interiors. The most prominent oriel on the facade usually denotes the grand reception room inside, while the sides of the upper storeys sometimes feature blind oriels containing kitchen niches or cupboards. Outside and inside, the walls are frequently decorated with niches, floral motifs or false columns painted in the style known as alafranga, executed by itinerant artists. The rich merchants who lived here also sponsored many of the artistic developments that made up the Bulgarian National Revival, and much Along ulitsa Saborna Most people approach the old town from pl. Stamboliiski, from which the slight incline of ul. Saborna gently draws you upward into Old Plovdiv. Accessible via a flight of steps to the right is the Danov House (Mon-Fri 9am-noon & l.30_ 6pm) at Hainrih Haine 2, former domicile of Bulgaria`s first large-scale publisher and now home to a museum of Bulgarian printing. Danov was one of those eminent nineteenth-century Bulgarians who regarded distribution of the printed word as a patriotic duty: a crucial step in the peoples` struggle against five centu¬ries of Ottoman darkness. As well as printing books he opened the country`s first bookshops in Plovdiv and Ruse; made globes, thermometers and weighing scales (a selection of which are on display) for the nation`s schools; and founded Plovdiv`s first daily newspaper, Maritsa, in 1878 - a title resurrected after the changes of November 1989. Occupying a bluff just beyond the house is the Church of Sveta Bogoroditsa, an imposing hulk of a church which holds some icons by the Samokov master Stanislav Dospevski. If you continue up Saborna you`ll come to a branch of the City Art Gallery at no. 14 (times vary according to what`s on show), the venue for thematic exhibitions in the summer, and just beyond, the Chomatov House (Tues-Sun 9am-noon & 1.30-5.30pm), now an exhibition gallery devoted to the work of Zlatyu Boyadzhiev, one of postwar Bulgaria`s best-loved painters. It`s easy to see how his work won official favour: pieces such as 1945`s Pernik Miners show his marriage of a folk art style with a genuinely felt sympathy for the strug¬gles of working people. Later works such as Orfei (Orpheus) and Dve svadbi (Two Weddings) use Breughel-like peasant scenes to convey a more earthy national pride. A little further on is the Museum of Icons (Tues-Sun 9.30am-12.30pm & 2-6pm), rich in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century works rescued from the region`s churches, next door to the walled Church of SS Konstantin i Elena (8arn-noon & 1.30-6pm). The frivolous floral patterns adorning the porch give way to a riotously colourful interior, with brightly painted geometric designs of the ceiling held aloft by pillars topped with Corinthian capitals. Scenes from the gospels cover the surrounding walls, and there`s a fine gilt iconostasis by Debar master Ivan Pashkula, partly decorated by Zahari Zograf. Around Nebet Tepe At the corner of Stamat Matanov and 4 Yanuari, the Balabanov House (Mon-Fri 9am-noon & l-6.30pm) was once the home of merchant Luka Balabanov, now the venue for modern art shows. Nearby, the curious Gallery of Mexican Art at Artin Gidikov 11 displays a permanent exhibition of contemporary works by Mexican and Bulgarian artists. On the same street at no. 4, the Hindlian House (Mon-Fri summer 9am-noon & l-6.30pm; winter 9am-noon) harbours some of Plovdiv`s most sumptuous interiors. The Hindlians were Armenian merchants, and the alafranga cityscapes painted into the niches of upstairs rooms recall the mercantile cities in which they moved: Constantinople, Alexandria and Venice among them. A wide-ranging collection of furniture collected from the city`s wealthy homes fills much of the house, including a couple of Biedermeier-period sitting rooms packed with trinkets imported from Vienna. Downstairs, the Hindlian family bathroom is. designed to look like a miniature hammam, complete with marble floor and fountain Many of Plovdiv`s surviving Armenian families still live in the surrounding streets and steps at the end of Armen Gidikov lead up to a modest Armenian church, an Armenian school and the Erevan cultural centre. A monumentin the courtyard remembers the Plovdiv Armenians who died for "Mother Bulgaria in the Balkan Wars and World War I. Ulitsa Chomakov ascends northwards to the summit of the hill on which the old town is built, passing Plovdiv`s most photographed building, the Kuyumdzhioglu House (Tues-Sun 9am-noon & 1.30-5.30pm), still known after the Greek merchant who commissioned it in 1847. It was built by Hadzhi Georgj of Constantinople, who combined Baroque and native folk motifs in the richly decorated facade, painted black with yellow trim, its undulating pediment copying the line of the kolbitsa or carrying yoke. Now an Ethnographic Museum, the mansion`s lower rooms display a mundane tool collection partly redeemed by the inclusion of a rose-still and a splendid oil painting of Plovdiv streetlife during the nineteenth century - but upstairs lies a visual feast. The elegant rooms opening off che grand reception hall, with its rosette-and-sunburst ceiling, are furnished with objects reflecting the chorbadzhii`s taste for Viennese and French Baroque, and filled with showcases of sumptuous jewellery worn by wealthy women (the paste-gem-encrusted silver belt clasps are particularly lovely) and traditional Rhodopi costumes worn by peasants of both sexes. During June and September, chamber music can be heard in the courtyard. At the head of ul. Chomakov, beyond ramshackle nineteenth-century houses which, still occupied by Plovdiv families, have not benefited from the restoration lavished on others, lies the ruined Nebet Tepe Citadel. Although it`s difficult to discern precise historical features among the pits and abundant rubble, the site is archeologically rich. Fortified by the Thracian Odrysae tribe as early as the fifth century BC, the hilltop and the settlement of Eumolpios, below, were the begin¬nings of modern Plovdiv, captured by Philip II of Macedonia in 342 BC. Philip ordered the former rebuilt in tandem with the new town - modestly named Philippopolis - which his son, Alexander the Great, abandoned in search of new conquests in Asia. Over the following centuries, the inhabitants must have often resorted to the secret tunnel linking Nebet Tepe with the river bank, as the town and citadel were sacked by Romans, Slavs, Bulgars, Byzantium and the Ottoman Empire, to name but a few. From Hisar Kapiya to the Roman theatre Downhill from ul. Chomakov is the gloomy-looking Hisar Kapiya or "fortress gate", which has been rebuilt countless times since Philip II of Macedonia had it raised to form the citadel`s eastern portal. On the far side, it`s the structure rather than ornamentation that makes the Georgiadi House, Tsanko Lavrenov 1 (Mon & Wed-Sun 9.30am-12.30pm & 2-5pm), so remarkable: the architect has combined "box" oriels with bay windows on a monumental scale. Originally built for a rich Turk in 1846-48, the mansion contains a gallery where musicians once played, plus various salons nowadays occupied by the Museum of National liberation. Pride of place is given to replicas of the bell that tolled and a cannon that fired during the April Rising, when the bashibazouks hung Plovdiv`s streets with corpses that the population were forbidden to bury. For her relief-work, Britain`s Lady Strangord has a street named after her and her picture in the museum; Disraeli, on the other hand, is execrated for condoning the atroci¬ties and ensuring that one-third of newly liberated Bulgaria was returned to the Turks in the form of Eastern Roumelia. The next-door Nedkovich House (Mon-Fri 9am-noon & l-6.30pm) is renowned for the wood-carved ceiling of the enor¬mous first-floor salon, which contains another collection of nineteenth-century furnishings. The alleyways running downhill behind the Georgiadi and Nedkovich houses lead to several craft workshops and many humbler dwellings that have yet to be renovated despite their obvious architectural merits. Looking particularly folorn is the Church of Sveta Nedelya, a three-aisled basilica said to contain a deli¬cately carved wooden iconostasis and bishop`s throne, although the delapidated structure looks set to be closed for some time. Descend much further and you`ll find yourself in Plovdiv`s Gypsy quarter, a shantytown of one-storey, one-room dwellings bisected by narrow alleys, stretching between the southern slopes of the old town and bul. Nezavisimost. Most visitors, however, head south from here along Kiril Nektariev, one of old Plovdiv`s best few facades can match that of the house at no. 15, embellished with swags, medallions and intricate tracery in a vivid shade of blue. Follow Nektariev to the end and you`ll arrive at the Mavrudi House at the corner of Knyaz Tseretelov and Todor Samodumov, a large buff-coloured mansion with dozens of windows and sturdy ribs supporting the oriels. Popularly referred to as the Lamartine House after the French poet who stayed in 1833, writing Voyage en l`Orient and recovering from the cholera that killed his daughter in Constantinople, it now contains a small museum (in deference to the families that still live there, opening times are limited to Sun, Mon & Tues 9am-noon). There`s little to see save for a few pictures of the poet and the places he visited on his travels, accompanied by a few lines of appropriate text, but it`s worth peeping inside merely to admire the unusual circular lobby of the house itself. Tsar Ivailo continues south from here to the Roman theatre (daily 9am-5pm), whose stands provide a wonderful view of the distant Rhodopes; classical plays are staged here during May, June and September. These imposing ruins are prac¬tically the only remains of an acropolis which the Romans built when they raised Trimontium from the position of a vassal town to that of provincial capital during the second century. The acropolis, like the residential districts below, was devas¬tated by Kiva`s Goths in 251, and later used as building material when the town revived. From here, paths descend to bul. Vazrazhdane, at the point where it enters the tunnel beneath the hill, beside which stands the Church of Sveta Marina (entered from ul. Dospevski or Genov), with boldly coloured murals beneath its porch and beguiling devils, storks and other creatures peeping out from the wooden foliage of its intricate iconostasis. Southwest of Old Plovdiv As well as the three hills covered by the old town, there are three more heights ranged across the southwestern quarter of Plovdiv. The one nearest to the centre, Sahat Tepe, provides a great view of the city, and the site for what some believe is the oldest clock tower in Eastern Europe, restored by the Turks "with divine bless¬ings" in 1809, with an inscription enjoining visitors to "look upon" it "and admire!" From here one can gaze levelly across to "Alyosha" (the nickname for this monu¬ment to the Red Army) on the neighbouring Hill of the liberators, which also has a Pyramidal monument to the liberators of 1878 on a lower peak. A Thracian temple dedicated to Apollo once stood here, while during the 1950s the Party honoured its demigod by proclaiming this "Stalin Hill" (although locals continued calling it Bunardzhika, "Hill of the Crystal Springs"). Further to the southwest lies the Hill of Youth {Halm na Mladezhta), the largest and most park-like of the three. Eating Plovdiv is full of privately run kiosks that provide coffee and hamburgeri all day Ulitsa Aleksandrovska is lined with numerous street vendors selling snack food along with a self-service patisserie useful for breakfasts, Alen Mak, and Bulgaria`s first Macdonalds at no. 1. Plovdiv`s liveliest fruit and veg market is just off ul. Perushtitsa, west of pli. Saedinenie. There`s a smaller affair just below the old town at pi. Nikola Ginev. For evening meals, Plovdiv has a wide choice. All the hotels have restaurants, more often than not featuring live musical entertainment; the Badlgariya, Trimontsium and Novotel are among the best. However, the most stylish places are in the renovated National Revival-style houses of Old Plovdiv. Among the best in Bulgaria, these restaurants are expensive by native standards, but still affordable to most visitors, if you don`t mind splashing out $10-15 for a slap-up meal - in any case, it`s worth popping in just for a drink and a salad merely to enjoy the sumptuous surroundings. Entertainment and sport Plovdiv takes its culture seriously, and there`s a comprehensive diet of music and theatre all year round. Classical concerts take place at the Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra`s concert hall on the south side of Tsentralen; the Opera is based at Sasho Dimitrov 23; while the Mesalitinov Theatre at Aleksandrovska 36 is the venue for classical drama. You can book for musical events at the concert bureau at Aleksandrovska 35 (daily 8am-7pm). There`s a busy schedule of festivals too. During the first half of January, the Winter Festival of Symphony Music allows the Philharmonic Orchestra to flex its muscles; international virtuosi participate in the prestigious Festival of Chamber Music, held in the courtyard of the Ethnographic Museum in June every odd-numbered year (native ensembles play on until September, and during even-numbered years). Numerous recitals take place in the old town throughout the summer, and in May, June and September (coinciding with the fairs), opera and drama can be enjoyed in the spectacular surroundings of the Antique Theatre. On fine evenings, citizens gather in Freedom Park to admire the play of fountains and coloured lights known as the "Water Music", a son et lumiere carefully choreographed to a soundtrack of Western pop and traditional Bulgarian tunes. The biggest cinemas - the Balkan and the Republika - are both on Aleksandrovska. Plovdiv has three first-division football teams: Botev, Lokomotiv and Spartak. Botev, currently the town`s premier outfit, play at the Hristo Botev stadium east of the centre on bul. Dimitar Blagoev (bus #3 from the station). The Lokomotiv stadium is south of the centre on Konstantin Velichkov (bus #4 from Tsentralen or #24 from the train station), and the Spartak ground is at Sava Kalvachev, just south of the central station on the other side of the tracks. Tickets cost about $1.50. MOVING ON FROM PLOVDIV From Plovdiv there are frequent trains to Sofia plus four daily expresses to Bu.rgas and two to Varna. Reaching central or northern Bulgaria often entails a change of trains at Stara Zagora, but direct services run to Karlovo. Asenovgrad Panagyurishte and Hisar. Travelling to Turkey from Plovdiv, the Balkan Express runs daily to Istanbul throughout the year, while an additional service, the Istanbul Express, operates between May and September. It travelling to Greece, there`s a connecting service to Thessaloniki at Svilengrad. Seats on the daily bus services to Istanbul, Thessaloniki and Athens can be booked through the Matru agency in the pedestrian subway in front of Hotel Ttimontsium (538367), or through Dilidzhans, Aleksandrovska 49 (227136). Haskovo There are good reasons why so many visitors travel between Plovdiv and Turkey non-stop. The settlements along the way are predominantly workaday places lack¬ing in specific attractions, and few facilities for tourists. The Bulgarians have become accustomed to the sight of foreigners speeding through their country en route to either Turkey or Greece, and travellers (especially young ones who, the locals feel, spend insufficient time or money here in passing) on this particular route shouldn`t be too surprised if the hand of friendship is not always extended. In the past, stories used to abound of Bulgarian police hassling travellers with transit visas who attempted to stray off the E80 highway: hitting them with petty fines for "safety violations" or demanding that tourists change money into non-convertible leva. Nowadays, cases such as these seem to be the exception rather than the rule, though you will still come across traders who overcharge travellers or expect payment in hard currency for refreshments sold along the route. Travelling by road you`ll pass Klokotnitsa village just west of Dimitrovgrad, famous as the site of Ivan Asen`s victory over Theodor Comnenus, the usurper of Byzantium, in 1230, thereby forcing the empire to recognize him as `Tsar of the Bulgarians and Greeks" and accept the betrothal of Ivan`s young daughter to Baldwin, Byzantium`s teenage emperor. Approaching the border by train means a brief encounter with Dimitrovgrad - full of power stations and reeking chemical kombinats - before speeding on to Svilengrad and the Turkish border or catching a bus or train south to Haskovo and Kardzhali. Seventy kilometres southeast of Sofia, little-visited HASKOVO lacks tourist facili¬ties, but a small collection of National Revival buildings and the odd surviving example of Ottoman architecture ensure that it`s not entirely interest-free. The town was founded in around 1395 and named Haskov by the Turks, who predomi¬nated here for the next five hundred years, until the development of the tobacco industry and the war of 1912 greatly increased the number of Bulgarians, who now form the majority. You`ll still spot Turkish and Islamic cultural influences, mostly in minutiae like the berets and headscarves worn by Muslims now that fezes, shalvari and veils have gone out of fashion or been proscribed. Despite all-too-obvious signs of demolition elsewhere, Haskovo still retains its fourteenth-century mosque, the oldest in the country, as well as an attractive nineteenth-century Bulgarian quarter in the western outskirts. The Town Haskovo revolves around a modern town square, the usual flagstoned expanse fringed by civic buildings, centred on a memorial to the dead of successive wars. Along the square`s southern flank is the town museum (Mon-Fri 9am-noon & 2-6pm), with a fine collection of pre-Ottoman artefacts (especially Roman, Byzantine and medieval coins). Five centuries of Turkish rule are passed over in relative silence; more noticeable is the commemoration of a tobacco workers` strike of 1927. South of the main square is the Eski Dzhumaya Mosque, an ancient block of whitewashed stone built immediately after the Ottoman conquest. This is quite a change from the usual delapidated, little-used structures elsewhere in Bulgaria: it has a carpeted room where the hodja reads silently and men pray, footwear and "immodest" attire are taboo, and women are only admitted against Islamic custom to conform with Bulgarian law. West of the main square, bul. Vasil Levski curls round a quiet suburban area, following the course of the River Haskovska, before arriving at the Church of Sveta Bogoroditsa, a simple basilica of heavy brick filled with fussy woodcarving, most notably the intricate floral capitals of the pillars in the nave. The next-door chapel (Tues, Sat & Sun 9am-noon & 2-6pm) holds a collection of icons. Two hundred metres south of the church, at Yanko Sakazov 4 is the birthplace of Aleksandar Paskaliev (Tues, Sat & Sun 9am-noon & 2-6pm), a pioneer of Bulgarian publishing; but the more attractive buildings are immediately behind the church on ul. Bratya Minchev. At no. 9 is the Shishmanov House (Tues, Sat & Sun 9am-noon & 2-6pm) with an ethnographic collection documenting the region`s domestic crafts; while next door is Haskovo`s finest surviving National Revival building, nowadays the House of Children`s Art - not always open to the public, though you can usually admire the symmetrical facade and galleried first floor. Practicalities Haskovo`s bus terminal is a few minutes` walk east of the central square; the train station is about fifteen minutes further on in the same direction. Bus connections with Plovdiv, Kardzhali and Harmanli are good, but if you need to stay there are several choices; the rather plush 3-star Aida, pl. Svoboda 14 (038/25033), and the slightly less comfortable Republika, Otets Paisii 25 , or Rodopi, bul. Vasil Levski. If you`ve got your own transport, consider the Motel Klokotnitsa (038/25387), 5km west of town on the E80 towards the village of the same name. The small and little-visited spa resort of Haskovski Mineralni Bani - in the hills 20km west of town and accessible by local bus - is the home of the region`s cosiest hotel, the Yoniko (038/2194), but there`s little else here to see or do. Harmanli Founded by the Turks in the sixteenth century, HARMANLI gets its name from the threshing mills (harman) that once abounded on the surrounding plain, nowadays given over to growing cotton, mulberries (for silkworms) and tobacco. A few minutes` walk from the bus terminal, the centre of town clusters around the Hotel Hebros, not far from both of Harmanli`s "sights", both of which date from the 1500s - the chunky, ruined caravanserai wall, and the hump-backed Gurbav Bridge, with its typically flowery dedication: As a token of his gratitude to God the Grand Vizier ordered an arch like a rainbow to be built over the River Harmanli. . . and alleviated rich and poor alike from their sorrows. The world is a bridge which is crossed by both king and pauper. When I saw the completion of this bridge, in praying to God, I spoke this inscription. Besides having a sizeable ethnic-Turkish population like Haskovo, Harmanli is noted for its Gypsies, who practise the traditional tsigani trades at horsefairs (sometime in August; ask locals for details). Practicalities Harmanli`s centrally located bus terminal is preferable as a point of arrival to the train station, some way out to the southeast and connected to town by bus. The Hebros hotel, ul. Osvoboditel 1 (0373/6991), is the best place to eat and drink; the Izvordt na Belonogata (0373/5091) motel and campsite (with bungalows), just off the E80 4km southeast of town, also harbours a restaurant and occasional disco. The motel takes its name from the P R Slaveykov poem "The spring of the maiden with snow-white feet", a reference to the nearby Gergana Fountain, said to have been built by a vizier of Constantinople to win the heart of a Bulgarian woman. Sviengrad Despite its proximity to the busy Turkish border crossing 14km away, SVILENGRAD has the relaxing, peaceful air of a provincial town largely bypassed by the modern world. There`s little specific to see here save for the Mustafa Pasha Bridge - known to the locals as Stariya Most - which links the town with residential suburbs on the opposite bank of the River Maritsa. This 295-metre-long structure of Karabag stone supported by thirteen arches is an even finer achievement than the Gurbav Bridge at Harmanli, and was likewise built during the sixteenth century. The only place to stay in town is the 3-star Hotel Svilena (0379/2609), which has a restaurant, bar and car-rental facili¬ties; there`s another hotel, the SO-MAT (0379/8832) on the E80 midway between town and border crossing. Worth a visit if you have your own transport are a couple of antiquities near Mezek, a village 10km west of Svilengrad. The first of these is a signposted Thracian tomb (only sporadically open), consisting of a 21-metre-long corridor leading to two rooms and a circular funerary chamber where bronze artefacts were found, probably dating from the fourth century BC. A similar distance west of the village, the ruined Neutzikon fortress is perhaps the best preserved of the many kreposti (fortresses) raised to guard against Byzantine incursions during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Both attractions languish in a so-called granichen zone, or "border zone", which used to be strictly off-limits in Communist times. Even now, you`ll still be expected to produce proof of identity and a valid reason for being here if stopped by the plain-clothes border police who patrol the quiet country roads. Crossing into Greece and Turkey From Svilengrad, it`s possible to enter Greece or Turkey. A train, leaving Svilengrad around 10am, reaches Aleksandroupolis four hours later, or there`s a 24-hour road crossing just outside town, leading to Greek Ormenion. However, most traffic crosses the Turkish border at Kapitan Andreevo (15km from Svilengrad; 24hr), where vehicles entering Bulgaria are liable to rigorous exami¬nations depending on narcotics intelligence reports and the current state of Bulgarian-Turkish relations. Inside Turkey (where motorists and train passen¬gers undergo customs at Kapikule), everything you`re likely to need can be found 19km further east in EDIRNE. The town`s splendid mosque and the chance to witness camel-wrestling (on Thursdays) can be diversion enough to stop you from heading straight for Istanbul. RHODOPES According to Thracian mythology, the mortal lovers Hem and Rhodopis { Herodotus records a Greek legend that the Pyramid of Mycerinus in Egypt was built at the instigation of a Thracian courtesan, Rhodopis, who charged a building block for each act of intercourse - since the pyramid consists of at least 200,000 blocks, her exer-tions must have been considerable.} dared to call themselves after the divine Zeus and Hera, who duly punished the couple by turning them into mountains separated by the River Maritsa - Hem the Balkans and she the Rhodopes. Straddling Greece and Bulgaria, the Rhodopes are the land where panpipes, Orpheus and the Orphic Cult originated, a region rich in gems and ores, but otherwise not fit for much beyond raising sheep and growing tobacco in the arid valleys. Unlike the rest of Bulgaria, whole communities converted to Islam after the conquest, and of the numerous Turks who settled here many outstayed the empire`s collapse - their descendants now constitute Bulgaria`s largest ethnic minority. Over the last thirty years, tourism and hydro¬electric schemes have also pushed the Rhodopes into the twentieth century, and the region is today, as travel writer Leslie Gardiner noted, a weird mixture of opposites: "donkeys and turbo-generators, Alpine flowers and tropical foliage. bikinis in winter and thick Turkish woollens in summer". The massacre of its population made Batak notorious in the late nineteenth century, but if foreigners have heard of anywhere in the region nowadays its probably Bulgaria`s premier ski resort, Pamporovo, from which tourism has spread to lap at Smolyan and the picturesque village of Shiroka Laka. Closer to Plovdiv, Bachkovo Monastery has already established its place on the tourist trail, and the town of Kardzhali is also attempting to get in on the act. Yet the brochures and guidebooks still refer to the "unknown Rhodopes" with some justice, for there are scores of mountain villages off the beaten track (roadbuild-ers were sometimes attacked by locals in the old days), many of which are rarely visited by outsiders. Given the dearth of public transport (limited to the main roads - most others qualify as tracks) and tourist accommodation, we`ve covered only the most obvi¬ous routes. The train linking Septemvri on the plain with Bansko in the Pirin Mountains serves as the basis for journeys to Velingrad, Yundola and Batak in the western Rhodopes, although buses from Plovdiv may prove to be faster then thee notoriously snail-like trains. Buses from Plovdiv also provide the means to reach Asenovgrad, Bachkovo Monastery, Pamporovo and Smolyan in the central Rhodopes; Smolyan can then be used as a touring base from which to explore the surrounding highlands. To reach Kardzhali, use buses and trains from Haskovo. Like the Rila and Pirin mountains west of the Mesta Valley, the western Rhodopes are covered by coniferous forests and sparsely populated, with fewer than a dozen settlements along the road from Velingrad to Gotse Delchev, and none at all between Dospat and Batak. Discounting the reservoirs built to trap rivers for the benefit of lowland agriculture, and the shepherds tending their flocks on the alpine pastures, the highlands still belong to their wildlife: stags, mouflon, deer, wild boar and all manner of birds inhabit a dozen protected reserves. Although there are limited bus services from places like Blagoevgrad and Plovdiv, the most reliable means of approaching from the Pirin Mountains or the Plain of Thrace is probably the Dobrinishte-Septemvri line, calling at Bansko, Razlog, Yakoruda and Velingrad en route. Velingrad is three hours from Bansko or ninety minutes from Septemvri - slow going, but the sheer beauty of the route makes the journey worthwhile. Velingrad With its diverse springs, excellent climate and many trees and parks, VELINGRAD is one of Bulgaria`s most popular spa towns, although those not intent on taking a cure will find little else to do here. It`s made up of three former Pomak villages, originally named Kamenitsa, Layane and Chepino - lumped together in 1948 and renamed after local partisan heroine Vela Peeva. Both the train and bus stations are a few minutes` walk east of the modern centre, which in turn lies just to the east of Layane, where Velingrad`s oldest baths, the Velyova banya (founded in the sixteenth century, although the buildings are modern), stand in a park beside the Yundola road. Just to the north of the centre is Kamenitsa, fringed by wooded parks that harbour the town`s open-air baths, most of the modern spa facilities, and a small Ottoman-period hammam, the Kremachna banya or "Flint Baths". Velingrad`s third cluster of baths is 2km south of the centre in the Chepino Quarter (bus #1 from the centre), where mineral water flows free from taps in the greets. Above Chepino to the south lies the Kleptuza spring, waters from which flow down to the Kleptuza lake just east of Chepino: with pedalos, rowing boats and lakeside walkways, this is the most popular of Velingrad`s resort areas. Practicalities Private rooms are allegedly on offer from a desk in the Hotel Zdravets on the modern town`s central square, although staff may refuse to find you one if the hotel is not full. The hotel itself (0359/2682) is a basic if slightly unkempt 2- star place, while the 3-star Velina in Chepino (0359/3412) is more plush Cheaper chalets Cheaper chalets are for rent at Kleptuza camping, near the spring, and Velingrad just outside town on the Yundola road. Most places to eat and drink are in the modern centre`s main square; the restaurant of the Zdravets has live music most nights. In Chepino, there are restaurants and cafes around the Kleptuza lake, and the Hotel Velina has a good restaurant and cafe-bar. Besides regular buses to Batak, there are three or four daily trains to Bansko in the Pirin range. Southwest of Velingrad A short bus ride to the northwest of Velingrad, YUNDOLA. is another small health resort 1390m above sea level, set amid rounded hills and copses of trees Yundola used to be a popular rest-home for trade unionists and Young Pioneers and from a tourist`s standpoint is chiefly remarkable for its inhabitants` longevity The prevalence of centenarians in Bulgaria is ascribed to features of life in the highlands, where "Nature takes years off the weak and adds them to the strong" - as Leslie Gardiner was told. Human longevity is supposedly extended by pure air, climatic extremes, a lack of stress, and a spartan diet with little meat and plenty of yoghurt. The train line meanwhile continues westwards towards Bansko and the Pirin Mountains (see Chapter Two), leisurely winding its way through sandy-soiled pine forests and occasional sub-alpine meadows. Most of the area is pomak terri¬tory, although there are few settlements along the route save for the workaday logging town of Yakoruda. Batak Several daily buses from Velingrad traverse 26km of highland pasture, pomak villages and oak and beech forests to reach the town of BATAK: a name that once reverberated across Europe. During the April Rising of 1876 the Turks unleashed the bashibazouks and pomaks to rape, pillage and slaughter the popu¬lace of Batak. Five thousand people - nearly the entire population - were hacked to death or burnt alive, an act for which the Turkish commander responsible was decorated. Abroad, Britain`s Prime Minister Disraeli cynically dismissed the atrocities to justify the continuing alliance with Turkey, until the collective weight of reports by foreign diplomats and J A MacGahan of The Daily News became impossible to ignore. Even so, only a sustained campaign by trade unions, Gladstone and public figures like Victor Hugo and Oscar Wilde prevented British military intervention during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. In addition, at the Congress of Berlin Disraeli managed to ensure that the Ottomans retained control of a third of Bulgaria (Eastern Roumelia) - in return for which Turkey rewarded Britain with Cyprus. The Town As a bloody milestone on the road to liberation the massacre of 1876 is still commemorated, and the town reverberates with memories of the dead. One wall of the town museum on the main square (Tues-Sun 8am-noon & 2-6pm) is inscribed with a seemingly endless roll-call of those who died, and sepia photo- graphs of the time show old women who survived the massacre sitting beside piles of skulls and bones - some of the latter carefully set out on a table to form the words Ustanak ot 1876: "the Rising of 1876". Display cabinets are filled with foreign press reports and savage denunciations of the Turks and those who seemed to lend them support - including Turgenev`s attack on Disraeli and Queen Victoria, Croquet at Windsor. A burnt tree trunk commemorates local rebel leader Trendafil Kerelov, who was lashed to it before it was set alight. Second-floor exhibits concentrate on Batak`s contribution to the Balkan and both world wars, including documents from the nearby partisan camp of Tehran -so-named in honour of the Allies` summit in 1943 - and a gruesome photograph of partisans` heads left on a wall in the village. Partisan dead are also honoured by a marble cenotaph in the crypt in a calculated attempt to demonstrate that the Communist-led rebels of the 1940s were the spiritual descendants of the rebels of 1876. Immediately opposite lies the low, roughly hewn Church of Sveta Nedelya (enquire at the museum if it`s closed), where MacGahan found naked corpses piled lm deep; the bloodstains on the walls have never been expunged. The church`s bare interior contains stark reminders of the violence: signs point to bullet holes in the walls; a glass case holds one of the heavy woodsmen`s axes used to bludgeon the Batachani into submission; while in a sunken chamber at the end of the church lie the bones of the massacred. After all this you may not have much stomach for further sightseeing, although there`s a small Ethnographic Museum (opened on request: ask at the town museum) one block north of the church; and an art gallery (Wed-Sun 2-6pm) occupying a National Revival-style house east of the main square on ul. Apriltsi. Practicalities Batak`s small bus station is at the eastern end of the main street, ul. Apriltsi, where anything of significance is situated. Head west along here to reach the main square. Although there`s a murky and unwelcoming hotel, the Tekstil (©) on ul. Apriltsi, you`d do better to check out the accommodation possibilities around Lake Batak, a popular beauty spot west of town. Here you`ll find the tour¬ist complex of Tsigov Chark about 6km out of town, featuring a campsite June-Oct) and the Orbita hotel (03542/3794) - Batak-Velingrad buses pass by. Moving on from Batak, public transport inclines towards Velingrad, Peshtera and Plovdiv: if you`re aiming for the eastern Rhodopes it`s best to aim for the last and pick up connections there. Asenovgrad The northernmost spurs of the Rhodopes rear up abruptly from the plain barely 10km south of Plovdiv. Numerous routes lead up the narrow valleys of the various Rhodopi streams that gush down to feed the Maritsa, rendering several mountain resorts within easy reach of the city. One road heads southwest up the Vacha "alley where, beyond the town of Rrichim, the river has been dammed to form the Antonivanovtsi reservoir - at the northern end of which stands the Anton Ivanov chalet (03145/2246). From here a reasonable well-surfaced road heads over the hills to the isolated highland communities of Devin and Dospat. More popular as a weekend escape for Plovdivites is the town of Tsar Kaloyan, lying at the foot of the Chernatitsa massif. Walkers in the area are catered for by the Zdravets chalet just beyond town, while three hours` walk to the east is another chalet, the Ruen, lurking below the 1326-metre-high peak of the same name. However, the main route south from Plovdiv into the Rhodopes heads up the ruggedly beautiful valley of the River Chepelarska, en route to Bulgaria`s premier winter sports area around Pamporovo and Smolyan, and passing one of the country`s most historic monasteries, near the village of Bachkovo. The town of Asenovgrad, standing at the point where the mountains meet the Plain of Thrace, is the obvious starting-point for expeditions to the monastery. Bachkovo Half-hourly buses speed across the dusty plain between Plovdiv and ASENOVGRAD 20km distant, a light and breezy town built around a large park Train and bus terminals lie on the northern outskirts, from where it`s a short walk through the park and across the river to a modern town square. Two church spires are visible on the hill immediately above: the resplendently ochre-coloured Sveti Dimitar on the left and the smaller Sveta Troitsa on the right. More interest¬ing, however, is the town`s main shopping thoroughfare, running south from the square, where a small Historical Museum (Mon-Sat 9am-noon & 2-5pm) holds local Neolithic and Thracian finds - including a fine bronze helmet and the iron wheel rims of a Thracian chariot. The Thracians were the original inhabi¬tants of the fortified hill overlooking the entrance to the Chepelarska gorge 2.5 km south of town - now the site of a ruined medieval fortress. Founded during the eleventh century, it was enlarged after Asen II`s victory over the Byzantine Empire in 1230, hence the town`s medieval name, Stanimaka - "protec¬tor of the mountain pass". What little remains of the fort can be seen just as easily from the window of a bus, although devotees of Byzantine architecture might consider it worth climbing up to the nearby Church of Sveta Bogoroditsa, which has stayed relatively intact. The only accommodation in town is the 2-star Hotel Asenovets on the main square (0331/23288). You`d do better to take one of the regular buses up the valley towards Bachkovo, Chepelare and Smolyan. Just beyond Asenovgrad the road enters the impressive Chepelarska gorge, its river nowadays harnessed to produce electricity. Heavy trucks bound for the mines around Ardino are another sign that modernization has come to the Rhodopes, but you can still see goatherds with their flocks and mule-trains bear¬ing packs. |
Property in Bulgaria - Info on Bulgaria - The Regions - Phodopes and Plain of Thrace
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