We finallytied up here at 1 pm after fighting the currents.  We’d tied up to a different dock but was told it was private so had to leave.  This dock was nearer the old part of the city.  There were no power or water hook-ups so we knew our stay would just be overnight.  We were able to snag wifi from a restaurant down the waterfront. 

We closed up the boat and set off for lunch in the old town area.

     “In the early 19th century, Turks, Romanians, and many Greeks, especially merchants, Armenians and Jews lived in the city. Since the early 1830’s, many more Greeks, basically traders and craftsmen, settled down in Braila, and quickly dominated the economic life of the city.

The number of Greeks in the second half of the 19th century, was about 5,000, representing 10% of the city residents. In this time, Braila was the largest port in the country and an important industrial center.

The Greek people dominated the field of flour industry. We should mention that four out of the five modern mills in the city, belonged to greek families: (The Galiatsatou brothers, John Millas and Son, Christophoratou etc). The Greek mills were among the most modernized in Romania and in contrast to the flour mills of Bucharest, they were directed to exports. Until the eve of the Second World War, there had been established some other units, such as Panayis Violatos’ flour mill and that of Lykiardopoulos-Valerianos, the largest in Romania.

Shipping

Throughout the Ottoman period, Braila was a notable commercial center, mainly as a port exporting cereals and other agricultural products. In 1837, the number of ships that had sailed to the port reached 448. The ships under Greek flag had the strongest presence in the commerce. A. Petalas, Th. Faraggas and I. Lykiardopoulos were among the most important Greek merchants.

The main activity of the greek community of Braila, was, however, the riverboats. Some of the greatest owners of barges (slepion) were Manuel G. Chrysovelonis, Stathatos Brothers, Othon Stathatos and many others.

Massive flight of Greeks in 1950-1951

In 1950-1951, we have the decline of the Greek community. Approximately 50% of the Greek people who lived in Braila decided to leave the city because of the change in the political status. Some of them moved to Greece, others to Australia or America, leaving all their fortune behind. One of the consequences was the definite closure of the Greek schools in the area.”

http://www.aionion.gr/en/historical-data/

Art deco?  I’m not sure, but the doors and window grates were lovely.  The streets between the river and the “old town area” had seen better days, but some buildings still had lovely architectural freatures.

The Blue Clock its one of the city landmarks. Built in 1909 by a clockmaker from Prague, its located in Traian square, right in the middle of the historic center.  http://www.dreamstime.com/

Bank of Romania across the road from the Greek Church

“Owned by the Greek community, the Evangelismos church was built between 1863-1872 by the architect Abraham Ioannidis, originating from Prussa, Asia Minor. He himself supervised the construction of the church by Italian builders and craftsmen.

The Church has the form of a cross, with two domes and its dominant style is Greek – Byzantine, with Gothic and Renaissance details.

The murals at the central dome were painted by Gh. Tattarescu in 1872. Constantine Livadas-Liokis from Cephalonia painted another part of the church in 1901 and finally, in 1945 – 46 Velissarios completed the murals.”  http://www.aionion.gr/en/historical-data/

The old town architecture.

Architecture

     “The old center of the city has many 19th century buildings, some of them fully restored. The most important monuments are the Greek Church, erected at 1865 by the Greek community, the „Sfintii Arhangheli” Church (the oldest in the city, begun in 1667, the former mosque was transformed into an Orthodox Church in 1808), the 19th century „Sfantul Nicolae” Church, also from the 19th century, the „Maria Filotti” theatre, the Palace of Culture and its Art Museum, the History Museum, and the old Water Tower. The latter houses a restaurant with a rotation system (360° in one hour).

    Early in 2006 the municipality received European Union funds to renovate the old center of the city, aiming to transform Braila into a major tourist attraction of Muntenia.

    Tourists who get to Braila can also visit many interesting places like: Public Garden, a park situated above the bank of the Danube with a view over the river and the Macin Mountains, Monument Park, Natural Sciences Museum situated on Park Highway, the Mini-Zoo, Independence Square, Braila Museum form Traian Square, the statuary group Traian, built by the sculptor Tache Dimo – Pavelescu on celebrating 1800 years from the conquest of Dacia, the clock in the city centre, dating since 1909, Kinetic Fountain situated in the city’s civic centre ,which is the "brainchild" of the famous Romanian sculptor Constantin Lucaci, also known as the "2nd Brancusi". Kinetic Fountain is a fantastic and eye-catching example of kinetic art, optical art, programmed art and neoconstructivism.” http://ec.europa.eu/

Red and Green Travelocity gnomes on a balcony in Braila

Sunday afternoon seemed to generate little activity and most small shops in the area were closed

Second Hand from some well known shops.

A great balcony to people watch

Ana Aslan was born in Braila

     Ana Aslan (1897-1988, born in Braila) studied at the Faculty of Medicine in Bucharest (1915-1922). She was professor of Cardiology at the Faculty of Medicine in Timisoara (1945-1949). Between 1949 and 1952 she was head of department at the Institute of Endocrinology in Bucharest. Starting in 1952 she became General Director of the Institute of Geriatrics. As one of the pioneering scientists in the world on medical gerontology, Ana Aslan focused also on social gerontology.

     Ana Aslan proposed systematic countermeasures in order to create a system to stimulate third-age people’s activities. Ana Aslan became aware of the long-term biotrophic action of Procaine and introduced it as a medicine to be taken in small quantity on long terms, for curing and prophylactic benefits. The Gerovital H3 is the first Romanian original biotrophic product and also the first medicine designed to delay human aging processes. It was developed between 1946 and 1956 by Prof. Ana Aslan and her followers, as a result of numerous clinical and experimental studies.

http://www.ana-aslan.ro/#!biografie-ana-aslan-uk/c1v6d

“J Am Geriatr Soc. 1975 Aug;23(8):355-9.

Effects of a procaine preparation (Gerovital H3) in hospitalized geriatric patients: a double-blind study.

Zwerling I, Plutchik R, Hotz M, Kling R, Rubin L, Grossman J, Siegel B.

Abstract

The effects of Gerovital H3 (a specially stabilized form of procaine hydrochloride) on geriatric psychiatric patients were assessed in a double-blind study at Bronx State Hospital. The mean age of the subjects was 73 years and the average rating for the severity of organic symptoms was "moderate." During the first six weeks of study, the patients were each given a 5-ml injection of either Gerovital or placebo (saline) intramuscularly three times a week. This dosage was doubled to 10 ml per injection during the second six weeks. Nine Gerovital and 10 control subjects completed the first six weeks; and 6 Gerovital and 7 control subjects completed the entire 12-week study. Objective rating scales were used to evaluate patients on measures of interpersonal functioning, cognitive ability, psychiatric symptoms, and urine and blood chemical findings. All subjects were assessed before treatment and at six weeks and twelve weeks of the study. Side effects were recorded at two-week intervals. On most measures the variability between subjects was quite large, whereas differences between average scores for the two groups usually were small The few significant differences showed no systematic pattern and would be expected to occur by chance alone when so many statistical comparisons are made. The overall results of this double-blind study strongly indicated that, among these hospitalized geriatric patients with organic symptoms, Gerovital H3 had no ameliorative effect on either psychologic or physiologic functioning.”  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1097490

Gerovital H3: Banned Fountain Of Youth Drug Favored By Hollywood Makes A Comeback

By News Staff | July 3rd 2013

“Gerovital H3, one of the "fountain of youth" miracles drugs that crop up once a generation, was banned in the United States in 1982, but the alternative medicine crowd that never let go of homeopathy after hundreds of years is reviving it.

The FDA can’t always protect people, of course. Communist Romania engaged in state-sponsored marketing of Gerovital H3. In 1956, a paper titled "A new method for prophylaxis and treatment of aging with Novocain-eutrophic and rejuvenating effects" was published in the now discontinued journal Therapiewoche by Ana Aslan, director of the Geriatrics Institute of Bucharest and the communist regime established an anti-aging resort and clinic for foreigners.

It’s not perfect, but the FDA remains the best scientific food and medicine body in the world.”

http://www.science20.com/

  We walked to old town looking for lunch.  Sadly, while we were eating some very persistent “Roma/gypsi “ girls came begging.  The ony way they would leave is when the waitress said she would call the police.  You are torn as to how to handle the situation. 

   “THE Roma community is beeing chased from countries across Europe. Romania and France have sent Roma back and forth since 2007, when Romania joined the European Union, but it seems that the French are now intending to pursue a harder line towards the Roma from Romania in their country.

On September 12th, Manuel Valls, France’s interior minister, and Bernard Cazeneuve, the minister for European Affairs, travelled to Romania to discuss Roma integration with the country’s president and prime minister. The visit was expected to bring some concrete proposals on how to improve the integration of the estimated 400,000 Roma living in France (a large part of whom are from Romania). Yet they only struck a framework agreement that allows some 80 Roma families who wish to return to Romania to receive “financial support for economic reinsertion” by the French authorities…….Mr Ponta said the real solution to the problem is education and jobs: children from Roma communities need to attend school regularly and Roma need to find stable jobs in Romania. …..Gelu Duminica, the head of the “Impreuna” Agency for Community Development, a foundation that supports the integration and development of the Roma community, says five of their programmes that are financed through the EU are currently suspended because the Romanian government didn’t make payments:”

http://www.economist.com/

     “From the time they entered Europe from India a thousand years ago, the Roma were targets of discrimination.

Countries passed laws to suppress their culture and keep them out of the mainstream — and sometimes went much further. Roma were enslaved in Hungary and Romania in the 15th century and targeted for extermination by Nazi Germany 500 years later.”

http://edition.cnn.com  explains the people called “Roma.” 

After lunch and a quick trip to the grocery store, we returned to the boat.  Randal’s ATM processing company as well as mine refused to allow us access to our accounts in Romania without email confirmation.  Ricks’s card had worked but was limited by the machine’s limits.  So we didn’t have so much money to squander.  (The situation was resolved by our next stop, Tulcea.)  It was quite hot so sitting around under fans resting was about the only thing to do.

In the evening we set out for a walk and that’s when Braila comes alive.  Lots of folks out for Sunday evening strolls in the cool dusk.  Dinner is a late affair: 9 or 10 pm.  That’s fine for Rick and Mary, but Randal and I are ready for bed about that time.  By 8pm I’m usually not hungry.  We actually did stop for a snack and I had some wonderful grilled vegetables. 

A greenway/park followed the river front

The early evening drew out the citizenry to the park and restaurants along the way. 

Seagulls or aliens?

A fountain with moving parts fascinated us

Kinetic Fountain situated in the city’s civic centre ,which is the "brainchild" of the famous Romanian sculptor Constantin Lucaci, also known as the "2nd Brancusi". Kinetic Fountain is a fantastic and eye-catching example of kinetic art, optical art, programmed art and neoconstructivism.”

The work of the famous Romanian sculptor Constantin Lucaci, called by many "the second Brancusi?. Lucaci remains, above all, the sculptor in stainless steel. Commissioned in 1988, the impressive fountain depicting two hands, that move and join.

     The of Ancient, Renaissance and Enlightened traditions are combined by the architect. Neoconstructivism, kinetic art, optical art, art scheduled, new materials, all contribute to the achievement of a large sculpture and a monumental work.

     Elements that define the force of the artist’s sculpture are the material – stainless steel unalterable – the lightning vibrations exploring the polished surface, the movement, the sonority and also the project itself – that of a sculpture of urban integration.

http://www.romguide.net/Visit/Kinetic-Fountain_vt28c

They looked like Oscar statuettes made subtle movements as did the whale’s tale looking things

Lots of folks were out enjoying the evening

Braila city’s new center where this small boy was far more interested in the planter than the fountains.

Ecaterina Teodoroiu statue in the new city center

Ecaterina Teodoroiu (Romanian pronunciation: [ekateˈrina te.odoˈroju]; born Cătălina Toderoiu; January 15, 1894 – September 3, 1917) was a Romanian woman who fought and died in World War I, and is regarded as a heroine of Romania.

In Romanian historiography, Ecaterina Teodoroiu is placed in the context of gendered experience of the Great War on the Eastern Front, on the same pedestal as Queen Maria of Romania.

She was born in the village of Vădeni (nowadays part of Târgu Jiu), in the historical region of Oltenia, in Southern Romania. After studying for 4 years in Vădeni and Târgu Jiu and graduating from the Girls’ School in Bucharest, she was to become a teacher when the Romanian Kingdom entered World War I on the Allied side, in 1916.

In October 1916, Ecaterina joined the Romanian Army during the first Jiu battle when General Ion Dragalina’s 1st Army repulsed the 9th German Army offensive. A Scouts’ member, she had initially worked as a nurse but she subsequently decided to become a front-line soldier, being deeply impressed by the patriotism of the wounded and by the death of her brother Nicolae (Sergeant in the Romanian Army). It was an unusual decision for a woman of that epoch, so she was sent to the front rather reluctantly. However, soon she proved her worthiness as a symbol and as a soldier. She was taken prisoner but managed to escape by killing two, or perhaps three German soldiers. In November, she was wounded and hospitalized, but came back to the front where she was soon decorated, advanced in rank to Sublocotenent (Second Lieutenant) and given the command of a 25-man platoon.

For her bravery she was awarded the Military Virtue Medal, 1st Class.

On September 3, 1917 (August 22 Old Style), she was killed in the Muncelu-Varnița area, during the last phase of the Battle of Mărășești (in Vrancea County), where she was hit in the chest by German machine gun fire. According to some accounts, her last words before dying were: "Forward, men, I’m still with you!"

She was buried in the city center of Târgu Jiu, and her grave is honored by a monument erected in 1936 by Miliţa Petraşcu.   Wikipedia  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecaterina_Teodoroiu

A print-mixing fashionista and her grandson.

Pedal and motorized go-karts along the river promenade.  At times they were more like dodge cars. 

Super-moon August 10^th

“Sunday’s “super moon” will be the biggest and closest full moon of 2014, with scientists are saying there will not be a closer full moon until November, 2034. It will be a perigee full moon, meaning it is near earth and will appear 30 percent brighter and 14 percent bigger.”

Read more at http://guardianlv.com/

DoraMac at the dock of the Hotel Drustar

The hotel manager had come to catch our lines and help get the power supply working.  He also talked with us a bit about life in Silistra and Romania in general.   The end of Soviet “planned economy” and the advent of democracy had given many people his age the option to leave to find better jobs in other countries. 

“On the beautiful riverside of the River Danube, right next to the unique archeological complex next to the first Danube park in Europe where is situated a luxurius five-star hotel, named after the ancient name of Silistra "Drustar" /everlasting castle/.

The hotel has a sense of the ancient culture together with a touch of a romance which is carried along Danube. It amazes the eye with ist unique infrastucture and its exellent style.

Hotel Drustar is awarded the Gold Authentic Bulgaria Quality mark and a Rose of Distinction in Ambience.

Hotel Drustar is situated on the river Danube, in the beautiful city park. The location of the hotel is in the best location, close to all financial institutions and cultural sites.

The city Silistra is 120 km from Bucharest and 150 km to Varna, which makes the location a convenient top spot.”   http://www.hoteldrustar.com/?lang=eng

Getting the power supply to work. 

Every place we stop is different from every other place we stop.  Thankfully most of them can provide power and water.  This is the first trip we’ve ever made where you can’t absolutely plan your next stop and where power and water aren’t always available.  A few times we had to postpone doing laundry and in Ruse actually used the Yacht Club washing machine and shower.   As Mary keeps sayin, we were really lucky that by the end of the day we found a yacht club with space for a boat our size.  The further east, the more we had to anchor or tie up to restaurant barges, but that was okay too. 

Sunrise looking further down river

Seagulls rafting downriver on a log

This reminded me of my Outward Bound days though our boat was 30 feet long and had two masts.  But we had to use these huge oars too.  Notice the kids on the left are in sync but not the 2 on the right.

Now they have it.  They are rowing against the current going up river. 

Just down the Danube river park near the Drustar Hotel

From the second half of the iX Century.  You can see shape of the 3 apse “temple” as it is called here.

Our North Cyprus friend Kalle had made himself an electric motorized bicycle so we thought he’d like to see this gasoline motorized version parked just near the outdoor market.  Both versions can be pedaled as well. 

The central outdoor market

This lady’s stall had the longest line in the market.  We weren’t sure what was so special but they all knew.  One thing we couldn’t find anywhere were raisins. 

A shop selling wine from barrels

Red and white

In Sicily we’d gone to shop like this intending to buy some wine but didn’t find one we liked so didn’t want to chance that again here.  I would have felt awkward saying, “sorry, we don’t like any of your wine.”   Looks like you could buy olive oil too, but we really didn’t need any.

Renovation and archeological excavations were in progress around the center of town. 

The oddest “iced coffee” so far.  Coca Cola with frozen coffee crystals and ice is my guess.  Funny enough we met a Dutch couple who had also been in Silistra and gotten the same Iced coffee and also left most of it on the table.  Randal drank the remaining Coke that was served with the coffee.  I guess you were supposed to drink some and then add more of the Cola. This is where Randal had ordered cappuccino but had gotten instant hot chocolate.  He drank the Cola and I drank some of his hot chocolate.  At least it was a nice shady spot and good for a rest. 

After our “refreshments” we continued exploring the city.  I found the neighborhood picturesque.  Randal, not so much.  But it reminded me of my wanderings in China and many of the places we’ve visited.    Interestingly, most of the homes were one or two story at most; many with some gardens or decorative planters.

The following day we walked several miles away from the center of town looking for soda water in 6 pack plastic bottles.   We saw mostly high rise concrete apartment buildings.  (As we’d set out to go grocery shopping that morning I’d not taken my camera which just is too much along with lots of groceries. ) The buildings were fronted with wide sidewalks where simple stalls had been set up and people were selling luscious fruit and vegetables.  One small stall had watches and I bought one for 9 lev.  It is just like the simple large-faced one I’d bought in Kotta Tinghy Malaysia many years ago but whose silicone band had broken and I’d found no replacement.  We walked over an hour exploring and stopping in small grocery stores eventually finding the German Lidl supermarket but it had no small bottles of soda water.  (Big ones go flat too fast.)  So we walked back to the center of town, ate lunch and then walked the other direction to the Kaufland supermarket and found the soda water.  We would need a taxi to carry it all back so stopped at the service desk to ask if a taxi could be arranged when we’d finished shopping.  The service counter lady called her English speaking colleague and he said to come to the desk when we were ready to leave and they would call a taxi.  Very helpful.  So was the taxi driver.

Some women just have the knack.

I notice these women for several reasons.  We’d passed the lady on the right in the outdoor market and other places around town.  They both come to about my shoulder.  And I envied the way they could mix prints and have it look nice.  Women everywhere around the world can do this and I love the way it looks.  At home you would raise eyebrows if you dressed like this.  At least once upon a time.  Lately it seems to be a “fashion trend.”

“Break out of your wardrobe rut by mixing patterns.  Simple Guidelines for Mixing Patterns

1.Make sure one color repeats in every piece of the outfit (for example, navy paisley with navy, red, and white plaid).

2.Combine loose prints with structured prints (like swirls with stripes).

3.Blend small designs with larger-scale ones (such as gingham with bold flowers).

http://www.realsimple.com/

I just wonder what their lives have been all about and all that’s they’ve seen. 

He started in Vienna  on his way to the Black Sea and often caught up and passed us!  He had camping equipment with him.  And he’s not the only one to do this.  You can bike the trip also which I’d think a better choice. 

http://www.tcs.cam.ac.uk/

http://www.vitezkurtos.com

Dimitar Kulev  (Tania Dimitrova Kuleva) and self-portrait lithograph I believe.

https://www.facebook.com/

Dimitar kindly walked me around the museum and though we didn’t speak the same language we could share the art.  It’s really a wonderful museum.

My Land So Beautiful 1986

Stoyan Venev 1904-1989

National Academy of the Arts Sofia in 1931

Fire Walkers 1973

Zlatyu Boyadjiev 1903 – 1976

National Academy of Arts Sofia in 1932

A City Morning 1986

Svetlin Rusev 1933-

National Academy of Arts Sofia 1959

A collage

A small Sunday outdoor market.  I hope the empty boxes mean much of the produce had been sold.  Had we been on our way home we probably would have bought some.

Randal and Rick checking out the barbequed chicken store. 

Street art

Official Public Art

“Monument of Liberty was designed by S. Zlatev and S. Kiryakov. The sculpture was made by Arnoldo Zocchi – an architect and sculptor from Fiorentina. Today the monument is part of the city’s coat of arms. It is made of granite and bronze. The statue at the top represents a figure of a woman that holds a sword in its left hand while the right hand points the direction of the liberators. One of the two bronze lions at the base breaks the chains of slavery with its mouth, and the other one protects the Sword and Shield of Freedom. The text of the main sign says, “Dedicated to the fighters and the volunteers who took part in the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1876-1877.” Two cannons are placed at the rear end of the base.”  http://rusetourism.org/  a very good introduction if you visit Ruse.

A truly terrible photo of the monument with the lions and a small monument of a man fighting a water monster … maybe.

Fountains make you feel cooler!

A  wood sculpture of razors

Lots of fountains and pools in the center of town. 

This photo should have been included with the architecture email.  Rick and Mary have noticed changes, (especially here in Romania) where things have been spiffed up especially in tourist areas.  It’s a trade-off though.  If the EU gives money for local development, it also has lured many 20 and 30 year olds to better paying jobs outside their countries into other parts of the EU. 

“Ruse is the biggest Bulgarian town on the Danube River through which during the 19^th and the beginning of the 20^th century penetrated the European values, ideas and trends in architecture.  In 2007 well preserved buildings from that epoch were included in the European Heritage Sign Initiative.”

A lovely neighborhood street with trees and a café just near the Danube.  At the end this young boy was entertaining himself with a “street puzzle.”                                                                         

An interesting billboard near Lipnik Boulevard.

Balloon man was wearing  a harlequin costume rather than a clown suit.

A ceramic boot planter outside a shoe shop.

Randal shows his appreciation to a street performer.

It was only after we bought and opened the bottle that we realized it said Tonic.  We’d wanted soda water.  But it’s diet Tonic so I drink it and actually quite like it.  Good thing as we bought, and lugged back, 6 big bottles. 

A blow up slide in the park with many of the stone women sculptures

Pedal cars

“Model of a vase in the park in Rousse. Each season different flowers are planted in it to make it look nice and colourful. “

Cups of hot corn off the cob with different sauces.  I had a cup with garlic sauce in Vidin.

Luben Karavelov; the statue with the book.

“Lyuben Stoychev Karavelov (Bulgarian: Любен Стойчев Каравелов) (c. 1834 – 21 January 1879) was a Bulgarian writer and an important figure of the Bulgarian National Revival…… Karavelov died in 1879, soon after the liberation of Bulgaria, in Rousse…….

     At his first newspaper Svoboda (Freedom) in Bucharest (1869–1873), we worked and became friends with poet and revolutionary Hristo Botev who devoted a poem to him. In 1870, Karavelov was elected chairman of the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee, where he worked with Vasil Levski, the leader of the Internal Revolutionary Organization; he shared Levski’s ideas of a democratic republic as the goal of the national revolution. Karavelov admired the political systems of Switzerland (which he believed was the model for the ethnically diverse Balkans) and the United States; he praised the American public education system, as well as the emancipated (in his opinion) status of American women.

     Karavelov’s works include the short novels Old Time Bulgarians (Bulgarian: „Българи от старо време“; Bulgari ot staro vreme, and Mommy’s Boy (Bulgarian: „Мамино детенце“; Mamino detentse), considered among the first original Bulgarian novels. His younger brother Petko was a prominent figure in Bulgaria’s political life in the late 19th century.”  Wikipedia

What on earth?

When I downloaded my photos there was a whole series of these, most not so clear.  I finally realized that Randal had taken photos of my shadow hanging the laundry on the front of the boat. 

I took a photo of this stone woman but looking at my photo on the computer I noticed something odd about her clothing.  Not sure if this is intentional.

Tonka Obretenova

Born 1812

assumed Rousse, Bulgaria

Died 27 March 1893(1893-03-27)

Rousse, Bulgaria

Spouse(s) Tiho Obretenov

Tonka Obretenova (Bulgarian: Тонка Обретенова), known as baba Tonka (баба Тонка), was a female Bulgarian revolutionary, born in 1812, probably in Rousse.

Her parents, Toncho Postavchiyata (Тончо Поставчията) and Minka Toncheva (Минка Тончева), were from the village of Cherven. She married Tiho Obretenov — a famous tailor and tradesman in Rousse. They had seven children (five sons and two daughters) all of whom participated in the Bulgarian revolutionary movement.[1] Obretenova herself lent major support to the revolutionary committee – she was famous for sheltering a number of revolutionary leaders.[2] The Rousse Revolutionary Committee, the most important one in the interior of Bulgaria, was established by her son Nikola Obretenov, in her house. Baba Tonka buried Stefan Karadzha, and managed to preserve his skull.

Her sons Angel, Petar, Nikola, and Georgi (Ангел, Петър, Никола и Георги) took part in different detachments and were killed, or sent into long exile. Her younger daughter, Anastasiya (Анастасия; also called: Siya, Сия) married Zahari Stoyanov — a revolutionary, writer and publicist.

Baba Tonka Cove in Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Tonka Obretenova.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonka_Obretenova

Woman with a hoe but no info

Sculpture of a woman on her knees

The sculpture is in the park in Rousse. It was made in May 2006.

Same park but no info

Fountain in the park in Rousse

Except for the child at the far left, I think they’re all girls.

Monument of the heroes that died in the battle against fascism ; the sculpture is a woman

Not a sculpture; but a lovely book shop clerk, very fluent in English and where they sold English language books.

The path from the road to the Ruse Yacht Club

The white building had a very basic toilet, a roomy but basic shower and a washing machine. 

Usually Randal and I shower and do laundry on the boat, but there was a water problem so we couldn’t refil our half empty tank so we showered and did laundry in the Yacht Club building. 

Our friends Ernst and Erika on our left and the boat Celestine on our right.  We’d been in Novi Sad with both boats and with Celestine in Belgrade and again here in Ruse.  Celestine had two Jack Russel type dogs you barked hello but that was about it.  They weren’t yappy at all. 

The main street of the city is Aleksandrovska, it is an architectural ensemble of buildings in Neo-Baroque, Neo-Rococo and other architectural styles.

http://bgtourinfo.net/ruse.html talks about the architecture with some photos.

Some of these photos are the town center and some further away on our way to Lipnik Boulevard. 

More “modern” Ruse

Soviet style buildings

Mixed

A lovely crumbling old building in the park.

When reading about Ruse I saw a Lipnik Nature Reserve just nearby.  We didn’t make it there, but did walk to find Lipnik Boulevard.  Both seem to be connected to the Lipa tree or Linden tree. 

Slavic mythology

     “In old Slavic mythology, the linden (lipa, as called in all Slavic languages) was considered a sacred tree.[15] Particularly in Poland, many villages have a name "Święta Lipka" (or similar), which literally means "Holy Lime". To this day, the tree is a national emblem of Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, and the Sorbs.[citation needed] Lipa gave name to the traditional Slavic name for the month of June (Croatian, lipanj) or July (Polish, lipiec, Ukrainian "lypen’/липень"). It is also the root for the German city of Leipzig, taken from the Sorbian name lipsk.[16] The Croatian currency, kuna, consists of 100 lipa (Tilia). "Lipa" was also a proposed name for Slovenian currency in 1990, however the name "tolar" ultimately prevailed.[17] In the Slavic Orthodox Christian world, limewood was the preferred wood for panel icon painting. The icons by the hand of Andrei Rublev, including the Holy Trinity (Hospitality of Abraham), and The Savior, now in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, are painted on linden wood. Its wood was chosen for its ability to be sanded very smooth and for its resistance to warping once seasoned. The southern Slovenian village of "Lipica" signifies little Lime tree and has given its name to the Lipizzan horse breed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilia#Slavic_mythology

http://www.poloniamusic.com/Folk_Lipka_Zielona.html  more about the Lipa tree and some Polish folks songs that tell about it.

http://www.angelfire.com/mi4/polcrt/Linden.html  THE LINDEN TREE – Lore and Significance

Written by Margaret Odrowaz-Sypniewska

Ode to a Linden Tree

Dear Guest, sit down beneath my leaves and take your rest.

The sun will not strike you there, I do insist,

Though it beat from its noonday height, and its direct rays

Should pierce such scattered shade as a tree bestows.

There, a cooling breeze is always blowing from the field;

There, nightingales and blackbirds their tuneful tales unfold.

It’s from my fragrant blossom that the timeless bees

Take the honey, which later ennobles your lordly feasts;

Whilst I, by my soft murmurs, can easily contrive

That gentle sleep should overtake the unsuspecting fugitive.

It’s true, I bear no fruit; but in my master’s eyes

My worth exceeds the richest scion of the Hesperides.

Written by "Squire of Czamolas" – a vernacular poet

http://www.angelfire.com/mi4/polcrt/PolNobility.html

Липа  lipa = Linden Tree

The English suffix -nik is of Slavic origin. It approximately corresponds to the suffix "-er" and nearly always denotes an agent noun (that is, it describes a person related to the thing, state, habit, or action described by the word to which the suffix is attached).[1] In the cases where a native English language coinage may occur, the "-nik"-word often bears an ironic connotation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-nik

Lipnik Boulevard…. But no trees at all now, but maybe once upon a time. 

I noticed this sign which says Lipnik in Cyrillic though I have no idea what the top word is.

One day we set off for the Transportation Museum because that attracted Rick and Randal. 

The city of Rousse is the place where you will find Bulgaria’s only transportation museum. The national museum of transport was created to commemorate 100 years since the existence of railway transportation in Bulgaria. It is located in the building of the first city railway station and opened doors for visitors in 1996.

     Rousse’s railway station, where the museum is located, was constructed from 1864 to 1866. The railway station functioned until 1954. Today, the station has been recognized as historic monument.

The three museum sections present the development of railway transportation, shipping and communications.

Communication technologies, photographs, documents, personal belongings of transportation workers and slogans will show you the history of transportation in Bulgaria.

Some of the exhibit items are unique. You will see Sultanie, the special car that sultan Abdul Aziz specially ordered in 1866. The car impresses with its rich decorations. Its color is blue and the exterior is covered in ornaments.

Another interesting exhibition items is one of the first locomotives imported in Bulgaria. It was created in Newcastle in 1866 and was used for the transportation of passengers from Rousse to Varna until 1901.

You will also see the car that tsar Ferdinand ordered. The museum also preserves the first movable television station in Bulgaria.

The museum library contains tons of information about transportation in Bulgaria through the years.

The national transportation museum is situated on the bank of the Danube, at Bratia Obretenovi 5 street. It welcomes visitors each day apart from Sunday from 9 am to 5.30 pm.

http://www.bulgariainside.eu/

Another interesting exhibition items is one of the first locomotives imported in Bulgaria. It was created in Newcastle in 1866 and was used for the transportation of passengers from Rousse to Varna until 1901.

I think I can, I think I can….

Some of the exhibit items are unique. You will see Sultanie, the special car that sultan Abdul Aziz specially ordered in 1866. The car impresses with its rich decorations. Its color is blue and the exterior is covered in ornaments.

We had to knock on the door of the museum to gain attention of the custodian who looked to be living in part of the museum.  She waved to us from her window, changed her clothes and then came to let us in and give us a tour.

Here she is showing us how tea was served to Abdul Aziz and where he and his guests could relax and smoke their water pipe.

Not so private but here’s the tollette and wash basin.

I had some coins so dropped them into the bucket in the sink.  Our guide motioned for me to take them back out so I did.  Then she motioned for me to put them back in.  So I did.  Then 3 times she poured water from the pitcher over my hands  which went down the drain ( coint bucket had been moved.)

I have no idea why but there you have it.

You will also see the car that tsar Ferdinand ordered.

The discrepancy between rich and poor may be in part what caused some of the problems leading to WW 1.

Oriental,  Central (time in Europe) and Occidental time.  The Occident is the west so both have the same time showing on the clock.

Air pressure gage for the brake on the side of the car

I always wanted to do this.  Rick and Mary pulled one way down the short piece of track and Randal and I pulled us back. 

Very useful clock in the station museum

Men connected to Bulgarian transportation history.

I thought these caricature plates were quite funny though I’m not sure they were intended to be seen that way.

When we arrived at Oryahovo, a Dutch couple we’d met several stop along the way was already there.

We paid the “tie up fee” and then took a walk up into town to stretch our legs. I have no comments to go with most of the photos.  It’s just what we saw during our walk.

Both of these photos were taken just up hill from the Danube.  All were abandoned.

Higher up-hill were small homes with big gardens.

Lots of lovely gardens alongside most of the houses closer to town.

St. George’s Church (1837) in the National-Revival style, where old printed church literature from Russia is preserved.   http://trakia-tours.com/oryahovo-guide-70.html

We stopped for a cold drink.

I went inside to pick out my drink not being able to read the menu at all.  Mary thought she ordered lemonade but received a Rattler which is beer and lemonade mixed.  Randal and Rick got the beer they ordered.  But we couldn’t figure out how to order any snacks.  I should have had my trusty picture dictionary which now is in my backpack.

Once upon a time it must have been quite lovely

Big and concrete and blah = Communist era architecture for the Administrative Center

We were broiling but these men were running around playing “football.”

We took this lovely road back down the hill from town

Before Oblivion Comes, a book by BNR journalist Rumen Stoichkov 

“ The asset of the new book is that it takes readers astray from traditional tourist routes. ….

In the foreword to the book Rumen Stoichkov writes, “In my reports I have always tried to single out a problem that troubles a certain village such as unemployment, bad roads, poverty, a church about to collapse, a cultural center, school or nursery school about to close doors, etc. This entails depopulation, and eventually, the disappearance of the place from the map of Bulgaria. Well, as I traveled to make my reports, there was positive information too. It came from legends, the local natural scenery and traditions, the folklore and the wisdom of the local people.”

http://bnr.bg/

(Oryahovo is one of the places visited and it would be interesting to know if it was a positive or negative.)

Often getting from the boat to land is an interesting process.  These photos show us returning to DoraMac from town.  We walked into the official port area and then over a ramp to the barge.  Then we walked carefully along the barge edge before climbing back onto DoraMac.

These teen boys looked like members of a track team out for practice

Time Out!  He kept looking toward a lady near-by but not in a worried way, rather in a, “I’m still mad but isn’t this long enough.”  He was standing in the shade and looked well cared for and quite stylish so I didn’t worry.  Sometimes you just need a time out!  Or maybe he took himself over there tired of waiting for his mom or grandmother, the two women talking just near where he was standing. 

The older brother was quite bored but the younger seemed entertained just being with his older brother.  They were sitting in the park just across from where we’d stopped for a cold drink and a snack.

The next bench had an older woman and young girls who seemed to be enjoying a chat; the boys were a bit restive but very well behaved.

The boys probably would have loved this contaption which we’d seen earlier on our walk.

Not me; not in a million years!

They had been holding hands but I missed that shot.

We saw lots of families strolling along in the park.  We saw teens and older people.  All age groups seemed to be together.

A lovely sculpture was part of the art museum’s collection. 

Traditional wood carving was being done by this man just next to the fortress ticket booth.  There was a small stand selling “traditional” items.  Randal bought 2 bars of rose soap.  Bulgaria, like Turkey, is a big exporter of rose based products.

This couple was enjoying dinner at the restaurant barge next to where we were tied up.  It was owned by the same man so we went for dinner.  My fish soup was excellent!  Luckily DoraMac was close by so when it started to rain Rick walked back to close the hatches.

Emilia who attends the prestigious National Academy of Art in Sofia and the ladies from    Sofia University "Saint Kliment Ohridski",  conducting a survey for the mayor of Vidin.

Life under Communism and how people look back at that sometimes with nostalgia.  Article below…..

“The Germans have a great expression for life in a competitive, dog-eat-dog country. They call it an “elbow society.” People in capitalist countries have sharper elbows, and they use them more readily.

     In Bulgaria, some people look back on their time during communism, the time before the introduction of the elbow society, as the “calm life.” You generally didn’t have to work hard. You didn’t have to worry about losing your job. Life was simpler. There was only one kind of washing powder. You could count the number of television channels on one hand.

     In retrospect, the calm life has a certain appeal. If you’re out of work or going crazy because of multitasking or feel the hot breath of a competitor on your neck, the old days begin to feel almost like a holiday: boring perhaps but not so stressful. Of course, as with all nostalgia, these memories are selective. The painful memories tend to be suppressed.

Petya Kabakchieva is a sociologist who has done research on a number of social issues in Bulgaria. One of her first topics was social status associated with work

“People knew that their salary didn’t depend on their effort,” she told me over dinner at a very good restaurant in Sofia with an old Art Nouveau interior. “They worked, but they didn’t invest a lot of effort. In my research after the change, a lot of people told me, ‘Now we will work with pleasure, because we are working for ourselves. We will not depend on the state salary.’ At the moment the opposite is happening — a lot of people are feeling nostalgic about the fixed salary, because there is a lot of unemployment and poverty. This means that something in the so-called ‘transition’ went wrong.”

She has done research on a number of fascinating topics: on the construction of memories, on temporary migrants, on Roma integration. We talked about her sociological investigations as well as her own personal experiences and her evolving understanding of “the People,” from her time in Leipzig in 1989 to her view of Bulgarian society today.

The Interview

When you look back to 1989 and everything that has changed between now and then, how would you evaluate that on a scale of 1 to 10, with one being most dissatisfied and 10 most satisfied?

     Those are the questions I hate the most! It is very difficult to evaluate your memories, experience, and feelings on a scale…Anyway, I’ll try to answer. Usually, at least in Bulgaria, people say  5. But you cannot interpret this number, because it means, simply, “I don’t know.” So, I would say 7.

Same scale, same period: how would you evaluate your own life?

10.

When you look into the near future, where do you think Bulgaria will be in 1-2 years, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being most pessimistic and 10 being most optimistic?

     That’s not an easy question. There are different scenarios. In one scenario, Bulgaria’s future place would be 6-7. But in another scenario, I would evaluate it as 2-3. It depends on how the politicians cope with the situation. The main factor to support the positive evaluation is the European Union. I strongly hope that this current crisis will not lead to a terrible collapse of the EU. The EU is a disciplining factor for Bulgaria. The other factor for positive development is reforms in education. A lot of our children are now not compatible with the job market.  The migration factor is also very important: young people are leaving Bulgaria. If we invest in people, young people will stay here and we’ll have a new generation of politicians and bureaucrats to rule this country. If this does not happen, then I’m afraid I’d give the lower grade.  (In Silistra we were told by the young manager of the Hotel Dustra that many young people have left Silistra because they want better opportunities.)

Deep down in your heart, which scenario do you think is more likely?

Something in the middle. Democracy is already a norm in this country. It doesn’t function very well, but it doesn’t function very well anywhere in the world. I don’t think we’ll go downward; I don’t believe in the worst-case scenario. A lot of things have happened already in Bulgaria. Even if we have an authoritarian regime, which could happen, I’ll stick with 4.5

Do you remember where you were when you heard about the fall of the Berlin Wall, and what feeling you had, and whether you started thinking about its implications for Bulgaria?

     I’d been in Leipzig, and I’d seen the large demonstrations there. I suddenly understood what “people” means. Until then, “people” was just something very abstract, like in the textbook. I saw those thousands of people on the square, and I was very enthusiastic. Later I learned about the fall of Todor Zhivkov on the train back to Bulgaria. In a way I expected it because I’d seen what was happening in Germany. It was an enormous joy.

     At the end of 1989, everyone, even Communists, believed that something would change and we were going to another stage of our society. Unlike the Soviet Union, which had passed through glasnost and perestroika, the late 1980s were very hard for Bulgaria — like Romania where there was hunger and Ceausescu was totally mad. We didn’t have hunger like in Romania, but there were problems with electricity, with food. In Bulgaria, in the late 1980s, Zhivkov didn’t even pretend that he was making something like glasnost and perestroika.

     The repressions were severe, starting with the so-called “Revival process.” One of the most important events in modern Bulgarian history was the forced re-naming of Bulgarian Muslims and Turks. This was the sign that this state was still totalitarian. The main thesis of this “Revival process” was that the ethnic Turks were Bulgarians who had been turned into Turks during Ottoman rule. That’s why the name “Revival” had been invented – as a return to their “true” identity. No one thought about how the ethnic Turks might feel about this in the 20th century. It was a terrible aggression against the very personality of these people. I call it “symbolic genocide,” an attempt to delete the names and identities of 800,000 people. I wonder how the people who carried out this “Revival” imagined that it could happen.

     It was the late 1980s. Most Bulgarians, including me, didn’t understand what was happening. My son was born during that period, and I was busy taking care of him. The Communist Party started to understand that it’s not so easy to repress so many people. And the repressions started to grow. There was resistance, mostly carried out by ethnic Turks who resisted this renaming.

     But some Bulgarians also started to talk about these issues in Sofia, in Plovdiv. Zheliu Zhelev’s book Fascism came out in 1982. No one can call this a dissident book now, but back then people treated it as a revolutionary act. The Communist Party and the Secret service were searching for signs of resistance and tried to control our minds all the time. But a new world had started to appear. It was mostly in people’s imaginations, and it was not so easy to control. We started to believe that we could live a different way. Everybody perceived this change in November 1989 as something that would change our lives,  that would push society in a totally different direction.

     It wasn’t expected. It was wanted, but it wasn’t expected. It was a very strange feeling. It wasn’t like Poland. In Poland they knew it would come since the early 1980s. But in Bulgaria, it wasn’t expected. Some people said that we should die with Todor Zhivkov in power and Lili Ivanova singing. I’m glad that Lili Ivanova is still singing, and Todor Zhivkov is no longer in power!

You mentioned that the path of development for the countries in the region was very different after 1989. I’m curious whether it pushed you personally onto a different trajectory.

     Definitely. Actually, my career started after 1989. Before 1989, we had no freedom to write. When I was working at that institute for youth studies, our main job was to conduct research and write reports in a way that didn’t provoke the interest of functionaries in youth activities. We tried to present the situation as normal: yes, the youth have subcultures, but they’re not dangerous. This wasn’t real research. We had a lot of parties. We drank a lot. But we didn’t really work.

     Only after 1989 did I understood what work meant. That’s when we started to make serious surveys and to write what we thought and not just cite party documents. That’s when we began to work for ourselves.

     One of my favorite topics is what I call the “ideological construction of social status.” The Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP) manipulated status, because the salaries had been fixed according to the BCP vision about the priority of one branch over others and some occupations over others. My study showed that the most prestigious professions were low-paid, like doctors and teachers. The well-paid professions like those of construction workers and miners, had low prestige.

     I did some sociological research on that. People knew that their salary didn’t depend on their effort. They worked, but they didn’t invest a lot of effort. In my research after the change, a lot of people told me, “Now we will work with pleasure, because we are working for ourselves. We will not depend on the state salary.” At the moment the opposite is happening — a lot of people are feeling nostalgic about the fixed salary, because there is a lot of unemployment and poverty. This means that something in the so-called “transition” went wrong.

     Fortunately, this is not my case. I started to travel, go to conferences, meet people from different countries. The comparisons between countries were very interesting. Travel: that was one of the biggest changes. I can’t say that I was poor before the change. My family was part of the elite. I can’t complain about the conditions of my life. But what was lacking for me before 1989 was the feeling of freedom: to talk about what you think, to write what you think. Yes, after 1989 work became a pleasure for me.

You mentioned that your students have difficulty imagining what life what was like before 1989. Can you give me examples?

     Take the example of the renaming of the ethnic Turks. When we had a meeting at the university, where party functionaries explained to us the “important” meaning of this process, the bravest thing some of the university professors had done was to ask a question: what’s happening? Why are you doing this? The students can’t imagine this. “Why didn’t you protest?” they ask. “Why didn’t you go out on the street?” They can’t imagine our fear and self-censorship.

     They can’t understand that people were sent to labor camps because they had listened to Western music and dressed a different way. The situation here was not as bad as in the Soviet Union, but we had such camps, Belene being the most famous. The students can’t imagine that someone could be punished for dressing differently. They can’t understand the hidden, Aesopic language used in the works of artists and dissidents that was perceived by us, people who had “lived socialism,” as a kind of resistance.

     There is a very good book by my colleague Pepka Boyadzhieva called Social Engineering – about higher education in Communist Bulgaria. She studied the papers written by the Fatherland Committees concerning the admission of students to higher education. There were sentences in those reports like: she has a “bourgeois look,” he has a “bourgeois gesture.” This is unimaginable even to me. How can someone decide if you should be a student or not because of your gestures? This was the late 1940s and early 1950s. After that, it was not so strict.

Do they see any relevance from that period of time to their lives today? Or is it just ancient history happening in a different country?

     They cannot imagine this life, but at the same time — and we conducted research on this — they believe the family stories. Their perception of communism is mostly from these family stories. A lot of Bulgarians, mostly from villages and small towns, now have a growing nostalgia toward the Communist regime. It’s based on the memories of the security of their lives back then.

     My son did some research on the memory of the renaming of ethnic Turks. Even some of those who suffered this humiliation remember with some nostalgia the security of life: “we had jobs then,” they remember, “We could go to the seaside then. Yes, we did not have lots of opportunities to travel and eat different types of food, but we had a calm life.” The following phrase had become a cliché: now there is everything in the shops and lots of opportunities, but we don’t have the money to take advantage of them, so we feel worse than in the Communist time.

So, yes, they can’t imagine that life. On the other hand, they have this quite simplified notion of communism presented to them by their grandfathers and mostly by their grandmothers, and probably by some of their parents. It’s true that Bulgaria went through a very heavy deindustrialization. A lot of people are not living so well right now. The bad things are forgotten. That’s normal from a psychological point of view. They’re forgetting the lack of freedom, the poor life, the long queues, seven-year wait to get a car. They just remember the security of yesterday compared to the insecurity of today.

You gave the mark of 10 when talking about your own personal life. But are you ever tempted by this kind of nostalgia?

     No. I do insist that I had an excellent life before 1989 compared to the life of a lot of people. We lived really quite well. My father got good money. He was famous as an actor. I studied in good schools: due to my efforts, not due to my father. After the changes, some of my schoolmates said to me, “You can’t imagine how poor we felt compared to you.” That’s when I reflected on the inequalities under communism. I had a very good life before 1989 and I do not regret my life before the changes, but I do feel better now because of the feeling of freedom, how I feel about my work, the sense that something depends on me.

    The number of young people leaving Bulgaria is quite large. Is it just a question of economic opportunity, or are there other factors behind people leaving?

     One of the problems of the liberal model is that everything is calculated in money. Especially social scientists, in my field of sociology, believe that money is a very important push-pull factor. I don’t think this is so. Research shows that the people going abroad have middle status. It’s not the wealthiest or the poorest but, rather, the people who have a relatively good salary and even belong to prestigious professions. A lot of teachers, for instance, are going abroad; even ex-mayors have gone abroad.

    My research is on temporary migrants. According to this research, it looks like people are going abroad in search of a better life but also to prove themselves. Bulgaria is too small to prove one’s self. They want to measure themselves in other countries, to try their strengths and capacities in different situations. This is their narrative. When I went abroad, I also rediscovered myself when I suddenly found that I could manage quite well. Young people are going abroad looking for better chances, better self-realization. Another important factor is that people want to live in a more regulated environment where the law means something and institutions work well.

     Recently I found another motive among my students. They want to live in a more tolerant environment. I wonder whether Austria is really an example of tolerance, but my students feel that way. They want to live in a more multicultural environment. Bulgaria is very provincial. It’s like a small village where everyone knows everyone else, and different people are rejected. They want to live in a mixed and more colorful environment.

     But Bulgaria is starting to open up to different people. And we will get used to living with different people. My son throws parties in the very small town where my grandmother’s house is located. He invites lots of friends. The noise is unbelievable until early morning. When I go to the town after these parties, I expect that I’ll get attacked because the party was very noisy, the neighbors couldn’t sleep. But they said, “No, no, it’s okay. It’s just young people. But Petya, do you know who they invited? A black man!” They saw face to face an African-American. So, you can imagine how closed this society was and still is. For people who are used to traveling, to going to different universities, Bulgaria now looks too white, filled with white people.

Tell me about the research you’re doing now.

     I’ve just concluded some research on Roma integration. But that’s a long discussion. I dream of doing research on the children of temporary immigrants. Usually migration is viewed through the eyes of those who left rather than those who were left behind. I’ve found terrible cases of children who stayed here and made great efforts to attract the attention of parents who had gone to work for money in other countries. Those children stayed here, and some of them — or most of them, we don’t know how many — engaged in criminal acts. For me, it’s very interesting to look at the fates of these children. The striving for upward mobility, the attempt to make a career, often comes at the price of the downward mobility of your children. Here money is not the only thing. Caring for your children is also very important. I haven’t started this research because I haven’t found the money for it. But this is my dream.

     I’ve done research on nationalism, attitudes toward Roma and foreigners, discrimination, migration issues. Before, I did social inequalities under communism and the memory of social inequality during communism.

I’m most interested in the studies on nationalism, discrimination, and attitudes toward Roma. But let’s start with your research on nationalism.

     I was looking at the type of national identity Bulgarians have, whether ethnic or civic. So, I was looking at the feeling of nationalism versus the feeling of citizenship. Our education and the public debate should concentrate on civic national identity, on political national identity, on civic participation. Unfortunately, national identity for ethnic Bulgarians, not Turks or Roma, is built around ethnic identity — historical notions about our glorious past, which presupposes the enemies we fought against. It’s quite worrisome.

     This has two important consequences. First, if you think of the nation only in ethnic terms, you exclude Roma, Turks and all the people coming here from other countries. In this multicultural environment, this is quite old-fashioned, and it could become dangerous.

     Second, it’s commonly accepted by Bulgarians that our country is very beautiful but our state is corrupt and bad. I’m afraid there is some truth in this statement. But it is also dangerous. This belief that our state is nothing and should not be respected leads to people not wanting to participate in public life. They don’t think anything depends on them. If the state is corrupt, we should try to make a life only for ourselves and our family. There is a large disappointment in the functioning of democratic institutions. And when they think of Bulgarian statehood, they imagine the glorious state of the khans of the 9th century or the glorious dreams of the fighters for independent Bulgaria who wanted a strong and large Bulgaria.

     This dream for the strong state is usually associated with a strong person. It worries me that the political is becoming more personified, that people are thinking about politics in terms of persons. This combination of ethnic nationalism and the desire for a strong state personified by a strong figure is not a good path for the future.

In Russian there are two words for Russian — russky and rossissky — to distinguish between ethnically Russian and Russian citizens. And in Bulgarian?

     There’s just one word: Bulgarsko. Before, our politicians spoke in terms of “people.” Populism plays with this notion of people: ein volk, ein fuhrer. I do not accept the word “people.” There is no collective body. There are different persons, with different interests. In English, there is “we, the people,” and there is a feeling of diversity in “we.” In Bulgarian, like in German, there is no “we.” People are one collective body — narod.

     Now our politicians are starting to use the term “citizens.” It’s a good sign. But I’m afraid that it’s a bit of a political manipulation to pretend that their parties are not parties but civic movements. Again it’s a matter of trying to convince us that they are representing all the citizens. So, the word “people” as in the “people’s republic of Bulgaria” has changed to: “we are working for you, all the citizens of Bulgaria.” In one way, it’s important to have this word “citizens.” On the other hand, it’s not good that citizens are thought of as one unity, not as different citizens.

It’s interesting that you say you don’t believe in “people.” But one of the first things you said is that after Leipzig, you understood for the first time what “people” meant and you were enthusiastic.

     Yes, you’re right. You got me! Yes, I understood what “people” meant and I was enthusiastic about it. But I was also frightened. It means revolution. It means people coming together to destroy something. Revolution is a little bit dangerous. I’m more of a pacifist. I understood what “people” meant at that moment because before “people” was a cliché, an abstraction: all of us believing in the bright future of communism. Suddenly this abstraction came alive, all rejecting the communist “here and now.” Thousands of people shouting on the square “Wir sind das Volk” — Das Volk or Narod or the People – and acting as a fist is quite frightening. It’s preferable to have different groups with different interests with different religions, different skin colors, who can sit and talk together. I prefer differences that can be negotiated or at least debated. The essence of democracy is in this. We should try to resolve our differences by trying to understand each other.

I’m curious about the conclusions of the Roma and discrimination study.

     A lot of what we found was evidence of racist attitudes. About one-third of respondents answered that they could not accept for a colleague or a boss a person of Roma origin or African-American origin. So, it’s not good. There are strong discriminatory attitudes toward Roma. But what is new is that Roma are now starting to be perceived as a privileged group, due to the fact that there is a lot of talk about strategies for Roma integration. That’s quite a paradox: for a vulnerable group to be perceived as a privileged group.

     It is true, that there are a lot of public strategies about Roma integration, but nothing is happening. There are only words. At the moment any talk of affirmative action is not helpful. We should talk in terms of everybody having equal rights. This libertarian discourse is very useful here because Bulgarians do not believe that Roma are discriminated against in their normal lives, in their basic human rights – in employment, housing, health care. We should speak of ensuring a normal quality of life for poor people.

Usually Roma are associated with criminality. But people forget that organized crime, another hot issue, is the most important problem in Bulgaria. And organized crime is not related to Roma.

     It’s a cliché to say that we should start to do something, not only to talk about things. But in a way, this is the case. I think we need to start with education. Roma children should be in the schools and they should receive a good education to overcome poverty.

Sofia, September 25, 2012 http://www.johnfeffer.com/remembering-the-calm-life/

DoraMac is the orange bit on the water.  We pretty much stayed between the water and the orange line. 

Chicago hot dog in Vidin Bulgaria.

Served in a thick sort of pita with fries on top.  Rick and Randal each ate one.  Mary and I took a pass because it was after lunch and too early for dinner and too big for a snack. 

Thanks to our Alternative Art/Street Art walking tour in London we’re all more supportive of street art.  I found it interesting that the message was written in English.

There was a EURO store where things cost a Euro.  The building next door was more interesting to me.

Lots of lovely detail now falling to bits.

You saw lots of this lovely architecture just waiting for some help.  They need an influx of Yuppies with money from somewhere.

After some walking around it was time for a cold drink break.  Mary ordered a white frappe but Rick, Randal and I ordered iced coffee.

Amazingly this turned out not to be the strangest iced coffee of the trip.  This was a cup of strong hot coffee with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream floating in it.  So far it is the iced coffee in Silistra that wins the prize; at least as I’m typing now.  That was a blob of frozen iced coffee crystals floating in Coca Cola. A total sugar and caffeine shock.  I had a few bites of the “iced coffee crystals” and Randal drank the rest of the Coke that was served with the “iced coffee.”  Randal had ordered cappuccino but it tasted more like hot chocolate.   You just never know.

There was a small mall with a grocery store in the town center.  We went in for the basics : bread, fruit and vegetables and wine and cookies.  We’ve been eating out more because the dollar is strong against these currencies so restaurants are much more reasonable than they were further west.

Varieties of what looked like caviar and oddly we bought none.  If we see it again, I will.  At least it looks like caviar?

City Hall is the tallest building in Vidin.

Obviously built without central air.

I think this is the municipal building and the law courts in Bdintsy Square.

Somewhere in here is the Mihalaki Georgiev Regional Library,  but I couldn’t find it. 

The stairwells were dark and each room was closed to the hall way to keep the AC  in.  I walked up all of the flights and finally met a woman who tried to find someone who spoke English/ or wanted to come help.  No one did so that was that. 

The second part of the word ends in teka and it looks like a book so I guessed the library was inside someplace.

Some newer buildings mixed with old.  But all of it looks a bit down on its luck though it’s hard to look totally upbeat when it’s broiling hot out.