On our way to Tsarevo to check out from Bulgaria and then on towards Istanbul. We will be in Turkey tomorrow after a night passage. Sozopol was a lovely stop; a Bulgarian seaside town with all the foods, families, and shell knick knack souvenirs. I had the best fish soup of the trip in a really goofy waterfront bistro where the two waitstaff couldn’t agree if they served fish soup and how much it cost. We didn’t see it on the menu, but they did have it and it was perfect. Mary’s chicken salad, listed on the menu, not so good. You pays your money and you takes your chances.
This email shares more Constanta photos and I think I still need at least one more Constanta email after this. I liked Constanta.
Ru
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Everything that had come down for the passage had to go back up. |
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August 15th Assumption and Navy Day August 15th was Assumption Day and Navy Day (Mary is the patron saint of mariners) and the Old Town harbor area near the marina was packed with people and a display of naval power. Even Traian Băsescu, the President of Romania was supposed to have been there for opening ceremonies. “The feast day of the Assumption of Mary, or simply Assumption Day or St Mary’s Day, is one of the most important feasts in the Orthodox Christian calendar. Large crowds gather in processions and pilgrimages involving thousands of Romanians occur at Moisei in Maramureș, Nicula in Transylvania and Putna in Moldavia. St Mary is the patron saint of the Navy, so the holiday corresponds with the Day of the Romanian Naval Forces, also known as Navy Day. Events, such as demonstrative shows featuring navy ships, are held in port cities and often attract thousands of visitors on August 15.” http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/romania/st-mary-day
Romanian Cub Scouts handed out flyers of the day’s activities. By the time we walked over there was not an inch of space along the water front and it was too hot to stand around listening to speeches in Romanian. Official speeches in English aren’t all that entertaining most of the time either. That’s when we set off for the chandlery and found the Synagogue. |
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Old sewing machines, mostly Singer, are used for displays everywhere in Europe. Here it’s the entrance of a coffee shop where we stopped for our daily iced coffee. (Yesterday it was cool enough here in Sozopol that we had hot coffee.) I liked the painted light bulbs. |
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This woman, on her way to the huge Orthodox Cathedral, apologized for the condition of the town. She believed that the economy was terrible and the government worse. Rick and Mary told her they thought the town had much improved since there visit 3 years ago. But we only see the tourist areas and not the real infrastructure.
St. Peter & Paul Orthodox Cathedral “Constructed in Greco-Roman style between 1883 and 1885, the church was severely damaged during WWII and was restored in 1951. The interior murals display a neo-Byzantine style combined with Romanian elements best observed in the iconostasis and pews, chandeliers and candlesticks (bronze and brass alloy), all designed by Ion Mincu and completed in Paris.” http://romaniatourism.com/constanta.html Services were being held so we didn’t go in.
Ruins of an early Christian center just next to the Orthodox Church. |
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A statue by the harbor is a woman looking out to sea; coincidentally a squar-rigger was out in the harbor for Navy Day. In New Bedford houses were built with “a widow’s walk.” “Any trip through Cape Cod, Nantucket and other local coastal towns is a tour through the 19th century cultural landscape of New England — an architectural intersection between its British inheritance and the stylistic dictates of a New World. Widow’s Walks are platforms nestled in the high gables of peaked roofs, though they vary in size, ornamentation and functionality depending on their place in history. Widow’s Walks first emerged from the vague mists of folklore; purportedly, they were observation decks for wives to survey the horizon for their husband’s return from sea.” – See more at: http://blog.sevenponds.com/ |
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“On 22 December 1989, Romania’s communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu was overthrown in a violent revolution and fled from the capital, Bucharest. Three days later, he and his wife Elena were executed by firing squad. It was the last of the popular uprisings against communist rule in eastern Europe that year. Communism – the end of an era After the euphoria of Solidarity’s victory in free elections in Poland and the Velvet Revolution in Prague, this was different. The Romanian revolution was the last, and the bloodiest, in the whole region. It came to a head on Christmas Day, when the dictator and his wife were executed.” |
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Everyone who lived of lives in Chicago get in this photo! The woman in the stripped dress moved to Chicago. Her “superman” son was born there as was her granddaughter. They were all visiting family still living in Romania. Rick grew up in Chicago. I only lived there for 6 months as a student teacher so I took the photo. |
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Thousands of people had walked to the waterfront for the morning festivities and now they were returning home. We sat in a restaurant and watched the parade. |
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We’d still be sitting there now waiting to order if the man at the table nest to us hadn’t flagged down one of the overworked waitstaff and sent him to our table. He and his family were on vacation in Constanta also.
Exchanging email addresses. |
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We’ve found in Eastern Europe American Flag images are really popular which wasn’t so surprising as most people were so pleased to learn we were Americans. That felt really nice! |
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Street Art |
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I couldn’t resist climbing onto this giant chair in front of the Art Museum. I think I’ve already mentioned that my roommate Eileen did great “Edith Ann” immitations. I really can’t resist. This blue chair photo was taken in Westport, Canada duirng our 2011 visit to Charmaine and Linda. |
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Sculpture celebrating the 10 year anniversary of the December 1989 Revolution
She translated the sign but both of us agreed we weren’t so sure we understood the sculpture.
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