Veliko Tornovo

Spent the last 2 days doing a lot of hiking in the mountains around Veliko Tornovo in northeast Bulgaria. VT is a beautiful little city (pop 350,000) nestled along the edge of the canyon created by the Yantra River. Did a 7km hike to the Tranfiguration Monastery after a couple false starts. The trailhead was very difficult to locate and none of the locals speak english. One guy tried to help and we were able to converse in Spanish. He didn't know where the trail was, even though we found it a bit later less than 200 yards from his doorstep! I was hiking with Kat, a Fulbright scholar from Colorado who has been studying and working in Istanbul for the past year and a half. The first trail we started down was very narrow. It didn't quite seem right but according to the map we had we were in the right place. Well after 20 minutes or so we came out on the edge of a 1000 ft cliff above the Yantra River. We walked for a bit more, clinging to the cliff face and hoping things would get better. They didn't. The trail just sort of petered out and left us stranded precariously on this cliff over the river. Needless to say we turned back. Undaunted, we asked around again for directions... this time at Hikers Hostel Veliko Tornovo. They pointed us in the right direction. Much better! Great trail, great views, very safe and well marked. Even came across a shepherd tending his flock on the mountainside talking to someone on his cell phone! The mountains up here are much drier than in the south. It was very hot and sunny and I went through my water bottle in no time, so it was a real relief arriving at the monastery and refilling. The Monastery itself was nothing spectacular but the hike was well worth it. Hot, tired and hungry we decided to walk down to the main road (about another 3km) and catch the bus back into town.

Today Carel and I hiked to the little village of Abernasi about 4km from VT. It was another spectacular hike with great views looking back across the canyon to Tsaravets Fortress and VT. Abernasi is a beautiful little village with very traditional Bulgarian architecture. We stopped into a St Nick's church and had a great personal tour from the woman there. She didn't speak English but we were able to converse in Spanish. It was a 17th century Greek Orthodox church (as are all churches from the Byzantine empire) and looked like a large house from outside. We learned from our tour guide that this was because this area was part of the Ottoman Empire at that time and occupied by the Turks (who are Muslim). They allowed churches and some monasteries to exist albiet very discreetly. Inside was a kalidescope of images from the early 1600's. Amazing. Beautiful. Every inch of the interior was covered with colorful frescos, over 3000 images in all.
Lunch was rabbit stew, a half liter of local brew and a double espresso for the walk back. We sat on a shaded terrace with a nice breeze overlooking the Arbat Hotel's bright blue swimming pool. Quite a contrast to the brown stone buildings, hot dry brown grass and green trees. As with every restaurant in Bulgaria there were a couple resident kittens who we fed the last remnants of our rabbit stew.
Off to Sozopol on the Black Sea coast tomorrow for 3 nights and then on to Istanbul.
That's all for now,
Larry