Central European Lines

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

In the morning,at breakfast only three or four tables were occupied.No seeds no fruits only bread with eggs fried together with white or yellow cheese put over.For that was an "army"of waiters.I can't imagine how they survive.I forgot the cafe for me and the tea for my wife.Of course I was prepared for such trip and I bought from supermarket drink water and fruits.After we finished to eat I drove toward Bachcovo Monastery.The road passes through Asenovgrad(the town of Asen).Here there are,on a hill,the ruins of a fortress from 13th century used by Tsar Asen II in the struggles with Byzantine Empire.

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

I arrived at Bachkovo.Because it was early in the morning the parking car was empty and for .50euro(1 Leva) I left the car all day.The road to monastery is full,on both sides,of kiosks where the visitors find souvenirs,traditional sweets,sausages,and so on.Late in the afternoon,returning from the monastery I saw a small arrow which showed the car-road to the fortress ruins.The place,where the ruins are,is not surrounded with a fence,there is no entrance gate,no tickets-office,no notification about the value of a ticket.There was a he and a she who ask me 1.5 Euro/person.After I asked their accreditation they became nervous running towards me and my wife to hit.I take off my big against-animals-spray and they stopped and became calm and quietly.I renounce to visit the ruins because to call the police is not the rightest solution in Bulgaria,on a peak of a hill through ruins without other tourists around

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

Grigorii Bakuriani(in Bulgarian language)is the same with Georgian-Armenian prince Grigor
Pakurian a military commander in the Byzantine Empire service in 11th century.He participated at a coup to remove the Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros III.The new emperor gave him many properties in Balkans.He ruled the Theme of Iberia(a territory which now get to Armenia and Georgia)He built the Bachkovo Monastery(it could mean,probably, monastery of Bakuriani the similitude between Bachkovo and Bakuriani is visible)and gave it to Iberian monks.
At the entrance of the monastery a small notification said to the tourists that using camera is prohibited.At many churches from Orthodox Christian World is prohibited to use camera in the time of the divine service that being a form of respect.

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

Over the entrance is written "Stavropighia Sv.Bogoroditsa".Stavropeghia or Stavropighia says to visitors that this monastery is directly under patriarch rule,Sv.Bogoroditsa means the"Holy Mother of the God".About the origin of Grigorii Bakuriani,it is generally accepted he was Georgian although he signed in Georgian and Armenian languages but never in Greek.He was buried here in Bachkovo.

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

Of course,is hard to believe that the arrival of Georgian monks from Byzantine Iberia has no link with the conquering of Iberia Theme by the Seljuk Turks in 1068.In fact it can say that in the 11th century began the migration of Georgians and Armenians towards East and Central Europe and then in West Europe and farther,this monastery being one of the first sign of their passing.They ruled the monastery until the 13th century when they lost the domination in the favor of Bulgarians but Georgian tradition was kept.The Ottoman Turks burned and destroyed the monastery which was rebuilt in the beginning of 17th century in the present form.

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

When a foreigner visits such place(being pilgrim like us or tourist only)wants to take shots.There are many holy places where to take shots is free of charge or paying a few.At Bachkovo Monastery no,there are many observers(not only monks) who stop every movement which could mean to photograph.Of course if the camera is a big one to move gets harder.When I took this image which shows you a quiet place with a nun of The Missionaries of Charity's Order visiting this place,there was a monk upon me,on the floor,who cry at an observer to watch me carefully(they didn't know I understand Bulgarian a few).Of course my first impulse was to photograph both of them looking at me but my wife strongly opposed reminding me the goal of our travel was to pray.
In such conditions to succeed in taking images asks waiting and waiting the decisive moment,don't lift the camera to the eyes,to discover the observers,to take a distance from them because the camera noise and to use a remote control from the pocket and a wide angle lens.

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

There is a difference between the meanings of "decent dressed"on street and in an Orthodox monastery.Here in Bachkovo -where to photograph is prohibited- it is not.One of the reasons of such prohibition could be to protect the image of the visitors

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

Being brought in the front of the truth I had to concede that these faithful girls are looking rather for a seclusion into a monastery than into a swimming pool

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

After we left the monastery,going for a walk in the neighborhood,we found a not too steep road until a cascade and a cave(one hour to walk).It slowly became more a path through the wood.

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

Being a clear day with the sun shining over the wood the patches of shadow and light added interesting human shapes to these common places.

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

Before we left those quiet places a whistle or a good-bye kiss caught my attention for a while.I said quiet but now,when I write these rows,at Asenovgrad,Bulgarians set the fire to the palace of the Gypsy Tsar Kirov protesting against Gypsy minority abuses.
Remembering my micro-adventure with those "he and she" at Asen fortress,they had too dark skin to be Bulgarians.When someone goes deeper into the est he could experience unexpected situations.

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

The clouds covered the sky so we hurried to the car to go back to hotel.In its ignorance my Garmin nuvi told continuously to go to the principal road.I found quickly the road 86 toward Plovdiv,first on ulitsa(street) Saedinenie(in Russian"edinenie" means "unity"),then on ulitsa Maritsa(that is the name of the river which passes through Plovdiv) and on Bulgaria ulitsa.Then,leaving the "route"...86 on our left we continued on Asenovgrad shose (this means a kind of main road) and on boulevard Naycho Tsanev(I hope I reminded correctly).At this moment my GPS recognized the road so when we arrived on boulevard Tsar Boris III Obediniteli(I think that means"the poor" like in Russian) our stress finished.

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

Being on boulevard Tsar Boris III the weather changed suddenly so when we disovered the ruins of the ancient Plovdiv(Philippopolis) we had to renounce to visit them for another time.



Together we discussed the Grigorii Bakuriani's reasons to accept to receive landed properties on these places.One of them should have been to put him and his family in a safe position in front of the Seljuk Turks threatening because the distance between his native Georgia and Constantinople(Constantinopoulis) is(and was) roughly 800 miles and between Constantinople and Philippopolis(one of the oldest town of the Europe)is around 200 miles.So he put 1000 miles between he and Turks.The life proved that was not enough

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

Next day was very good one for travel so we drove back to Bucharest.Being near Tarnovo,the old historical capital of Bulgarian empire

we discussed again about the life of Grigorii Bakuriani.This man,who lost a battle with Turks,who was involved in a coup d'etat against the man who believed in his loyalty,received for his treason the title of commander in chief of the West Byzantine field armyOnly the death put an end to his ascent.At first view an interesting lesson!

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

Here as in Romania the Sunday traffic is not busy so we arrived at the Romanian border without problems.Waiting to pass I thought that the length of Danube border between Bulgaria and Romania is roughly 300 miles and there is one bridge only and it was built by communist power with political prisoners in 1954.Now under the pressure of CE there is another bridge under construction(on the Bulgarian side it is finished but on Romanian side.....2012 maybe or maybe not...who could know

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

Hi,
All sane people,who graduated a school,here in Romania,should have to know that this month there are two anniversaries.Former anniversary was yesterday when His Majesty Michael I of Romania reached the age of 90.I am proud He survived to the communists regime and is still alive.Yesterday His Majesty spoke to the Parliament after 65 years though the communists hidden under different names like Democrat-Liberal Party,who are majority,were against.It was a small victory of us who were not communists.The other anniversary will be at October 29 when His Grandma,Marie,The Queen Consort of Romania was born.To discover a small part of the soul of this probably Last Romantic Queen I drove around 200 miles from Bucharest to Balchik,a small Bulgarian town on the Black See coast.Only 50 miles were on the motorway so the speed was at a rate of 45 miles/h.The travel was toward South-East so the Sun was in front of mine all the time


hope to be continued

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

Between 1913 and 1916 and then between 1919 and 1940 Balchik was ruled by Romanian Kingdom.Here,in 1924,The Queen Consort of Romania,Marie,Princess of Edinburgh,who loved these places,built a small palace and a garden around.

[arith]

I arrived at Bachkovo.Because it was early in the morning the parking car was empty and for .50euro(1 Leva) I left the car all day.The road to monastery is full,on both sides,of kiosks where the visitors find souvenirs,traditional sweets,sausages,and so on.Late in the afternoon,returning from the monastery I saw a small arrow which showed the car-road to the fortress ruins.The place,where the ruins are,is not surrounded with a fence,there is no entrance gate,no tickets-office,no notification about the value of a ticket.There was a he and a she who ask me 1.5 Euro/person.After I asked their accreditation they became nervous running towards me and my wife to hit.I take off my big against-animals-spray and they stopped and became calm and quietly.I renounce to visit the ruins because to call the police is not the rightest solution in Bulgaria,on a peak of a hill through ruins without other tourists around

I like all of them, but this I like the most on this page.

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

I like all of them, but this I like the most on this page.

I am glad You liked them,thanks

[nimitzbenedicto]

Hi Radu

I enjoyed your photo-journal.
Very pleasant pictures.
Learned a lot from you.

Please post more...

Thanks

Nimitz
(Manila, Philippines )