Bulgarian National Flower, the Rose
I was so pleased to learn that the National flower of Bulgaria is the Rose. They have them everywhere. They had them planted down the medians of major streets in the bigger cities as you can see to the left though they weren't blooming here at the time. There were a lot of vendors selling little hand carved vials with Rose Oil to be used as fragrance. I'm sure that woodcarving was the livelihood of many there. They had many other hand carved items as well and of course we had to spend some time in their shops looking at all the different items available for gifts and for myself.
As I said woodworking appears to be one of their specialties for they had flasks, herb jars, and all manner of carvings to titillate the senses. But I think of all the items purchased the two I loved the most were the vials of rose oil and my beautiful copper pepper mill.
What made me think of roses in the first place was Peter's blog about the meal we enjoyed in the secluded courtyard at Veliko Tarnovo. What he failed to mention was the single climbing vine growing to the height of over 3 stories and blooming beautifully. How they were able to care for the thing was beyond me, but a glorious sight it was to behold.
A more pleasant atmosphere during our meal I couldn't imagine. Peter even got to enjoy a nice political discussion with the waiter who spoke very good English. Yes Bulgaria was a true adventure to experience what with the language barriers and cyrillic signage; but they had some of the most elaborate churches. As luck would have it, at our arrival in Sophia near the main square we were fortunate to witness a Russian Orthodox church (pictured below) having a service with beautiful chants and singing that made the hair stand up on my arms. It was an experience of a lifetime. What made the trip even more enjoyable was knowing that my nephew's beautiful wife Yoana Gandeva is from Sofia Bulgaria. Sophia itself was absolutely beautiful and not only had gorgeous churches and many historical buildings but a great selection of hotels and restaurants.
Our particular hotel featured the best Italian restaurant imaginable. Here is Peter enjoying a bread basket with a variety of spreads.
We walked around before dinner and took in as many sites as we could before it got dark. More churches (below), gardens, historic buildings, statues, and a bazaar closing down. That's where I bought my rose oil. An absolutely wonderful evening.
In our hotel room since we were fllying out the next morning we reviewed all the things we had seen on our visit to Bulgaria including the Buzludzha, recommended by my nephew and pictured below. But that's a blog for another day.
