Ohhh, Plovdiv! Bulgarias best-kept secret Few Indians find themselves on a planned holiday in Bulgaria; fewer still end up in the beautiful city of Plovdiv. Yet, to the traveler on a shoestring budget, Bulgaria offers the delights of Europe at a bargain, with a treasure of history thrown in Bulgaria is easy on the pocket, and bursting with ancient history everywhere you look. Plovdiv is one of ‘those’ cities, in one of ‘those’ countries that does not cross the minds of most visitors to Europe, at least from our part of the world. Which is precisely why it was at the top of my list. You can say I decided to go to Bulgaria solely to earn bragging rights for ‘daring’ to backpack (solo, no less) in ‘that’ country. What welcomed me there, to my surprise, blew me away. Bulgarians are friendly people, even though I always expected a surly, burly lot. What a wrong opinion, or non-opinion, we have of that country. I was in Veliko Tarnovo, another city in Bulgaria, and planned to go to the capital Sofia the following day. I usually don’t plan in advance and just look for accommodation after reaching a new city. But that day, on a whim, I looked for hostels in Sofia and found that everything was fully booked. The hostel staff at VT recommended a stopover at Plovdiv, and that is how I ended up there. And, ohhh, Plovdiv! Few people have even heard of Sofia, much less Plovdiv, so most are unaware that it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world – predating even Athens and Rome, with reports suggesting civilizations that go as far back as 6000 BC! With so many millennia underneath its cobbled stone roads, even slight digging unearths precious archaeological remains. A 300-seater Roman Odeon was found under the road right behind the Central Post Office. Site of an ancient 300-seater Roman odeon in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. A 3,000-seater Roman theatre was found by a man who was digging around in his garden as recently as the 1970s. The whole locality had to be relocated, and now a running joke in the city is that don’t dig your backyard, or you may have to move! Today these theatres are used for musical performances and plays. How magical! Sitting under the stars in an ooolllddd structure, engulfed by music, and your loved ones around you! Site of a 3,000-seater theater in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The 3000-seater is not even the clincher because, now, work is in progress on the excavation of a 30,000-seater ancient stadium of Philippopolis, which is directly under the main pedestrian street. A 30,000-seater stadium. The structure in front is a model, the rubble wall behind the real thing. Now that I have your attention, let me tell you some more about Plovdiv, about Bulgaria, and about why you will love it. Plovdiv is the second largest city in Bulgaria, and the tenth largest in all of the Balkans. It was built on seven hills, one of which was cut down to build pavements in the city, and only a symbolic stump remains. The free Plovdiv walking tour took us through quaint and lovely areas before finally winding up on the top of Nebet Hill, from the top of which we were showed the other five. A view of Plovdiv’s five other hills from the top of Nebet Hill. Eastern Europe’s history is gruesome, what with the Nazis and the Soviets, but it isn’t ours. At the time these things were happening across Europe, our own people were fighting for our freedom, suffering all sorts of atrocities themselves. But to try to understand a little part of it, let me tell you the story of Sasha the Sweetheart. A statue of Sasha the Sweetheart, the much-loved violinist who disappeared. Sasha was a much-loved violinist who played at restaurants. Once, an annoyed leader asked him when he was going to leave, and he replied, ‘I will be gone in a minute, but when will you leave?’ Sasha was never seen again. Theories abound, but the truth? No one really knows. Because Bulgaria was a Communist country after World War II, the main post office of Plovdiv is a massive structure. About 80% of it is just empty space. The Communist leaders liked to make their people feel ‘small and insignificant’. Charming. The first quirky thing I learned about Bulgarians is that they nod for ‘No’ and shake their heads for ‘Yes’. The next… Bulgarian bus drivers like to take half-hour smoking breaks after every hour of driving. And, believe me, this is not an exaggeration. I found out the hard way when my 200-km bus journey lasted over 5 hours! The unexpectedly long bus journey meant I reached a brand new city well after dark. Finding my way to the city centre, and to the hostel subsequently, was not the easiest thing because very few people in Bulgaria can communicate even in broken English. Also, Bulgarian uses Cyrillic script, so the words on my map and the street signs had absolutely no connection. But in just two days, I was forced to pick up a little bit of the language to make my way around the country (I may have enjoyed reaching a surprise destination in the summer during daylight, but if that had happened to me during this trip when I reached each new city when it was pitch dark, I think I would have just sat on the bus and cried). Plovdiv is a beautiful city, and I recommend a hike up to Alyosha Soviet Memorial. It is an easy hike that takes about twenty minutes, and gives you a splendid view. The perfect wrap-up to a perfect day. Bulgaria is a very inexpensive country to travel in. Various accommodation options are available ranging from budget to luxury. I chose to stay in a dorm at Hostel Mostel, which got be a bed, breakfast AND dinner at 9 Euros a night. Summer would be the best time to go. I went in early December and though it was very sunny, it was extremely cold. If I had gone just a week later I’d have found myself in heavy snow! Getting there is easy as it is well connected to most major cities around by trains and buses, and it also has an international airport. Hitchhiking is common and generally considered safe.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 12:47:36 +0000
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