A 'private' visit to Bulgaria in February 2005 gave me the opportunity to see the country through the eyes of my hosts, Varban Todorov and Krasimir Ivanov. Varban lives in Kyustendil, 60 miles south west of the capital, Sofia; Krasi lives in Sofia.
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My hosts in Kyustendil: Varban, Vanya and Toma Todorov. The picture was taken in Bansko the previous July. |  |
For the last ten years Varban has lived in this three roomed flat with his wife and seven year old son. It has no central heating. |
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From the kitchen window. |
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Mind you, the view the other way looks a lot better! It is of Osogovo mountain. |
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Nestling on Osogovo mountain at over 5300 feet, the 'Three Birches' (Tri Buki) rest house was also unheated! |
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Left: Toma Todorov, a rather serious little boy, had climbed Bulgaria's highest mountain before his seventh birthday! Right: Osogovo snow scene, from the 'Tri Buki' rest house. |
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Looking north west from Yana and Krasi's home in the suburb of Mladost, south east of Sofia city centre. |
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Left: Krasi took me to the village of Brestovitsa in the upper Thracian valley for its annual wine festival. The ceremonies in the vineyard were a mystery to me, but everyone else seemed to know what was going on! Right: The Bulgarian President, Georgi Parvanov, turned up as well. (Perhaps he found out we were going!) Here he is seen accepting the traditional welcome of bread and salt at the entrance to the Villa Vinifera winery in the village. |
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Whilst we peasants stood and froze in the yard above the President was taken down to the cellars to sample the winery's delights. |
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A Thracian royal burial mound - one of 150,000 in Bulgaria. 150 are being professionally excavated.
This one shows evidence of amateur excavation in search of gold. |
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Krasi with his maternal grandparents: Lesha and Krustyo Nikolovi. They live in Pleven, which is in the Danube valley about 200km north east of Sofia.
Krustyo was a colonel in the Bulgarian Army, enjoying very high social status until the fall of Communism - when everything changed. He brews a mean Rakia and his red wine's not bad either! 'Baba' Lesha's cooking suggests she clearly believes that an army marches on its stomach! |
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Pleven has many beautiful buildings. |