It’s been a rather wet and cold day spent in Kazanlak, a town in the very centre of Bulgaria, known for its Thracian tomb (again!) and its Festival of Roses. Although the festival takes place at the beginning of June, we had been hoping to see lots of roses, but obviously it’s been a very cold spring. Nevertheless, the rose queens (?) have been chosen and their portraits were on display at the information centre.
The apparently dreary town is full of surprises. A wet Sunday afternoon trip to the art gallery and museum – and what happens? A series of young people play the piano for us, practising for a concert to be held tonight, so we watch awhile:
And then one young pianist comes and invites Sue (not Nikhil and me, mind you) to come to the concert at 6.00 pm. We didn’t make it because we were too busy watching Eurovision highlights in our hotel suite on a huge semi-circular white leather sofa. Our hotel, a very comfortable place, had some other extraordinary features:
Like many towns, Kazanlak has big pedestrianised areas and squares with lots of (mixed quality) sculptures:
Again, to our surprise, when we came out for dinner this evening (having missed the concert), we heard music coming from one of the squares – and here’s what we saw:
We had dinner in a cozy, traditional restaurant replete with appropriate decorations – much better than the hotel dining room:
Thanks to Nikhil for taking the photo when I was too lazy to get up. Maybe it won’t rain tomorrow …
Wow, curiouser and curiouser. I’m trying to imagine dinner in front of the, er, mask? Better than beauty and the beast, maybe. Perhaps Sue looked more appreciative of the thumping Tchaikovsky than Miriam. Love the jolly dancers on a grey day, all in perfect step.
Well, the mask wasn’t in (or on) our collective face so not at all disturbing ( as we couldn’t see it from the dark, cosy corner of the restaurant). I loved the thumping Tchaikovsky and some charming Chopin earlier – the music teacher looked very fierce and the young pianists anxious. The dancing in the square was just lovely…
You’re not really selling Bulgaria to me at the moment! Very bizarre – and cold and wet with it.
Well, yes, the weather definitely not to your taste ( or mine, actually as it doesn’t shift). Really interesting, though – such contrasts and such strangeness. Food and wine both good though….
So far no mention of the food (apart from tart ‘n’ tasty yoghurt). What’s the verdict?
M working on a food specific blog even as I write this! Generally, we’ve eaten well – lots of salads, good bread, very little meat, very good beer and wine – and yoghurt of course
Just need to say, though, that we’ve been mainly eating salads and starters. There are much darker parts of the menus ( bit like the dark web) where offal, horse, pig ears, other bits of pig lurk, just waiting to be summoned….
Dark arts menu – funny! Culinary underbelly. Beware the nose-to-tail. Reminds me of South America, years ago. Think you order potatoes but – no! – pig’s trotters arrive.
Dancing looks great fun – weren’t you tempted to form your own line of three?
Feared we wouldn’t be any good at the steps – the cheeriness of the dancing was really endearing on a cool, grey evening… and the whole group really looked to be enjoying themselves…
I’m catching up on several blogs, and despite beauties in others, particularly storks and tuneless bells (as heard in Poland too) the sculptures here are a highlight. Began crying with laughter when erotic faux art deco hotel dining room feature was followed by plasticine Beano character found in park. Would like to have seen the white sofa. Do hope the weather has improved!
So nice to hear from you! Now down in the south near Greece/ North Macedonia and yes, it’s warmer and sunnier. So glad you enjoyed the scenes from Kazanlak – a not entirely life enhancing spot – no doubt better with actual roses..
And are jeans and white t-shirt now the national costume?
Afraid not, still track suits for all ages and black T-shirts for the boys. What I love about the rose queens is that their hair is identical so even if they weren’t wearing jeans and T-shirts you wouldn’t necessarily be able to tell them apart…