Oct 9 - Vidin, Bulgaria

We are sailing and now have internet service whereas we didn't have it while we were in port. Go figure....

We are now in our sixth of seven countries - Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located west of the Black Sea and south of the Danube river, Bulgaria is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south.

Like so many other Balkan countries, Bulgaria has had a turbulent history. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 resulted in the formation of the third and current Bulgarian state. In 1946, Bulgaria came under the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc and became a socialist state. The ruling Communist Party gave up its monopoly on power after the revolutions of 1989 and allowed multiparty elections. Bulgaria then transitioned into a democracy and a market-based economy. Since adopting a democratic constitution in 1991, Bulgaria has been a unitary parliamentary republic composed of 28 provinces, with a high degree of political, administrative, and economic centralisation.

Its market economy is part of the European Single Market and is largely based on services, followed by industry—especially machine building and mining—and agriculture. Widespread corruption is a major socioeconomic issue; Bulgaria has the dubious honour of ranking among the most corrupt countries in the European Union.

We docked in the small city of Vidin early this morning. Vidin has a population of about 45,000, down drastically from about 30 years ago when it boasted ~100,000 people. A major employer, a tire manufacturer, is currently operating at only 10% of capacity, so many good jobs have been lost from the region.

Our choice from four options for an activity this morning was a walking tour. We are docked just a few hundred metres from the city centre which was very convenient. Our guide for the morning was Oleg. He concentrated more on the history of the city and less on the turbulent, complicated, gnarled history of the country. But he was proud to make one aspect of Bulgaria’s history clear. Even though Bulgaria was aligned with Germany during WW II, the king refused to send Jews to concentration camps. The king ultimately lost his life at Hitler’s command for this refusal, but his action ultimately saved the lives of 49,000 Jews. Bulgaria never actually engaged in an actual battle during the war – a consequence of being on the very far eastern edge of Europe.

Vidin is one of the few places where one can see both the Balkan Mountains and the Danube River in one view. It’s a lovely setting – and was particularly pretty on another sunny morning. It’s a bit cooler today than previous days, but still very, very nice for being a visitor to the area.

The city has a long history of religious tolerance. In one city, we saw a mosque, a synagogue and two Orthodox Christian churches. A long park runs along the waterfront, providing much-needed green space for kids to run around in and cool shade for everyone during the increasingly hot summer months. During the Ottoman occupation, Christian churches couldn’t be higher than a man on a horse, so the resourceful Christians dodged around the law by building churches underground.

Bulgaria has a major industry producing rose oil. It takes three tons of rose petals (all hand-picked!) to make just one gallon of rose oil. Not much wonder perfumes cost so much!

After lunch, we walked around the town a bit more, enjoying the lovely warm weather. There wasn’t a whole lot more to see than Oleg had shown us, so we headed back to the ship.

At 5:00 p.m., Georgia gave a presentation about the various cruises that Scenic offers, including a fascinating one in the Antarctic that has its own helicopter and mini submarine (yes, both of those cost extra!)

At 6:00 p.m., we were treated to a show of native Bulgarian music and dance by a delightful troupe of young people. Such energy and enthusiasm! It was a truly enjoyable show.

We had dinner with two other Canadian couples, Barry and Sherry, and Melody and Joe. We laughed ourselves silly on this Canadian Thanksgiving Monday.Read more