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European Van Trip 2020-2021
  • Lucy Wignall
  • Chris Brace
  • Lucy Wignall
  • Chris Brace

European Van Trip 2020-2021

Et 251-dags eventyr af Lucy & Chris Læs mere
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  • European Van Trip 2020-2021

    Iskar Reservoir Stork Hunting

    2. marts 2021, Bulgarien ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    The biggest Reservoir in Bulgaria, 20km long, 5km wide, for a few weeks only, at this time of year, you see Storks here... So we tried to find some but only managed to see ducks.

    The first photo is where we slept last night, and had a flat battery this morning 🙈
    ... Definitely worse places to be stuck for a while though 😊    Læs mere

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  • European Van Trip 2020-2021
    St Kyriaki Cathedral
    Sveta PetkaThe square of Tolerance (well half of it)Bath House (now History Museum)Government Headquarters on the left, Parliament in the middle, and the presidential office on the rightOld Gate of Sofia, floor and Wall original

    Sofia Day 2

    5. marts 2021, Bulgarien ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    A brilliant tour guide Nikola, tried to teach us 6000 years worth of Sofia's history in 2 hours...

    In photo order, St Kyriaki Cathedral (an orthodox Church) is where an attempt to kill the King was made, the revolutionaries killed a top general in the military, knowing it would draw the King to his funeral at this church. They bribed a member of the church staff to set of explosives in the roof, killing over 500 people (including all the top people in the army, government and some royals) which at the time was the biggest terrorist attack in the world in history. The King escaped without being killed, because in true Bulgarian style, he was late!

    Sveta Petka (Catholic) was a church built in a time Communists ruled, and building such a building meant endless bribes for permission, after years of bribes, once permission was finally obtained, they had no money left to build the church itself, so they made it from ruins of other buildings that had been destroyed.

    The third and fourth picture are ancient Roman ruins, from the red line down in photo 3 is original and above reconstructed.

    Picture 4 shows a Jewish Synagogue on the left and the last remaining mosque in use still today in Sofia, joining with the first 2 churches they create what they now call the Square of Tolerance, demonstrating how the 4 religions can be so close and in harmony.

    The old bath house used to be the social hub of the city, where people would spend all day with friends talking, 50 years ago they closed it, too beyond repair for baths, but it's now the History Museum.

    The spring water is fully drinkable, and always 37°c regardless of weather, many locals come still daily as they believe it cures many illnesses and also broken hearts.

    The Government buildings were all built by the Communists, the presidential office building now also shares it's building with a casino 🤷🏼‍♀️

    Lastly, the old boundary gate of Sofia, built by the Romans, still original, missing the gate and of course no longer the boundary after years of expansion    Læs mere

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  • European Van Trip 2020-2021
    Similar to London guards, perfectly still
    The president arrived while we were there!St George RotundaTheatreRussian ChurchSaint Aleksander Nevski CathedralSoviet Army Monument

    Sofia Guided Tour

    5. marts 2021, Bulgarien ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    So...
    These guards guarding the presidents day to day office have their own guards to prevent people touching them. They are extremely still.

    After the president had arrived and driven in, we were able to walk through the arch to see the St George Rotunda, which is not only the oldest intact building in Sofia, but one of the oldest ones in the world. All you can see is original and preserved, not rebuilt in any way, even the roof! You can still go in today.

    The Russian Church holds the remains of the pope who laid the first stone of the building, who promised after death to take the wishes of all to god, so people write their wishes to him still now and believe all your wishes will come true there.

    Lastly the cathedral, a thanks to the Russians for something, it took 30 years to build, the gold is real gold, and the heaviest of the bells weighs 12 tonnes on its own!!

    Shame we didn't get to hear them ring.

    Last 2 things we learned that were interesting, the Bulgarians invented their alphabet (not the 'Russian' alphabet as most believe) and its now used by many countries including Russia, Ukraine, Macedonia, Serbia, Kazakhstan etc etc. They are VERY proud of this and hate people asking 'why they use the Russian alphabet'

    And the most interesting...
    In WW2, they were of course allies with Germany, and were under great pressure to send all their Jewish citizens to the concentration camps.
    Due to Bulgaria not having an antisemitic population, there was huge outcry at this and many protest all over the country, particularly Sofia and Plovdiv.
    The King knew he had to listen to the Bulgarian people but also didn't want to upset the Germans, so used the excuse of the typical Bulgarian late and unorganised-ness, by coming up with excuse after excuse and wasting time...
    'the road out is broken, we need the Jews for 3 more months - times are hard - it's war times - things are taking longer than usual' etc etc 😄
    Until eventually they lost the war, and were the only European German allies who managed to save every single Jew! (over 500,000 lives)    Læs mere

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