Tuesday October 14 we boarded our ship and found a place to eat lunch and went to our first meeting with Dr. Wilcox. He is a great educator. That afternoon we headed on our way through the Bosporus to the Black Sea. The sea was a beautiful blue and the air was sunny and warm. We loved all the views of Istanbul, the bridges, the mosques, the palaces, the old fort walls and the many homes some new and some old. I’ll send pictures of those later.
The next morning we sailed into Burgas Bulgaria.
This is where we began our journey through time. The Greeks built several colonies in this area, around the Black Sea. Many of the Greek myths are set here. This is where Jason and the Argonauts searched for the “golden fleece”, where the “Sirens” sang their beautiful songs. Sinop was the home of the famous lady warriors “the Amazons”.
Our first tour was to Nessebar just south of Burgas. Here the Greeks built a settlement about 3000 years ago, complete with an acropolis and a temple to Apollo. The Romans followed and established a settlement here. When the Roman empire collapsed it eventually divided in two, the west in Rome with the Catholic church in charge, and the east became the Byzantine empire, led by the Orthodox church, they moved the capital from Rome to Constantinople. Nessebar was one of the most important Byzantine towns on the Black Sea.
Nessebar was built on a peninsula. The first thing we saw was an old windmill, it reminded me of the ones we saw in the Greek islands. Next was the gate into the city.
Here you can see a piece of marble from Greek or Roman times used to build a church. An old wall built by the Romans.
The Byzantine churches now left in ruins are still very beautiful, in one we were able to see the mosaics that once adorned all the churches. Most of the time we were not allowed to take pictures inside the churches.
After the Ottoman Turks conquered this area, the orthodox church was not allowed to build high churches. therefore most of the church was under ground.
I loved the little town, with its cobbled street and overhanging wood homes, very typical for this area and in Istanbul also.
Dad and Mom enjoying ancient Sozopol with the new buildings on top. You can see it was a beautiful day.
We visited this old Orthodox church and listened to a religious service. The Priest was dressed in robes and chanted or sang the ritual.
A visit inside one of the brown wood house gave us a glimpse of life here long ago. The little dogwood branch is bent in loops and adorned with popcorn, dried fruits, peppers,and bits of colorful cloth. The children carry it around the neighborhood at Christmas time. They visit each house, and tap the residence on the back and wish each one health and happiness, the neighbors give them sweets and money in return. Don’t you love the colorful costumes and weavings.
Once again the new built upon the old. This I believe is an old Roman bath.
As you can see the little harbor is home to some nice yachts. We imagine it is full of yachts and pleasure boats in the summer time. Day is done and its back to the ship for food and entertainment, a good nights rest as we cruise up to Varna.
Varna is a cosmopolitan modern bustling town. We visited this huge Orthodox Church,Cathedral Assumption. Inside, the walls were covered in beautiful painting, illustrating the stories from the Bible. This is how the people, who didn’t have the scriptures available to them, learned about the Savior and the prophets. In the Orthodox churches a huge gate of Heaven is the focal point,the altar. It has two doors which represent the veil of the temple it is through this door that Christ leads one to Paradise.
We boarded a bus and traveled north to the Stone forest. These stone pillars look like trees.
No one is sure how these tree were formed, it is believed that it happened when the area was at the bottom of an ocean. Anyway it was fun to wonder about the forest.
Back to Varna to visit the Aladzha Monastery. The exterior of the monastery is plain and blends well into the cliff wall. The monastery dates back to the 10th century.
We climbed and creped around the monastery visiting their kitchen,cells,refractory and the small cemetery church.
The city of Varna is lined with shady streets, and large cement apartment building left over from the Soviet era.
Bulgaria is a charming country, I found the people to be open and friendly, the country is clean and moving forward after years of oppression. The Ottoman Turks ruled here for centuries. The Russians helped to drive the Turks out. During the second world war the Bulgarians sided with the Axes, Germany and Italy. However when Hitler wanted the Bulgarians to send all their Jews to extermination camps they resisted. The Sephardic Jews driven from Spain during the Spanish inquisition found refuge with the tolerant Ottomans. They were accepted and loved by the Bulgarians. The Orthodox church offered them refuge in their churches. Under pressure from Hitler they gathered the Jews up but kept making excuses to keep them in Bulgaria. The King and other leaders told Hitler that the Jews were needed in Bulgaria to build roads. Thus the Jews of Bulgaria were saved. Unfortunately after the war the Bulgarians feeling grateful to the Russians for freeing them from the Turks join the Russians. More years of oppression followed.
We waved goodbye to Bulgaria and headed out across the Black Sea to Sochi Russia.
It was beautiful cruising weather, nice and calm. While eating lunch on the deck we did see a mass of Jet streams far to the east, that is as close as we got to any real or imagined sign of trouble.
Dr. Wilcox put us to school and we learned about Florence Nightingale and the Crimean war, and about the meeting in Yalta after World war two. He called Stalin the opportunist;, seize as much as we can; Churchill the realist; survive and maintain the British Empire; and Roosevelt the optimist; we can get along and make the world a better place, open the world to trade and bring democracy to the world. I think Stalin won the day. Dr. Wilcox also taught us much about the Eastern Orthodox church. We were will feed on all accounts.
Sochi is know as the Black Sea Pearl. It is the biggest and busiest summer resort in Russia. Sochi like many Black Sea settlements began as small local tribes passed through; Greek, Roman and finally Ottoman empires settled here too. In the beginning of the 19th Century Sochi came under Russian rule when the Ottoman Empire was defeated. Sochi became the summer residence for Russian Presidents and those with money. During Soviet times those who found favor or were loyal workers were invited to spend time at the sanatorium at the hot springs.
Sochi is very beautiful, tropical plants and lovely buildings. They are proud of their 5 star hotels, many built for the Olympics.
The arts are important to the Russians. This building is for artistic performances.
A lovely park is built along the sea shore.
Our Russian tour guide took us to Stalin’s Dacha or summer home. Here Stalin spent three to four months every year until his death in 1953. Stalin was a paranoid man and we saw evidence of this through out the house. The house was painted green to blend in with the surrounding forest, carpets were not allowed-he wanted to be able to hear approaching foot steps. He had several personal bedrooms-he often changed rooms 3 to 4 times a night so that no one would know his exact location.
Stalin was very short. He could sit on this balcony and not be seen.
Grandpa with his pal. One of Stalin’s bed, Stalin bullet proof couch where he sat to watch films. He liked to watch Charlie Chaplin and Westerns.
This is the plush Hot Springs or sanatorium where the elite like to hang out.
We were blessed with a sunny day the following morning. We headed up to the tower at mount Akhun, here we had views of the sea, Sochi and the Caucasus mountains.
Doesn’t this look like a place for children and the young at heart. Several little tea rooms were set about. Here is the Russian Samovar keeping the tea hot.
Our tour included a visit to the Winter Olympic venues. The Russians spent $51 billion for this project. We drove to the imeretinsky valley east of Sochi.
The wind was blowing a good day for flags.
Our flags and the Olympic torch.
The Olympic stadium.
Lots of beautiful buildings for ice skating, curling etc. My photos were not so good.
As we headed back to the ship, we observed the crashing waves. That evening we had to find our sea legs as we walked to dinner. Turkey here we come. Next week I’ll tell you about Trabzon and Sinop.
1 comment:
Loved your blog. Thanks for sharing some of what you learned and saw. I can't wait for you to visit and tell us more.
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