Veliko Tarnovo

Veliko Tarnovo is a small, beautiful town situated in the north of Bulgaria. It dazzles you with its scenery, especially the way the houses are built and arranged throughout the town. You have the impression of being somewhere on a hill in Greece and the only thing missing would be the sea.

The paved, narrow streets are adorned with small houses with flowered balconies and very, very narrow paths that lead to stairs which, on their own turn, lead to other paved and narrow streets.

I have never experienced a more acute feeling of serenity and bliss. This town is a homage to life... and cats. There are everywhere, looking for food, enjoying the sun, teasing the few dogs that were left behind after a supposedly battle between dogs and cats, and it seems like the latter won.

The ruins of the castle Tsarevets are a kind of passe-par-tout of the town, ennobling its true beauty. Up the hill there is a church. I take it that everybody who has seen it, has had the most breathtaking experience. Or so I would like to think.

This church is not like any other. The way it was painted and the idea of the great genius behind it are far the most impressive things I have ever encountered. There is a certain collage between the old and the new style of painting, a mix between the glorious and forgiving expressions with the macabre, painful and sullen expressions of the saints. All figures are long and rough at margins and they convey a never ending to their sufferings. And in the place of the altar there is a large and heavy rock hanging from the ceiling picturing Mary and Jesus. There are so many things presented in such a different way that it made me wonder how the clergy accepted it.

Afterword: Do visit!