Welsh Davids Travel Blog: 19 April – Veliko Tarnovo Camp Site (Bulgaria)

Our camp site with the big orange truck

A full English breakfast with homemade sausages and home cured bacon really set up the day and was enjoyable. Not that I intended doing much as I was so far behind with the blog that I intended spending a lot of the day catching up and perhaps walking round the local village in the afternoon. I worked on the blog until 1400 hrs then walked into the local village with Derek.

The village was only about ten minutes away to the outskirts and we just walked as we felt. The village was obviously very old and I was told later that it was about 300 years old. This agreed with the structure of an old house that was damaged and patched up with cow dung and straw. Each house had a vine in the garden and a good pile of wood. Tree trunks were whitewashed to 1 metre high and we were told that this was to stop ants from going for the fruit. Water and electricity were very cheap I was told as there is no standing charge and people only pay for what they use, and at a cheaper rate than in the UK.

The old house with the dung repaired wall

The dis-used church bell tower

One old lady was collecting fresh nettles for making a cordial, tea and soup. Many outer doors and gates had notices and a black bow on them. This announced the death of someone in the house. Walking round the village I noticed three or more notices on the doors and I wondered if a lot of people had died in a short time before finding out the reason for the notices. The notice and bow have to be kept on the doors for seven years, replaced if worn or damaged during this time.When a person dies, as there is no crematorium or mortuary, the body is buried within 24 hours. A wake and party is then held at the grave after twenty-one days when the relatives and friends can be brought together. Another party is then held after one year and thereafter every three years. In the past, at the twenty-one day wake, the body would be dug up to see, (these were the actual words used), that the body was not ‘un-dead!’ Superstition is still rife in the country but these old practises no longer continue.

These elderly ladies were sitting in the afternoon sun let me take their photographs. There were few people to be seen as most were resting in the afternoon ready to return to the fields later or away in the town working. We saw two young girls who ignored us as they are not allowed to initiate a conversation with any male, local or otherwise. We said nothing to them realising that was the way things were. Because the fields had no fences all animals, cows, goats and sheep were always accompanied by someone so as to keep them safe from dogs, wolves, wild pig and bears. The animals were brought back to the village each evening.

Being an old village the standard of housing varied as could be expected. Most houses had three layers of half-round tiles on the roof with the hips held down with stones. The newer houses, apparently owned by expatriates and obviously so by the ‘For Rent and For Sale’ signs, were of a modern standard as would be seen in the UK and with cemented hips. Many of the garden walls were of dry stone construction and finished to be straight and true, and being very pleasant to look at.

In the evening the local women’s Dragichevo Choir sang local Magyar folk songs for us while in their national dress. This was very entertaining and at the end the people from the truck were invited to join them in a traditional dance.