In the late 1800s, the Tsar of Bulgaria, Ferdinand I (1) began construction of a hunting lodge and country retreat on the Bistritsa River in Borovets. His son, Tsar Boris III, died here in 1943, shortly after climbing Musala, and two days after visiting Hitler and refusing to send Bulgarian troops to the Russian front.
The grounds of the Tsarska Bistritsa are open to the public, although the buildings are once again officially the private residence of the last Tsar (2) and his family. The power foe the country retreat is still hydropower, using turbines installed in 1913. My wife commented on the interesting architecture, which was Bulgarian revival.
There is a small town in Central Bulgaria, Koprivshtisa, known for Bulgarian revival architecture that was sort of on the way to our next stop, so off we went. At Dolna Banya, we saw storks in nests. A few miles outside Panagyurishte, storks were circling above a field, ther legs splayed out behind them. We stopped to watch as a farmer mowed the hay, which had attracted the storks. Wild plums growing roadside provided a tasty snack as we watched to storks soar.
Koprivshtitsa lies on a hilltop with long empty roadways leading up ftom both south (from which we were approaching) and north. The seclusion of the town explains why the leaders of the Bulgarian revolt against the Ottomans frequently met here.
Ending the day in a small settlement outside Kalofer, the only other guest in the small hotel was glad she would not be alone in the building all night.
(1) From the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha family, of which the British royals are also a part.
(2) Tsar Simeon II reigned from 1943 (at age 6) until the Communist takeover in 1946.
The Tsar's country villa on the Bistritsa near Borovets
In the Chapel
The hydropower plant, with original turbines, operating since 1912
Martenitsa, incongruously not hung on a flowering tree
Storks nesting at Dolna Banya
Bulgarian revival architecture at Koprivshtisa
No comments:
Post a Comment