Among the Guns&Roses

Only after I came to Shipka I discovered that actually this word also means something. In Bulgarian шипка means wild rose! No wonder it is called like that, because there are many, MANY wild rose bushes growing on the mountains nearby the town.
 
But only after when I had been living in this town I was told what is the cause of those loud crushing and destructing alike sounds coming from far away almost every second day. As it turned out somewhere near Shipka there is gun and other weapon testing place!
  
So I can say that I was living not just among the wild roses, but somewhere between Guns&Roses!

Ethnographic museum in Shipka

This house in Shipka is furnished like traditional houses used to be many years ago.
 

Before

Photos and paintings (from Shipka museum) of Shipka before French guy Felix came and planted pine trees...
 
 
 
  
Now juniper and oak trees are planted on the sides of panorama road.
“The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn” // R.W.Emerson

Just some photos without any cats

From balcony

19.11.16

These photos were taken week ago. There are no leaves on the trees anymore. :(
 
 

Bulgaria // Sweden // Hungary // Latvia

12.11.16

This Fridays intercultural evening in Shipka 'Chitalishte' was truly magical, due to Bulgarian and Swedish instrumental performances. Also volunteer and Bulgarian prepared presentations and dishes were no less important components in this multicultural mixture. But their instrumental, singing and dancing performances gave me chills. For real!

This post is not about skulls

08.11.16

  
Even there was no sun shining today the colorful leaves lightened the streets of Shipka. Also it was surprisingly warm...

Through the morning mist

08.11.16

Golden domes of Shipka church are really caching my eye from everywhere I go...
 
 

cлънце

“When you do something noble and beautiful and nobody noticed, do not be sad. For the sun every morning is a beautiful spectacle and yet most of the audience still sleeps.”  John Lennon

Macro

Me about eco-trail in Shipka:
“I like this place and could willingly waste my time in it.”
William Shakespeare
 

Gypsy summer

Now it's Gipsy summer or in other words Indian summer (unseasonably warm, dry weather in autumn).

Lonely shipka hip in
olds man's beard or 'Clematis aristata'

  

1 November

Today in Latvia was first snow storm (a bit exaggerating, but really there is snow now). Meanwhile in Bulgaria → Shipka crocuses are blossoming on my lawn, butterflies collecting nectar from the last flowers and grasshoppers chilling on the eco-trail.

Living in Shipkas house

I was so lucky to have a chance to live in Hristos house and have a room with a most wonderful view above all the red roofs of other houses. Every day as I woke up I could do nothing else but stare in distance to the blue toned mountains in morning mist. I could see the Sredna Gora in front of me and Stara Planina on the sides, drowned city, tombs and in the night time the sparkling line of Kazanlak and other villages.
But falling asleep was a real struggle for me. I had to adapt with the loud noises of grasshopper-alike sounding birds, which started to tweet as soon as the sun went behind the Stara planina mountains on my right.
 

Climbing to Shipka Pass monument

If I hadn't someone well-known from Shipka, I pobably wouldn't find the trail which leads to Shipka Memorial. There is no specific sign with such words - "Go Here → and you will get to path which leads up to Memorial". This path starts behind Shipka Memorial Church. Right between cafe and the Church there is statue of a woman. On the stairs, which are behind her, I saw first sign (red arrow).

UFO, drowned city and manure of wild horses

 

   Our mentor Stelyan was so kind and took us to the very top of the Central Balkans were the Buzludzha Monument is placed. Probably the first though which comes in everyones mind seeing this brutalist architectural style building is  "UFO???".

First walk through Shipkas eco-trail

   Shipkas eco-trail unfortunately doesn't start as it should. It begins with rocky road which was started to build due to cutting activities and their benefits. Thanks to Shipkas nature activists, the road building in in this place is banned now.
   Also everywhere are fallen peaces of wood. It is not only because of this road, but also because of wrecking pine trees, which were planted about 100 years ago by one French man. Now the eco-trail is not only threatened by cutting (which is still not well organised and done properly), but also by natural vegetation change.

At one of the Shipkas terrases

In the next day as we (I and Adrien) arrived to Bulgaria we were introduced to one of the most beautiful Shipka terrase owners.