Bulgaria #2

Today we left the very pretty city of Plovdin, going north to the Danube. We were given lots of info about the communist era. They describe the cement apartment buildings "communistic" . Each unit is about 700 square feet. I noticed that most people glass in their balconies which gives them a bit more room. I also often saw their laundry hanging there.

Power is supplied by coal. They have both public and private health care with the % of private increasing. Education is also both public and private with the private of better quality. Taxes are the lowest in the European Union but they also have very poor infrastructure. The gov'ts are elected too often and there is never any long term vision. The young people see that changes are needed but it will take a few years. But on the good side, our guide said that at least "we are now free". They drink more coffee than tea.

We went through a very interesting valley where growing roses is a lucrative industry. They pick the rose petals and make rose oil which is then sold to perfume, soap, skin care product, etc. manufacturers. This is unbelievable: About 3,000 people pick the blossoms around the end of May and into June. It takes 6 tons of blossoms to make l liter of oil! I can't imagine how many blossoms 6 tons would be! The vines look like our wild roses -- grow on trellises.

South and north Bulgaria are separated by the Balkan Mountains. It was a rather windy road that wended its way up then down to get to the other side. No skiing here as there is not enough snow. They do have ski resorts in the Sophia area to the west. They have several roads through this range. The one we were on was just for cars and busses. There is another one just for trucks.

The small villages are suffering because the young people go to the cities. Often see empty houses. Saw quite a few horses and carts.

It is an offence to be a gypsy so when census time comes, noone admits to it but there definitely is a good sized population there. The girls marry around 15/16. They don't have the same education as everyone else. Their ethnic origin is India/Pakistan. (A side note here that came today in my tour in Romania -- they are not Romanians as so many people think. Romanians get very upset when they are blamed as the source of them. The name Roma has nothing to do with Romania.) Our Bulgarian guide said they prefer to rob rather than work.

We had a typical Bulgarian lunch along the way: fresh organic salad with grated beets, veg soup, a stew of chicken, mushrooms and onions then 2 scoops of yogurt on a bed of honey. Yummie! Their yogurt is firm (was scooped like ice cream) and neither sweet nor tangy. It was topped with grated walnuts. I found out that our unknown dessert of last nite was also yogurt.

They delivered us to the ship which was docked at the town of Rousse (or Ruse), as promised, at 5 pm. We have a lovely little room on the second floor. We have a tiny balcony that holds 2 chairs, 2 easy chairs inside, a queen bed, cupboard space and a long desk with a flat screen tv. I got the suitcases unpacked and shoved them out of the way under the bed. It is soooo nice to not be living out of them.

We then had an orientation for safety, met all the bigwigs of the crew then had an overview of what is to happen the next day. Supper was late so we didn't finish that until about 10. There are the usual many choices of what to eat, all of them delicious. You can have up to 5 courses. I took 3 tonite.

Romania

We woke up this morning across the river from Bulgaria in the town of Biurgiu, Romania. We are now on the north shore of the Danube River. At 9 am we were on the bus for the hour long drive to Bucharest, Romania's capital. It is a mixture of old and new and is quite vibrant. But lots of communist buildings here as well. They call them "commie condos". But also sad to see so many abandoned factories and half built buildings. The communists had grandiose plans which didn't bear fruit. The young people here have the same comments as in Bulgaria -- they see the need for change but it will take awhile.

We had a tour of the city then went to a "village" where they have taken authentic buildings from all over the country and reassembled them here. One really interesting style was the half house. They dug a big hole in the ground and built the house in it (wood sides as usual). Only the top half of the house was above ground. This would help keep it warm in winter plus made it less burnable when the surrounding nations attacked. Many of the buildings came from Transalvania -- now that's a romantic sounding area.

We then had lunch is a restaurant that looks like it specializes in large groups. Service was extremely slow (there were about 125 of us so no wonder). We were entertained by a fantastic violin player plus his wife who sang some solos -- she is opera trained. The meal was quite interesting. The soup (clear broth with attractive vegetables floating in it) was served in a large metal bowl. Then out came plates (on pedistles) of baked red pepper, saurkraut and very large pickles (the size of a sausage). Eventually the main dish of chicken and potatoes came and then we scooped some of the pepper, etc onto our plates. Dessert was apple "pie". It was a neat experience.

After lunch we had a walking tour of the old downtown core. Again, a mixture of old and new.

We were back to the boat late. They had to delay our departure.

The past two days were sunny with temperatures around 23.

Big thing I noticed here was the number of stray dogs. We've seen mainly stray cats before.

Thursday -- on the Danube

We had a wonderful discussion at breakfast this morning. One woman from DC is a builder of green homes. She has her own company of architects, machinery, operators, etc. Fascinating as she uses geothermal also. Then another couple from Tampa were discussing their homes, heritage and otherwise, etc. etc. Glad we had time to spend as we are just sailing this morning. We are soooo lucky where we live not having to deal with floods, hurricanes, tornados and high water table (eg the Tampa couple live 6 feet above sea level and their kids live on a manmade sand island that is about 2 feet above sea level. Fortunately, so far, the hurricanes get diverted before hitting this area.) She also enlightened us on her tour yesterday of the "Parliament" in Bucharest. This edifice is slightly smaller than the Pentagon and was just built for show. Inside there is gold leaf on the ceilings and woven into the curtains. The rooms are basically empty. And they are building a new huge Romanian Orthodox church next door. She is horrified as there are so many buildings that need to be reinforced and the money should be spent there. The historically interesting ones will fall in the next earthquake along with the families living in them.

Will try to send this today. No internet last night.