Veliko Turnovo

Well, we left Sofia to head for Veliko Turnovo. On the way, we stopped at Etur which is an ethnographic complex that is like a village from the 17th century in Bulgaria. There are several machines all around the complex that are powered by water.
At the gate, was a washing machine where they washed rugs and other large items. The water came down off a slope at such an angle to make the water bubble and roll in the tank. The rugs are then stirred with a stick to help the water clean them. No soap is involved as it would contaminate the water that drained off and into the next machine. It was really cool to see.
The water system ran all through the complex and ran machines for wood carving, pottery, weaving and all sorts of folk crafts. The work they did there was pretty amazing. They were selling things there of course but the best part was watching the craftsmanship and seeing how the water system worked with just gravity.

After this visit, we continued on to Veliko Turnovo which is the former capitol of Bulgaria. We climbed to see the castle which was the defense against invaders. It was set high on a hill of course and it was a very hot day. We were pretty worn out by the time we got to the top. There was a church at the top which was decorated in a very different way than any of the others we have seen. The frescoes in this church were painted during the communist era and were very dark and a little bit scary. We were not allowed to take pictures inside but I must say they were very interesting even if odd. The trip down was much easier than the trip up! It was a clear day with only a little haze. You could see a long way and it was easy to imagine the Bulgarian kings in this castle watching out for their enemies and trying to keep safe. Bulgaria finally was conquered by the Turks who managed to hold onto that rule for 500 years.
Later we met with teachers in the American studies department at the university and had dinner with them back at our hotel. They seem to have an interesting program and are training many students to speak English so they can get jobs in various industries or go on to have an academic job in higher ed.
After dinner, we went down to see the light show at the castle. They had a computerized light show that had music we could not really hear. The lights were impressive and meant to dramatize the history of Bulgaria. That part was a little hard to follow.