Shopska - Travels with my pen and camera in search of Bulgaria

27/04/2024

Add the Rila Monastery to your bucket list

A symbol of Bulgarian history…You haven't been to Bulgaria if you haven't seen the iconic landmark of Rila Monastery (Bulgarias Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty, Taj Mahal, etc.).

High in the beautiful Rila Mountain, where the forest touches the sky and the prayers to God have the greatest power, is the Rila Monastery, the most significant and the biggest monastery in Bulgaria.
The monastery is located somewhere between the Rilska and Drushliavitsa rivers and is about 120 km south of Sofia. Part of UNESCO World Heritage list and with more than 1000 years of history it impresses with stunning architecture and natural beauty.It´s the most important cultural, historical and spiritual must-visits in Bulgaria

21/04/2024

Yagodina cave - one of the most interesting caves in Bulgaria

…Caves are for thrill seekers and nature lovers. It is also one of the most exciting activities to do when you travel through Bulgaria…The Yagodina cave is located in the Western Rhodope Mountains, 3 km southwest of Yagodina village. It is located on the right bank of the river Buinovska which, is formes and the longest and picturesque gorge in Bulgaria - Buinovsko 7 km in length…Step down into an entirely different world at Yagodina cave. There´s something exciting to see at just about every turn in this underground landscape. A spectacular cave, which is one of the most famous and most-visited caves in Bulgaria due to its beautiful stalactite and stalagmite formation…It is a multi-storied labyrinthine cave, 10.5 km long. The temperature in the cave is between 6 and 8 degrees all year round, and it has a humidity of more than 90%.

13/09/2023

Abandoned elementary school..“Училище” is Bulgarian for school. There are less and less children to fill the schools in the small villages. Every year dozens of schools close their doors as education gets centralised in the bigger towns...More than thousands of schools are closed in Bulgaria since 2000 and stand abandoned. These school buildings are the most visible consequence of the ongoing decline in population of the country. In 30 years time Bulgaria's population has gone from about 9,0 million inhabitants to about 6,5 million. A decline of more than 27 percent. ..On one of my trips through Bulgaria, I stumbled upon such a school in the village of Studena, 40 kilometers south west of the capital, Sofia...The elementary school in Studena with the iconic name ”Vasil Levski” (Bulgarian revolutionary leader in the struggle for liberation of Bulgaria fra Ottoman rule. He died by hanging on February 18, 1873 and is still regarded as the all-time greatest Bulgarian)...The school in Studena closed in 2012 and stand now abandoned. A really sad sight of a ruined building. Windows and doors are wrecked. Thick layer of dirt and dust are all over the place...Future plans for the school building are not clear. The local people are frustrated about the non determination from the town council and the local people have made complaints since the closing of the school in 2012. So far no luck.

22/08/2023

Plovdiv´s Central Post Office

At the end of the pedestrian street, Knyaz Aleksandar at the Tsar Simeon square you will see a magnificent building, the iconic Central Post Office. Architects: Zhelyazko Stoikov and Petya Kovacheva...It’s a building dating long before the Communist era. In the 1970s it was decided to expand the building into a multi-functional building. The city's needs for telephone, postal and telegraph services were bigger and a larger building was needed...Anyone can walk freely inside. If you have the time definitely explore the interior of the central space – you will find lots of decorative elements typical for those times.

The most famous name who has worked in the building is Georgi Bozhilov – The Elephant. The legendary Plovdiv artist is the author of a large mosaic, ”Postal Pigeons” on the northern wall in the large lobby of the post office.
:::Interesting are also the designer communications signs - arrows, information boards pointing to cash, telephone, and other salons. This is perhaps the most successful solution in the building, the signs being stylish and elegant. The author is Veselin Hristov...Familiar to all the citizens of Plovdiv is also “The Clock” over the northwest entrance of the post office. The favorite place for a meeting of the citizens of Plovdiv

22/08/2023

17/01/2023

03/01/2023

BG road trip - Bulgarian poetry
On my road trips across Bulgaria my eye has captured visual attention to signage as works of art and also the part of Bulgarian culture.
”Bulgarian poetry” is photographs of shop fronts with their expressive windows, road signs, statements, book titles, creative ads on buildings and other types of signage.

BG road trip - Bulgarian poetry
On my road trips across Bulgaria my eye has captured visual attention to signage as works of art and also the part of Bulgarian culture.
”Bulgarian poetry” is photographs of shop fronts with their expressive windows, road signs, statements, book titles, creative ads on buildings and other types of signage.

Photo: Michael Kristensen