Dear Kittens,
Do you know what is a big job? Editing photos for a 15 day trip. I just finished the Bulgarian photos and so I will now share my Bulgarian story.
Firstly, Andy's dad is Bulgarian and his mom is Polish. They met while Rangel was studying in Poland. They fell in love and were married very quickly. Rangel finished his studies and got a job with the governement in Bulgaria. Andy was born near the Black Sea in Bulgaria. His parents escaped communism with Andy and Rangel's mother when Andy was three years old.
When communism fell, Andy's parents went back to Bulgaria and reclaimed the land that had once been Rangel's parents farm. They tore down the old house that was in serious disrepair, started a vineyard, bought even more land and now Eva's vineyards support their part-time life in Bulgaria. She sells her table grapes and wine grapes to sellers throughout Europe. Every year, Andy parents make a few different wines, but my particular favorite is the Mavrud. There are similar grapes grown in other places, but the wine that Rangel makes is very good. Full bodied, deep, rich flavor, balanced and seriously one of the best wines I've ever drank. He also makes various (grape, apricot, etc) brandies called rakia. I am not such a big fan of the brandy, but people in the know say that his rakia is very good. Andy's parents spend a good portion of the year in Bulgaria now.
This was the first time Andy been back to Bulgaria since he was 3 years old.
Rangel and Eva's home is in the tiny village of Markovo, just outside of the second largest city in Bulgaria, Plovdiv. We spent 3 days there, which was just long enough to let us know that we definitely wanted to visit again.
Here's what I noticed:
There are a lot of young people in Plovdiv. My in-laws say this is because there are a lot of college students in Bulgaria. Apparently Bulgarian medical school and dental school are cheap and so it attracts a lot of students.
There are also a TON of babies. I've never seen so many strollers in one place.
Our hotel was near a shopping area that had a lot of outdoor cafes, that were packed by midday and plenty of the same style shops you'd find at any American mall.
The young people dress mostly in jeans, but there were some things I noticed that we don't see in the states. A lot of women wear lace thong body suits. There was a lot of crimped hair and a lot of big hair. People get sort of dressed up to walk through the shopping area. Big sunglasses are big in Plovdiv. Several girls wore short shirts with their pantyhose pulled up right under their bras, so instead of seeing a bare belly, you saw pantyhose.
Plovdiv is poor, but also thriving. In it's efforts to grow and expand, they've uncovered Thracian, Greek and Roman ruins.
A surprising number of people spoke at least a little English and everywhere we met people were patient with our lack of Bulgarian and extremely friendly.
My favorite part of Plovdiv was walking around "Old Plovdiv". The streets are hilly and cobbled making walking a sweaty chore, but it's all so charming! We saw a Christian Orthodox church that was built in 36 AD, a Greek amphitheatre where they continue to have summer concerts and loads of kitties roaming around.
The food is an interesting mix of Greek, Turkish and Middle Eastern. Bulgarians like to start out each meal with an impressive selection of amazing salads and then go to main courses with vegetables on the side. The food is simply and deliciously prepared and the produce is super fresh and with lots of interesting varieties of things we don't get in the US.
Photos can be found here.
Here is a map of Bulgaria.
Love,
Catie