Esperanto Excursion to Shipka (25-Aug-2006)
In the morning we headed of to Shipka.
We caught a bus from Kazanlak which was heading into the hills. (Please note, Kazanlak wasn't going anywhere; it was the bus heading into the hills.) Here's the sort of uniform bus conductrices wear out there.
Somehow we ended up catching the same bus three times on this particular morning. I'm not sure how.
Near the village of Shipka there is a pretty impressive church which was actually built to commemorate some battle between the Russians/Bulgarians and the Turks. I think though there is some controversy as the Russians may have helped out back then but they were unwelcome when they hung around during communism. Anyway, a strange sight as it's quite out of the way and not really used as a church. It really is a war memorial, though quite an unexpected sight out in the countyside.
Here's the church from the back, the front and from a distance. It's in superb nick. I suspect that it's quite a famous spot in Bulgaria, not that anyone outside of Bulgaria would have heard of it - well Russians perhaps.
Next on the agenda was a visit to a Thracian tomb which was only discovered two years ago. I also got quite a bit of a history lesson in both places but it was all presented so well that it's a lesson in how well guided tours can work in a group of one. The knowledge of these Esperantists is remarkable.
On the way to the tomb the four of us had to walk quite a way in the countryside.
Here are my Esperantist friends marching away to the Esperanto songs that we were singing.
I had my first experience of singing Esperanto songs. I must say that the atmosphere was superb. I really enjoyed myself.
In the evening we went to a great restaurant on a hill overlooking the town. Though at night there's not that much to see as it's hardly the city of lights.
Superb evening and a great advertisement for Esperanto. Second day in town and I'm having tea with a young girl who's just started learning Esperanto, the town Orthodox priest and several other interesting people, one of whom threw in the fact that the last time the police searched her house for subversive literature was in 1986.
Here I am with some of the Kazanlak Esperantists.
And of course any Esperanto dinner should end with an Esperanto song. Well, if you happen to know one, and you happen to have the words in your pocket. This song was probably pretty well known in its day.
As promised I had a go at starting the girl on Esperanto and it seemed to work. Whether she'll have the incentive to keep it up in the modern world is another question. She's also leaning French at a French school in Plovdiv and we know how hard it is to keep them on the farm after they've seen Paree.
Whatever Esperanto is, it is also a window into a culture that existed vibrantly here in eastern Europe for many years. They don't just speak Esperanto, they also sing Esperanto songs. It's almost like being a Welsh speaker and going to Patagonia and speaking Welsh. This possibly represents the last vestiges of a dying culture. This doesn't mean that Esperanto is dying. It's not Esperanto that's dying but that perculiarly post-war communist culture that nurtured Esperanto by making it one of the few ways that people could have contact with other countries. English wasn't really an option back then for them. They had Esperanto clubs, went on outings together, went camping, sang songs, and went to international congresses - well those that weren't on the blacklist of the secret police did anyway. Svoboda told us that during an international congress in Varna, the police made her father report to them every day to stop him from attending.
On the way back down the hill, in the darkness, Svoboda, always joking no matter what, laughed as she pointed out the absurdity of the fact that over by the water park they were lighting up the sky with one of those huge searchlights, yet the town hadn't even bothered to light the street where we were walking.
We caught a bus from Kazanlak which was heading into the hills. (Please note, Kazanlak wasn't going anywhere; it was the bus heading into the hills.) Here's the sort of uniform bus conductrices wear out there.
Somehow we ended up catching the same bus three times on this particular morning. I'm not sure how.
Near the village of Shipka there is a pretty impressive church which was actually built to commemorate some battle between the Russians/Bulgarians and the Turks. I think though there is some controversy as the Russians may have helped out back then but they were unwelcome when they hung around during communism. Anyway, a strange sight as it's quite out of the way and not really used as a church. It really is a war memorial, though quite an unexpected sight out in the countyside.
Here's the church from the back, the front and from a distance. It's in superb nick. I suspect that it's quite a famous spot in Bulgaria, not that anyone outside of Bulgaria would have heard of it - well Russians perhaps.
Next on the agenda was a visit to a Thracian tomb which was only discovered two years ago. I also got quite a bit of a history lesson in both places but it was all presented so well that it's a lesson in how well guided tours can work in a group of one. The knowledge of these Esperantists is remarkable.
On the way to the tomb the four of us had to walk quite a way in the countryside.
Here are my Esperantist friends marching away to the Esperanto songs that we were singing.
I had my first experience of singing Esperanto songs. I must say that the atmosphere was superb. I really enjoyed myself.
In the evening we went to a great restaurant on a hill overlooking the town. Though at night there's not that much to see as it's hardly the city of lights.
Superb evening and a great advertisement for Esperanto. Second day in town and I'm having tea with a young girl who's just started learning Esperanto, the town Orthodox priest and several other interesting people, one of whom threw in the fact that the last time the police searched her house for subversive literature was in 1986.
Here I am with some of the Kazanlak Esperantists.
And of course any Esperanto dinner should end with an Esperanto song. Well, if you happen to know one, and you happen to have the words in your pocket. This song was probably pretty well known in its day.
As promised I had a go at starting the girl on Esperanto and it seemed to work. Whether she'll have the incentive to keep it up in the modern world is another question. She's also leaning French at a French school in Plovdiv and we know how hard it is to keep them on the farm after they've seen Paree.
Whatever Esperanto is, it is also a window into a culture that existed vibrantly here in eastern Europe for many years. They don't just speak Esperanto, they also sing Esperanto songs. It's almost like being a Welsh speaker and going to Patagonia and speaking Welsh. This possibly represents the last vestiges of a dying culture. This doesn't mean that Esperanto is dying. It's not Esperanto that's dying but that perculiarly post-war communist culture that nurtured Esperanto by making it one of the few ways that people could have contact with other countries. English wasn't really an option back then for them. They had Esperanto clubs, went on outings together, went camping, sang songs, and went to international congresses - well those that weren't on the blacklist of the secret police did anyway. Svoboda told us that during an international congress in Varna, the police made her father report to them every day to stop him from attending.
On the way back down the hill, in the darkness, Svoboda, always joking no matter what, laughed as she pointed out the absurdity of the fact that over by the water park they were lighting up the sky with one of those huge searchlights, yet the town hadn't even bothered to light the street where we were walking.
posted by Budz at 7:44 PM
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