More May travels

We spent day two in Plovdiv mainly in the old quarter, visiting many museums. It was lovely.

It was also good to see the Roman amphitheater again and to see it is in better condition than during my last visit.

The road from Plovdiv to Veliko Turnovo goes through the Shipka Pass. It's the site of a crucial battle between the Russian army and the Ottoman occupiers with assistance from Bulgarian freedom fighters.

This monument doesn't  look all that big, but it's seven stories high and there are 1000 steps just to get to the entrance. Whew! You can see the snow clouds rolling in on the view from the top. The weather was dreadful that day.

Next we went on to Etara, an open air museum. It's built to look like an 18th century village from the Gabrovo region and has examples of virtually every industry from that time period that could be water-driven, including this fulling mill.

I spent a lot of time with the blacksmith and ordered a lot of ironwork for my house. He was very pleased to make sets of hinges for my gates, fancy door latches and locks, 100 decorative door studs, a door knocker, and a set of fireplace implements.

There were several weavers. This one worked on an upright loom to make panniers for donkeys from goat hair. The bags were very durable, but very scratchy.

Theere were also rug weavers, icon painters, a silversmith, a cutler, a woodworker (who made some amazing bowls), a potter, musical instrument makers, a furrier, a leathermaker, a coppersmith, and a wood carver.

More to come...