After a scenic five hour bus ride, in which we saw miles of farmland and men driving wooden carts pulled by horses and donkeys; we arrived in Plovdiv. Plovdiv is the second largest city in Bulgaria at 350,000 people. It's main street, pictured above is a wide thoroughfare with shops and restaurants. In the evenings it was full of families, and throughout the day the outdoor cafes reverberated with the cheers of men watching the World Cup on portable TV's. Josh forced me to sit and watch the thrilling showdown between England and Burkina Faso.
Here I saw one of my first glimpses of Soviet style sculpture. From what I've read many older Bulgarians have a fondness for the good old days of the Warsaw pact, and being able to rely on Soviet subsidies. I understand that times were particularly tough here right after the breakup of the Soviet Union. For now, things seem to be growing and thriving, with lots of construction and western brands moving into the shelves.
Josh and I had a beer next to a Roman ampitheatre (early 200's AD) that has been well-restored and is used weekly for concerts. Plovidv has Roman ruins all over, including a Roman stadium (late 200's AD), that has been uncovered beneath the main street! In America they probably would demolish all the surrounding buildings and make it a national park, but in Bulgaria they just re-routed the street around either side of it and put a plexiglass barrier around it for easy viewing.
I enjoyed a run along the Maritsa River and up a big hill to the foot of a massive sword wielding statue atop the "Hill of the Liberators". I think every town should have a big statue of a guy holding a sword aloft in victory. Even the towns that have never fought in anything much. It just looks cool.
