B&B in Bulgaria

2005-12-11T04:22:00.000-08:00

FROM DELPHI TO ATHENS TO......BLAGOEVGRAD

Where did we leave off.......oh, yes, the oracle at Delphi. The original oracle of the santuary was dedicated to Ge, the Earth Goddess. Later when Apollo came here he had to face may challenges, including a battle with the python who guarded the sanctuary of Ge. He was successful and established his own sanctuary with an oracle referred to as Pythia (after the snake). Through the Pythis he was said to hear the will of Zeus. As the years passed by, many pilgrims came to this place to hear the prophecy of the oracle. The process went something like this: outside the sanctuary (on the left side of the picture beyond the columns) the piligrim would bathe and then make a sacrifice (maybe a goat or somthing). After this, "he" would enter the sanctuary which held three rooms. One room held the pilgrim; one held the priest; and in the center was the oracle. The pilgrim would then pose a question: "will I live a long life?" The priest would pass this on to the oracle. She would then smell the vapors that arose from the ground and go into a trance and mumble some things. The priest, who was the only one who could interpret the oracle, would then give the answer: "long not short." So, we have no clue what the oracle might have said (such as: leave me alone--I'm into my vapors) but the priest would always give a double answer so he would never be wrong. Was it "you'll live a long life, not a short one" or "a long life you will not live, instead it will be short."

There is one really interesting story about a specific pilgrim to visit the oracle, and that is Alexander of Macedonia. As you know from our previous postings, Alexander has been a recurring feature of our trips (like those darned dexters). According to a recent biography (Brent just read), Alexander stopped to make a dedication to the oracle before one of his long quests to conquer land. He was refused a visit because it was an unfavorable day. This did not deter him and he hauled the oracle to her shrine requiring her to say if he was "invincible." She admitted that he was. While the reality of this story is questionned, the story was told far and wide, and therefore was "rich in its conseqences." Alexander's troops believed the oracle's prediction and they were encouraged to spread the word. It is believed that this tale was an important reason his troops grew so large and why he faced relatively limited resistance. Later, in Athens, Alexander proposed he be seen as an invincible god. Only one hero had ever been claimed to be invincible, and that was Heracles, son of Zeus. We have heard that Alexander subsequently made claims to be descended from Heracles (he also claimed to be related to Achilles). What a guy! Here he is with his lion helmet.

There were a lot of activities to take place at Delphi, inlcuding the Pythia games. These were the second most important panhellenic games after the Olympic. Because Greece was divided into many small city-states, these games served the purpose of bringing people together and maintaining bonds.

In the beginning the games were every 8 years and focused on musical performances. After 582 BC the games moved to every 4 years and new events were added. One was track and field. There were many running events where men would start at one end (the starting blocks are pictured here) and run end to end several times. We even took a jog down and back to get in the mood.

Another field event was a type of long jump. However, what made this event a bit unique is that the men started by holding a set of weights (pictured here) and at some point in the jump let the weights go and propelled themselves even further. Not sure I get it, but I'm sure it was fun to watch.

One very popular event was the chariot race. As with the winners of the other events, the winning driver received a laurel wreath (from the tree sacred to Apollo), and he had the right to erect a statue of himself within the area of Delphi. The "treasure" of the Delphi museum is this bronze statue of one chariot driver, which dates to 470 BC. He is Polyzalos-- the tyrant of Gela in Sicily. We heard that one year Nero of Rome came to the Pythia and won ALL of the events. (Would you try to beat him?) He received many laurel wreaths and now we now how this fashion in Rome began.

What would a trip to Athens be without going to the archeological musuem--one of the best in the world. We spent all afternoon there on Monday and found ourselves rushing at the end just to say we saw a bit of each room. The bust of Alexander above was there, along with lots of other statues. One interesting set of statues were those discovered in the shipwreck of the Antikythera. Found in 1900 by fishermen, these bronze statues were probably headed for Rome around the first century and were copies of originals dating back to the 5th century BC.

While you cannot tell this from the selection of photographs we've included, many (it seemed like most) of the men are carved nude. What a refreshing change (in my opinion, I won't say it was Brent's) from looking at naked women in paintings all the time.

The famous gold death mask of Agememnon was here, but of course it could not have been Agamemnon because it dates long before his birth. But it was part of the find that helped "rediscover" a part of history that for years was thought to be myth.

Upstairs were a couple of frescoes and pottery found on the island of Santorini. The artwork (as old as much of the other items we saw at the museum) was very different in terms of its colors and schemes. Dominating much of the work was sea life, including lots of paintings of dolphins.

On our last morning we went up the remaining hill for some final views. The picture of us from the last blog was taken from Filiopappas Hill next to the monument built for the Roman consul (Filiopappas) in 115 AD. Next to this monument was the Hill of the Pnyx, which was a meeting place of the Democratic Assembly in the 5th century BC (Here's Brent giving a lecture). After this time, the meetings moved across to the theater of Dionysos below the acropolis.

As Athens was our last adventure out of Bulgaria, this will most likely be our last blog for the trip. We have lots of grading, and of course we need to pack. However, I don't want you to think that all we did was travel. It felt like that sometimes, but really, we did have a job this semester at the American University in Bulgaria. If you return to one of the first entries you can see my discussion of the very interesting set of students that I taught in Introduction to Sociology. They comes from 8 countries and speak 15 languages among them. While I still cannot pronounce all of their names very well, I feel as though I learned a lot about southeastern Europe and the former-Communist countries through interactions with these students. So, I leave you with a picture of us taken on the last day of class. Some of the students were having fun, making part of the OSU gestures from my school [Pam, take note, they don't get the S right here either.]

Dovijdane. See you soon!!

2005-12-08T01:43:00.000-08:00

IF IT IS DECEMBER IN ATHENS IT MUST BE 70 AND SUNNY!

We have just returned from our last adventure out of Bulgaria. This time we spent 5 days in Greece. We really had the weather gods on our side as it was warm and sunny the entire trip.

Our first day was spent getting the lay of the city: which way is north and how do you use the subway. Since the museums close at 3pm in the winter we decided to just walk until we found a place to eat alfresco. On our walk we passed the parliament building just in time to see the changing of the guard. Interesting looking outfits and what about those shoes?

Our first full day was spent at the acropolis ("edge city") with the Parthenon. The main buildings at the acropolis were built by Perikles between 449-431 BC. They stood without much damage until the 17th century. Of course their functions changed with the spread of Christinaity (buildings used as churches) and then when the area was under Ottoman rule (buildings used as mosques). But in the 17th century the Parthenon was used as a munitions storage unit and the invading Venetians blew it up. Just as damaging was the "acquisition" of much of the buidings by Lord Elgin. Many statues and other parts of the Pathenon are are on display in the British Museum.
So, since we were just there I will post both a picture of the Parthenon and the bits in England. You have to enlarge this to see the parts of the side friezes and in the back the statues that used to be on the upper arch. As with other "historical treasures" there is controversy over where these bits should reside. Some say they belong to Greece while others say they are a "wonder of the world" and are safer in the museum. The biggest challenge facing the acropolis currently is not looting, but acid rain. Serious reconstruction efforts are going on (there was scaffolding and cranes all over the hill) and the Parthenon should look quite different in a couple of years.

Lots of other interesting sites around the acropolis, including the remains of ancient Agora, the theatre of Dionysos, and the Temple of Olympian Zeus. We saw it all and have pictures, but they'll just have to sit patiently on my mac for a slide show. One interesting bit of history we found in the museum of ancient Agora (a political gathering center) were some of the first official ballots. On pieces of clay you could see names. Some names were for candidtates that men wanted elected to office while others had names of men that they wanted ostracized. Interesting idea. Wait.....no its not.....

Our second full day was spent on a road trip to Mycenae on the Peloponnese (the southernmost extremity of the Balkan peninsula). The Peloponnese is connected to mainland Greece by the Ismuth of Corinth. There a canal was built in 1893. To the east is the Agena Sea (shown here) while to the west is the Ionian Sea. The two main draws for this day trip were to the theatre of Epidarus and to Mycenae. First stop, the theatre. This was part of the santuary of Asclepios-the god of healing. The theatre is thought to be the best known and preserved of all ancient theatres. It was built in the 3rd century BC and originally held 6,200 people. Later it was expanded to hold more that 12,000. (yes, I have a picture of me doing the O chant, but this time it is for the UofO to "go big" in the Holiday Bowl).

Next it was off to Mycenae (my cee' nee). There is a great, but very long, story behind this site, so let me give you just a couple of the highlights. The mythological founder of Mycenae was Perseus, son of Zeus and Dane.

Over the years many "smaller" gods, and then men, were chosen to rule over Mycenae. Two famous names are those of Atreus and his son Agamemnon. Many of you may recall Agamemnon from his success in the Trojan wars. After the wars Agamemnon returned to Mycenae with Cassandra (a person always bearing bad news). Agamemnon's wife wasn't too pleased and she killed Agamemnon and Cassandra.

But what goes around, comes around, and her son (with Agamemnon) Orestes killed her. Homer told these stories and included a reference to much gold. For many years these stories were told as myths. However, in the late 19th century a German archeologist ("with his Greek wife" as they say here) named Schliemann came to Mycenae and uncovered a city and a pot of gold. He also found several "beehive" tombs with one thought to be either that of Atreus or of Agamemnon. So the site has two names: Agememnon's Grave and the Treasures of Atreus. One other interesting feature of Mycenae (by the way this site dates back to the 17th century BC) are the walls.

They are called Cyclopean Walls because the stones are so large than only the Cyclops could have picked them up and brought them here. If you enlarge the picture of the tomb you can see a couple of the long rectangular stones that have been here (according to archeologists) for over 3500 years. Can there be any other explanation? The pictures shown here are of Brent at the Lion's Gate (entrance to Mycenae), Agamemnon's tomb, and finally the ruins showing where the kilos of gold were discovered by Schliemann.

So, I must leave you for today. It was pretty funny this morning as Brent and I were lifting weights over at the dorms the song "It's the final countdown" by Europe came on (I'd hum a few bars if I could). We are definately counting down the days. One more lecture, one more exam.....only 10 more days. I will try another Greece entry in the days to come. To give you a hint at what's to come, I'll leave you with a photo of me at Delphi. I had just seen the oracle and she said "long not short."

2005-11-28T05:15:00.000-08:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM LONDON

We just returned from a quick trip to London. While there was no turkey on the plate for Thanksgiving (we ate Indian food instead) we enjoyed the weekend very much. We were unable to escape the cold weather. As you can see from this picture of Buckingham Palace, it was definately time for gloves and scarves. But, for those who have been at this very spot, don't you love the lack of crowds?

We even had the chance to tour the Queen's private collection without a queue. The other times we've been there the lines were hours long. There was a very nice show of Canaletto's drawings and paintings of Venice. The Queen also owns a Rubens (more on him below), which was on display. (The picture of me here is in front of the Queen's newly expanded gift shop. I couldn't help getting a picture of a decorated Christmas tree--with crowns!)

Before we left we had decided to see a couple of shows. My choice was to see Mamma Mia at the newly restored Prince of Wales Theater in the west end. This late 19th century theater (that used to present burlesque shows) was just reopened (by the Prince himself) this past September. Brent wanted me to keep this a secret (sorry Brent--I saw you tapping your toes as well). What a fun time. We also saw Les Miserables which is celebrating something like 20 years on stage and is already booking into 2007.

On our last evening we went to the Odeon in Leicester Square to see Harry Potter. This VERY large theater gives you the option to purchase your exact seat which is nice for arriving just in time for the show. They even let you know the exact time for the movie to start so you don't have to sit through the previews. I won't spoil anything for you Harry Potter fans, but let me say just one thing: VIKTOR KRUM is one awesome dude (Hermione thought so as well). In case you don't know (or don't remember), this character is part of the important tri-wizard tournament. Both the character and the actor who plays him (Viktor Stanislav) are from Bulgaria. So don't forget to check out all those Bulgarian flags and listen closely to the Bulgarian language. It was a little of "home" while we were away.

One of the really nice things about London is the Underground (or tube). You can get most places in central London in no time at all. And, the stations and lines have pretty fun names. For example, our hotel was across the street from the Marleybone Station on the Bakerloo line. I also like hearing the taped voices at some stops, such as Picadilly Circus: "mind the gap." One thing I learned is that flash photography is not allowed in any Underground station. I was chastised over the loud speaker for this photo (I believe he said, "if you want a picture, go to the train museum). Yikes--but it is a nice picture.

No trip to London would be complete without stops at the great museums. This trip we hit the British Museum and the British Gallery. In addition to the "standards" at the National Gallery there was a special exhibit of Rubens: A Master in the Making. This exhibit traced about 15 years of his career. While he was known for his very large paintings of epic battles and his study of nudes (especially men), my favorite was one of his last paintings of his daughter Clara. Lovely.

The British Museum has probably one of the best collections in the world (including the rosetta stone) and this fall there is a special exhibit called "Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia." The material exhibited came from the time of Cyrus the Great (550 BC) up through about 3300 BC. The land controlled at its height went from the Black Sea (and part of current day Bulgaria) to the Arabian Sea. The Empire came to an end as it was conquered by Alexander, the king of Macedonia (you might call him Alexander the Great, but when in Bulgaria it makes sense to know him as our neighbor).

In addition to museums, there are also the great churches. We hit both St. Pauls (climbing its 500 steps to get the panoramic view of London) and Westminster. While the buildings have not changed as much, the organization of our experience in them has. Both charge fees and now have audio tours in many languages. Instead of being asked to stop to have a moment of prayer and reflection once an hour, we were asked to press the pause button once an hour.

Lots of other fun stuff, but the work is piling up. We'll be back on next week with some highlights from Athens. Only three weeks left......what will we do? For now--cheers!

2005-11-18T07:40:00.000-08:00

ISTANBUL PART II: THE BOSPHORUS AND BEYOND

Before launching into more churches and museums (sorry, no more dexters), let's start with a nice trip up the Bosphorus. While the weather was not the best (it reminded us of a non-raining day on a Seattle ferry), the views were spectacular. As we've mentnioned before, travel at this time of year may not be the best for tanning, it is nice for crowd reduction. We had two options: a tour with a guide (more spendy) or the regular ferry (2 hours up, 3 hours in a fishing village, 2 hours back: and no one to give you a clue what you are looking at). We chose the former and went with 12 other people on our own ferry. We all sat on the top deck and listened to the history of the Bosphorus. Let's start with the name. Boshporus means "cow's gate." It is told that Zeus, the king of Gods, got a bit frisky with a woman named Io. When Hera, his wife, found out she was a bit ticked off. Fearing for her safety, Zeus turned Io into a cow. Io jumped into the river and swam all the way to Egypt (one pretty buff cow)--the river was her gate to freedom (Zeus, of course, did not have to swim to Egypt but that's another story).

If you don't know, the land to the west of the Bosphorus is Europe while to the east is Asia. All along the trip from Istanbul to Anadolu Kavagi we could see castles and houses that must be pretty cool places to be. Some are hotels, some are museums, and others are the summer homes of the rich. We were told that these summer homes go for around $20 million. Anyone want to go in on a place?

Also as part of this tour we were taken to the Spice Market. If any of you know about Istanbul you know that there are outdoor markets here (the big one being the Grand Bazaar) where you can buy a lot of things BUT the prices are not set. We read about the process, got some good advice from our friends, BUT in the end I couldn't do it. I walked through the Grand Bazaar with sunglasses on and even in the Spice Market I walked as fast as I could. How does one decide on the price of a sponge, or tea, or gold, or a carpet?

I am sorry that I lost my nerve. If only I could have had someone to help me. I bet one of these locals could have helped me get a deal!!

By the way, we really enjoyed watching men here interact on the street. In Turkey and Bulgaria men seem to be the big talkers. If only we knew what they were saying!)

Now on to the museums: the first stop will be at the Kariye (Chora) Museum. “Chora” roughly means countryside and the “original” church received this name because when it was originally built (by Constantine in the 4th century) it was located outside the city walls. As most things from this era, the church was rebuilt several times and during the early part of the 14th century there were beautiful mosaics and frescos added. Of course these were covered during the centuries this church became a mosque, but have been partially restored.

The mosaics depict the lives of Christ and Mary. One of the domes has a stunning depiction of Jesus and his ancestors. No flash was allowed so the pictures just don’t do the place justice. One of the pictures I include here shows mosaics on the ceiling and wall in the second room. These show a bit in the life of Mary.

A side chapel, which was built to hold the tombs of the church’s founder and his relatives, is decorated with frescos. The themes of paintings are death and resurrection. Most striking is the paining known as the Anastasis showing Christ raising Adam and Eve out of their sarcophagi. Saints and kings surround him. Below his feet are the gates of hell.

Brent’s favorite museum is the Istanbul Archaeological Museums. There are three buildings here housing a variety of interesting artifacts. One is the Tiled Kiosk, which is beautiful outside and in. This building is considered to be the oldest surviving “nonreligious” Turkish building in Istanbul. It was used for watching sporting events. The tiles that have the best reputation are those that came from the Iznik region in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Another building here holds the Museum of the Ancient Orient. The stuff in here is really old. There are panels from ancient Babylon (600 BC) and a copy of the oldest surviving treaty (shown here).

The Kadesh Treaty was drawn up in the 13th century BC between the Egyptians and Hittites. I didn’t read its translation, but I did read the translations of some other very important stone documents. One was to break an engagement because “the woman preferred the farmer.”

The final building in this complex is the Archaeology Museum which displays Hellenic and Roman statues and sarcophagi. In one end of the museum is the “famous” Alexander sarcophagus dating from the last quarter of the 4th century BC. It is not Alexander’s sarcophagus, but that of King Abdalonymous.

It is called the Alexander sarcophagus because his figure appears on both sides. The pictures of this sarcophogus didn't turn out as clear as I'd like so I'll put another picture of Alexander here from the other side of the building. Pretty good looking guy! Several other rooms contain statues made by artisans at Anatolia’s main sculpture centers. Here’s another view through the rooms that show statues of Athena, Oceanus, and Zeus.

This is getting us really in the mood for our trip to Athens. Still, there is so much to do. We are winding down in terms of our classes, but the grading never seems to end. We are taking off for Thanksgiving, then we will head down to Athens the first part of December. Travel is getting a bit more “iffy” as winter has come to Bulgaria. It has been snowing for the last couple of days and we are hoping that it is just a brief cold snap.

We'll end here with a picture of Brent in front of our Sofia apartment (Alexander in clothes). We'll definately miss that place!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. We'll be back soon.

2005-11-17T04:22:00.000-08:00

Instanbul Part I: A ROOM WITH A VIEW (and yet another dexter)

Sorry its been so long since we've posted. The trip to Istanbul was fabulous. We stayed at a refurbished Ottoman "wooden house" that had Becky's dream of "A Room With A View" (don't go to sleep on this one Steve!). From our room we looked out over the Marmara Sea. We would rise shortly after the 6am "call to pray" from our local mosque and watch the ships as they headed north to the Bosphorus through to the Black Sea (or in reverse to the Agean Sea).

The hotel provided breakfast up on the terrace. From there you could look get an even broader view of the sea, but could look up the hill to the Blue Mosque. This mosque was built between 1606-1616 by Sultan Ahmet I. His goal was to build something that would outshine the Aya Sofya (coming shortly). We hear it was quite controversial with its six minarets as the only other mosque with as many is in Mecca. The courtyard in front of the main entrance is claimed to be the largest of all Ottoman mosques. The name ("blue") refers to the color of the Iznik tiles that are part of the interior. No flash is allowed inside any of the buildings here, so maybe our camera breaking in Hungary was a "good thing." [This is a cool picture if enlarged. It's better than some of the postcards of the mosque interior, if I do say so myself.]

Leaving the Blue Mosque we headed to Aya Sofya. It is also called Sancta Sophia, Hagia Sophia, and the Church of the Divine Wisdom. It was built/started by Emperor Justinian in the early-mid 6th century. The outside is pretty impressive (note, of course, the minarets added by Mehmet the Conqueror after his conquest of Constantinople in 1453), but again we found the inside to overwhelm the senses. While its the huge dome that has been the marvel historically (30m in diameter) scaffolding set up by UNESCO for restoration made it appear somewhat small. Instead, we wandered around the two floors looking at what is left of the gold mosaic tiles. I say "what is left" because some have worn, but also many were "casualties of theology."

First, there was some discussion about their appropriateness as the Bible makes clear that "images" should not be worshipped. After some serious debate, however, most of the mosaics stayed. However, with the Conquest, they had to go. Islamic art (as laid out in the Quran, the story goes) shouldn't depict anything with an immortal soul.

As luck would have it, many were covered in plaster and later restored. It is pretty hard to pick just one for the blog. But here's my choice for "mosaic of the day." [Another "must enlarge" picture.]

Istanbul has so many outstanding museums. Several can be found in the complex known as Topkapi Palace (home to the Sultans). Mehmet the Conqueror bulit the first stage of the palace and lived here until his death in 1481. It remained the home to Sultans until Mahmut II (1839). After this time, Sultans moved to other palaces built along the Bosphorus (we have pictures of those too if you are interested). Because of limited time (I have 34 midterms to grade this weekend), I've decided to make comments on only two parts of this palace complex.

One is the Topkapi Harem (or the private quarters of the Sultan). Here is the story we were told: the women of the Harem were schooled in Islam and Turkish culture and language as well as music, reading,writing and dance. They could leave after a period of time and could marry (Free education. Sounds good- huh?). The Sultan was allowed by Islamic law to have four legitimate wives, but could support many more concubines. Our guide said only up to 12 "favorites" were kept for sexual relations, while the rest (could be hundreds) were only for entertainment (each required to play a musical instrument) But this may not always have been the case as Murat III is reported to have had 112 children, so go figure (not sounding like as much fun anymore). The picture shown here has Becky in the Harem--yikes, get me outa here. The reason I picked this is to highlight the gorgeous tiles and point out the great "turban shelves." (Also, I heard that my mom likes to see pictures of me.)

The other interesting museum in the palace complex is the Treasury. I am not including a picture of it (not interesting from the outside, and no pictures allowed inside) but rather a picture of another interesting exterior shot (the Circumcision Room). So, inside the Treasury are some pretty amazing things. There are 48kg candlesticks, jewel encrusted swords and thrones (one beautiful one "received" from India), and the "spoonmaker's" diamond. This teardrop shaped stone is 86 carats and was worn by Mehmet IV at his coronation. The reason for its name is that it was found at a garbage dump and sold by a street vendor for three spoons. But now we reach the most interesting item (I leave it up to you to decide its authenticity). Displayed in a lighted case was a skull and hand fragments (cased in jewels) of St. John the Baptist. This trip is turning into the tour of "dexters" isn't it?

I must take a break from blogging (and my sister leaves work in an hour--so here you go Pam). You'll need to stay tuned for Istanful, Part II. Not sure what the theme will be-- but I'm sure it will include more mosaics and maybe a bit on the Bosphorus.

Until then I leave you with a picture with some relevance to us here in Bulgaria. This completely (inside and out) cast-iron church was constructed from pieces shipped down the Danube and across the Balck Sea from Vienna on 100 barges in 1871. During the time of the Ottoman Empire the Orthodox church faced considerable "ethnic" divisions. The leader, a Greek, wanted no recognition of ethnic divisions, but only ONE church. The pressures of nationalism were too great and the sultan was forced to recongizse some sort of religious autonomy for the Bulgars. The gates were locked, but the caretaker let us in for a look. Inside we found icons of the now-known-by-us Ivan Rilski. A little bit of "home."

2005-11-03T09:52:00.000-08:00

Feeling quite at home in Budapest.

Stimulus overload for semester break for sure!! After 5 days in Prague we flew on to Budapest, Hungary for another 5 days. As with all of our other adventures, we arrived, found our hotel, checked in, then hit the streets.

Now, I must say that it was a bit difficult leaving our hotel each day. It was really an apartment and a beautiful one at that. It was off of Andrassy Street, which is a very nice boulevard with high-end shops and restaurants. Our apartment was on the third floor and overlooked a beautiful courtyard.

But Budapest called to us and off we went. Our first stop was the Basilica of St. Stephen (Szent Istvan). Behind the main alter is the Holy Right Chapel. It contains the Holy Right (also called the Holy Dexter), the mummified right hand of St. Stephen. If you are so inclined, you can deposit 100FT (about 50 cents) and the glass casket will light up to give you a good view. We passed on the showing, but feel complete. For those of you who have been reading our blog, you may recall we saw the left “holy dexter” of John Rila in Rila Monastery. We now have seen a full set. Next it was on to the, you guessed it, stairs to the top (only 370).

It was a beautiful fall day and we had a pretty nice view of the Danube and the Buda hills on the other side. While the picture is not as clear as it seemed to us, you can get an idea of the size (about 1km) of the castle complex on the other side of the river. The picture here only covers a fraction of the complex.

The most beautiful building in Budapest (at least we think so) is the Parliament. Completed in 1902, it has 700 rooms and a variety of architectural styles (neo-Gothic, neo-Romanesque, and neobaroque). We were only allowed into three rooms. One was the main staircase and landing.

At the top of the steps we could see the Crown of St. Stephen, which is considered to be the nation’s most important national icon. Legend has it that the first abbot of the Benedictine monastery at Panonhalma in western Transdanubia presented a crown to Stephen as a gift from Pope Sylvester II around the year 1000. This legitimized the new king’s rule and assured his loyalty to Rome over Constantinople. Others say this crown dates more to about the 12th century, but still, it’s a pretty old crown and the stories are fun. While the crown has disappeared many times over the years, it was “liberated” by the Americans in 1945 and stored in Ft. Knox. In 1978 the crown was returned to Hungary with a big ceremony (I believe Cyrus Vance presented it.).

The crown is important specifically because power was to reside in the crown, not the person. Legal judgments were always handed down in the name of St. Stephen’s crown. Therefore, when it went missing, the record here shows that it was kidnapped. It was nice to see it “home.”

Another room we were able to see, but not enter, was Assembly Hall. This is the place where Members of Parliament sit (it was the House of Lords until 1944). Outside the hall were many insets in the wall with crescent shaped metal objects (picture included here). They are cigar holders. The hall was a non-smoking room, so members of parliament must place their cigars here when they went in to hear arguments. It was said that the length of the ash on the cigars always indicated when a good argument was made. Heck, I’d be in listening to arguments good or bad just to be in a non-smoking environment!

The next day we headed up to Castle Hill. We decided to go on a walking tour with a guide. Since its past the tourist season it was the guide and three couples. This guide was a walking encyclopedia and we are convinced that he must pass out and sleep after each tour. The tour we paid for was 1.5 hours and we went almost 3. We began by walking up the “Royal Steps” as the funicular railway was being repaired. At the top we stopped to admired a statue of a mythical bird.

As many of you know, I really listen when it comes to stories of women in history. It’s not very often, so when it happens I’m all ears. There was a woman who had a dream. In this dream she saw a bird (this mythical bird). She said that this bird would be seen in the lands where her people would settle. She told this story to her son (Almos) who told the story to his son (Arpad). Arpad, who is the man to lead the Magyar conquest of the Carpathian basin, stopped his army in the area now known as Hungary because it is said this is where he saw this bird. I am sorry not to have this woman’s name but the guide spoke quickly and I did not take notes. The names of Almos and Arpad come from my internet search—no names of women were found (big sigh!).

Another highlight of the Castle hill area is Mathias Church. The church traces back to the time of the 15th century Renaissance king Matthias Corvinus. If you read our previous blog entry you know that our camera died on Castle hill. It was, in fact, at Mathias Church that the even occurred. So we have good outdoor pictures (taken with the new camera) but no indoor as we didn’t want to pay the fee again (cameras are expensive) to go inside on our second day up the hill.

Our good friend, colleague, and office mate, Deyan Kostov, met us while in Budapest. He is finishing his Ph.D. at the Central European University and came here over break to meet with his committee. Deyan took us on a walk to Heroes Square, then gave us a tour of the Budapest transit system. We took the metro, then a bus, to the Buda hills for a hike. The result of our hike was the most wide-reaching view of Budapest. The pictures don’t do it justice. We returned to the city by first coming down a chairlift, then catching a bus and a trolley. As I’ve said before, public transportation is a really nice thing.

On another day Brent and I went for a walk around Margaret Island (Margit). The island is 2.5km long and rests in the middle of the Danube. It was a gorgeous fall day and the leaves were beginning to fall. The path was a running path made of the material you would find at a “Nike-built” track.

We walked the length of the island starting at a fountain that spouted in time to classical music, to the ruins of a Franciscan church and monastery. Near to this spot is the original burial site of St. Margit (1242-1271). As the story goes, her father (King Bela IV) promised God he would give one of his children to him if only the Mongols were driven from their land. When the Mongols left, Bela committed his nine year-old daughter to a life of devotion in a nunnery on this island. St. Margit was canonized in 1943.

There is so much more to say about Budapest. More pictures will just have to wait for another day/venue. I’ve left out some of the history of bridges. My father would have loved the stories of the bridges built across the Danube and the engineering that went into them (he helped me write my report on bridges across the Willamette in 3rd grade). So I leave you with a picture of me, standing on the Chain Bride (originally built in 1849 and the first to connect Buda and Pest) with Mathias Church in the background. We are thinking of families and friends and missing you all. See you in a week or so—next up is Istanbul.

2005-10-25T12:51:00.000-07:00

PRAGUE FALL (Not to be confused with Prague Spring)

We have left Prague, but Prague will stay with us for a long time. We really did not have particular expectations of what we would see and feel, and maybe that’s a “good thing.” The tour books warn you of an excessive tourist feel. I suspect we were not as bothered by this because we were there in late October (officially “winter” in the tour guide hours).
And we really lucked out on the weather. We had overcast skies but the temps were in the upper 60s and only a few raindrops one evening. Maybe the weather did not lend itself to great photos, but it sure made for the perfect opportunity to be out for 12 hours a day without needing to haul a lot with us. So what was Prague like?

Well, I think we’ll try doing this in a couple of installments with themes. The first theme has to do with the spectacular skyline. You can see all of Prague by climbing any of a number of towers, churches, or hills. We did as many as we could. Probably the best views of the entire city came by climbing the Petrinska rozhledna (Petrin Observation Tower). Prague is sometimes called the “Paris of the East.” I would like to think it means that there is a similar beauty in architectures and neighborhoods. However, during the Prague Industrial Exhibition in 1891 an imitation of the Eiffel Tower was built here. Although it is as ugly as the Eiffel Tower, the views are spectacular. I won’t put a picture of the tower here (I’m sure they are available on the web). Rather, I’ll add a picture of the castle from the tower.

The 299-step climb is a breeze as there are both UP and DOWN winding stairways making the way clear without having to squeeze to the side. As many of you know, Brent’s size 14 shoes struggle to balance on narrow steps anyway, but when you have to be on the inside of a winding staircase, it’s a challenge (more so down than up). Again I think the weather results in hazy pictures but we didn’t break a sweat on our climbs.

Other local climbs give views of the squares filled with tourists and up-close views of nice architecture. One of the more popular tourist events is the hourly display of the Astronomical Clock (15th C).

Well, as luck would have it, the clock was being restored during our visit. This didn’t keep us from going inside the building where it is housed (Old Town Hall) and walking up for a view. This gave us an excellent shot of the Church of Our Lady of Tyn. This church originates in the 14th century. It was completed in the 16th century. At night these towers are lit up in a way that is disarmingly similar to Disneyland. While enchanting, it did feel a bit eerie.

Another impressive building seen from the Old Town Hall tower is Kinsky Palace. Obviously built in Baroque style; it contrasts well next to the Church of Our Lady of Tyn. In front of this building is a statue of Jan Hus—quite a controversial figure. Here they see him as an important part of their history as he challenged several tenets of Catholicism (and was burned at the stake in 1415 for it). Subsequently the Hussites grew as a group and, as some of you know, the Hussite Wars followed. This statue was made at the turn of the last century, which is often referred to as a period of patriotism. Because of this, statues of men make them appear taller than they really were. Historical descriptions of Jan Hus were of a short, fat man. Here is his quite tall and strong, with many of his followers gathered around at his feet.

We are really sorry to not be able to show the insides of these churches and buildings—however, you are not allowed to use a flash and our camera did not take very clear pictures without flash. [Potentially bad news flash: our camera broke here on day two in Budapest and we have potentially lost 87 pictures from a 70 degree and clear day. We hope that someone we know has a comparable camera to put the memory card in. If not, well, we'll just have to climb up to the castle in Buda again tomorrow.]

Another theme of our experience is that buildings can be experienced in many ways. From the outside we have significant examples of architecture across the ages. For example, St. Vitus’s Cathedral in the Prague Castle was begun in 926 by the Patron Saint of the Czech people (St. Wenceslas) and finished in 1929. Various architects patterned this complex in the styles of French and German Gothic styles as well as Baroque. There is no way to have a picture of the entire church. I include this one to show the variation in styles, and the beautiful mosaics on the front (above the “golden doors”). I only wish the gargoyles were more visible.

Walking up the bell tower (yes, we always went up when given the chance) we saw what is reported to be the largest bell in Bohemia. At this point I must add the story of the term “Bohemian.” According to our expert guide, the term Bohemian originally meant “of good people” in some ancient language and referred to people living in this area. As it turns out, gypsies migrating to France were asked where they were from. They replied “Bohemia.” So all the cultural references to a Bohemian lifestyle (always traveling) is a misrepresentation of actual meaning of the term.

Back to churches. We enjoyed the beauty of the exteriors and interiors, but we also had the opportunity to enjoy them via a couple of concerts. You can spend almost your entire trip here in churches listening to music. We went to two concerts. The first was in the Church of St. Nicholas in Mala Strana. The church previously belonged to Jesuits who made it the focal point of the Counter-Reformation in Bohemia. The Baroque interior was a pretty cool backdrop for “Vespers by Rachmaninov.” The “Prague Singers” performed unaccompanied for about an hour.

Our second concert was quite different. In the “other” St. Nicholas Church in Old Town, we listened to the music of Mozart (“The Little Night Music”) and Beethoven (selections from Symphony No. 5 C Minor). This was advertised as quite unique as the men performing (from the Czech Philharmonic) played on period authentic instruments. While we are not good judges of “classical” music, we did enjoy the experience.

So this is enough for Part I. We are now in Budapest and my mind is moving on. There are three other themes I’d like to explore with photos: interesting exteriors/facades, the Jews of the region, and revolutions. I fear that our families will have to wait for a slide show upon our return to get the real deal. For now, I leave you with a parting shot: for those of you who know Portland, these trolleys may look familiar.

2005-10-18T02:47:00.000-07:00

A WEEKEND IN SOFIA

The capital of Bulgaria was named after the Church of St. Sofia. This is the oldest Orthdox Church in the city and was built in the mid-6th century AD. The Ottomans added minarets when they used this as a mosque in the 16th century. Most of the building was destroyed by earthquakes in the 19th century and the church was completely rebuilt in 1900. They are currently undergoing more renovations as they are opening up access to the crypts buried under the building.

As many of you know, I visited Sofia for two days this past summer. While I saw most of the things I will post here, I saw them without jetlag this time. We stayed at a university-owned apartment in central Sofia. I actually said "oborvishte chetiridecet e dve" to the taxi driver at the bus station and it worked!

Most of our first day was spent grading (Do I need to say this again? DO NOT teach on your sabbatical). After that we ventured out into the very busy streets of Sofia. Our first stop was at the building shown here that holds two museums: The Enthographic Museum and The National Gallery of Art. The former has displays of Bulgarian arts and crafts from the past 300 years. Our favorite exhibits were those showing the clothing/costumes and embroidery. The National Gallery had paintings from only the last 100 years or so and featured some good impressionist works. While both museums were nice, Brent and I found ourselves looking more at the ceiling and floor. The building we were in was the old Royal Palace (built in 1887). The parquet floors were magnicificent with inlaid oak and walnut carvings. We felt a bit guilty walking over it.

Across the street is the Presidential Palace. Every hour there is a changing of the guard outside. The soldiers do a nice high-stepping march out and across the entry. If you walk through the opening you enter a courtyard that faces the Sheraton hotel. More interesting is that in the middle of this courtyard is the oldest preserved building in Sofia. The Church of St. George was originally built as a rotunda by the Romans in the 2nd or 3rd century BC but was converted into a church during the Middle Ages. It was destroyed by the Huns, then underwent rebuilding in both the 6th century and 20th century. There are three layers of murals painted inside from the 10th to the 14th century.

I have to be honest--one of my favorite places in Sofia is Onda, the Bulgarian Starbucks. Actually, I don't think its a chain, and the pastries are much better than Starbucks, but the coffee drink selections seem to match. Bulgarians make great cappucinos. It's just that we are so used to GRANDE drinks that one cappucino never seems quite enough. Another pretty cool thing about Onda is that it is right across the street from theh Sveta Nedelya Cathedral. This is considered to be one the THE landmarks in the city. It was built in the mid 1800s on foundations of the Roman city of Ulpia Serdica. The cathedral is particularly ornate. One interesting note about this site: it was rebuilt in 1925 following a bomb attack by a communist group attempting to kill Tsar Boris III. He survived, but over 120 people, including most of his cabinet, did not. This is a very busy church as streams of newly-weds come by to have their picture taken both outside and in. It reminded us of St. Petersburg where newly married couples go to the statue of Peter the Great for their photos. Needless to say, we went through several coffees while watching these groups stop by (oh, and they are WiFi).

We'll sign off with a picture of one of the buildings often seen on postcards of Sofia (you are going to think from our blog that we are on the "church tour of Europe"). This is the Aleksander Nevski Church. It is the largest of its kind in the Balkans. Built at the turn of the 20th century, it is a memorial to the 200,000 Russian soldiers who died fighting for Bulgaria's independence during the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-78.

The American University in Bulgaria begins its semester break at the end of this week. That must mean its time for Brent and I to hit the road. We travel to Prague this weekend and Budapest next week. See you on the flip side--the 25th is Hump Day.

2005-10-12T06:35:00.000-07:00

Sticking Around Blagoevgrad.

We actually stayed in town for the past 10 days. However, since we didn't travel around Bulgaria, some of Bulgaria came to us. This past week there was something like a "Culture, Religion and Tradition of a Nation" festival in the square outside the university. For two days we got a chance to see a number of dances and skits representing various Bulgarian groups. Of course we don't have a clue what they said or where they were from, but it was fun nonetheless.

The costumes were very colorful and all the women had scarves on. Some had long braids down their backs which I'm sure were not their own. I did like the idea, however, and wish we could pick up on some of these customs. The men's pants were especially interesting. I'm not sure what the extra cloth between the legs was for. I was afraid to ask.

Most of this past week was spent preparing, giving, and grading exams. It almost felt as though we were not on sabbatical. I've been asked to give two talks here. One talk they are interested in is on "learning communities" and the other is on "difference, power, and discrimination" in the classroom. I really must learn to edit my CV more carefully. I'll do my best to represent OSU and our effects to do a good job in teaching and learning, but I wish Susan Shaw and Anita Helle were here to help me.

We are off to Sofia for a couple of days. We are taking the bus up. Believe it or not, this sign means something to me.
We'll post again next week with pictures of Sofia. Ciao.

2005-10-04T06:24:00.000-07:00

Two quick notes:
1. We've posted more from Scandanavia and updated the Plovdiv posting so you can see the pictures of Roman ruins and Bachkovo Monastery. Don't forget to enlarge the pictures to see great detail.
2. We understand that the Beavs won on Saturday. I suspect it was from my rooting for them from here.

OOOOOOOO- SSSSSSSSSSS- UUUUUUUUUUUU from Bulgaria.

2005-10-04T00:19:00.000-07:00

Hej from Sweden and Denmark Part II!

Brent is writing the blog this week and will not come close to the quality of Becky’s submissions.

We will begin this posting with a picture of Becky in front of her favorite guy at our Copenhagen hotel "Kong Artur." This picture is taken at the start of our trip to Malmö, Sweden.

On Frédag, September 30, we traveled from København (Copenhagen) to Malmö, Sweden via the Oresund Bridge (Malmö and Copenhagen make up the center of the so-called Oresund Region ). We hopped a train in Copenhagen and arrived in Malmö about 40 minutes later. After acquiring yet another currency on our trip at the train station (as with Denmark, Sweden does not use the Euro and has kept the kroner), we began our first visit to Sweden. As with Denmark, we experienced a little culture shock from our base in Bulgaria--pedestrian crosswalks are truly pedestrian. Car and bus drivers expect you to cross when the light is green and it is your turn. In fact, they will honk their horns at you if there is any hesitation. Crosswalks in Bulgaria are more "theoretical" from our experience. Often drivers speed up when they see you want to cross the street during a greenlight! I usually feel more like a moving target than a pedestrian. OK, back to Malmö.

Once leaving the central train station, we found ouselves in Gamla Staden, the old town, which forms the center of the city. The picture on the left is one of the several beautiful squares in the city center where there are many shops, restaurants, etc.

The picture on the left is one of the many canals surrounding Gamela Staden. There are many walking paths and parks surrounding the area and the preferred mode of travel appears to be walking, but with a lot of bikes as well.

On the western side of Gamela Staden we found the castle called "Malmöhus." The castle is considered one of the oldest Renaissance castles in northern Europe (circa 1434) and houses several museums including natural history and regional museums. Of particular interest to us were the living quarters on the top floor where we found many pictures and furniture of many Danish kings who from the time when the area was part of Denmark.

Toward the end of our day we walked to a new building called the Turning Torso, which is located near the bay facing Copenhagen. This building with 90 degrees of “twisting” is about 190 meters tall (623 feet or so) with 54 floors. It is quite bizarre looking and dominates the skyline of Malmö. The building is based on a sculpture by Santiago Calatrava called the “Twisting Torso.” The building will house some office space and about 149 luxury apartments (they called the building a “cooperative living arrangment” on one of the information signs. What a co-op!). The company maintains a website with some additional pictures at: www.turningtorso.com

BACK TO COPENHAGEN [Final Day in Viking Land]

On our last day in Copenhagen we decided to visit the Slotsholmen area where Christianborg Palace is located. The weather this day took a turn for the worse with much rain and cold, cold wind. The Palace is now home to the national government, a museum of ancient ruins, and the Royal Reception Rooms, used by the Danish royal family for official receptions. Because we could not tour the reception rooms until 3:00 pm, we decided to tour the ruins underneath the palace. There were several sets of ruins dating back from 1300 where they have built and rebuilt the palace several times. Of particular interest were the old preserved hollowed-out logs they used for water pipes and the various (still functional wells) from 1300. The current Christiansborg Palace is the fourth palace in Slotsholm and was built between 1907 and 1928. The second and third palaces were both destroyed by fire (1794 and 1884 respectively).

When we returned in the rain for our 3:00 pm tour of the Royal Reception Rooms and were most interested in the unusual tapestries hanging in the reception room. The tapestries are of modern design and are called the “History of Denmark.” There are wild colors and unusual themes such as a tapestry of the current queen and her husband standing in a Danish Garden of Even in an Adam and Eve (with clothes on however). There was also an interesting tapestry with pictures/figures from the world wars, modern popular culture (e.g., the Beatles), famous scientists (e.g., Einstein), etc. The tapestries took many years to consruct and were not finished until the Queen’s 60th birthday.

After touring the ruins we decided to visit a very odd looking church we had been admiring in the Christianshavn area. The Church is called Vor Fresers Kirke Church (The Church of Our Savior). The building was first erected in 1682 and an interesting tower and spire (cork screw shaped with stairs on the outside) was added in 1752. There are approximately 400 steps to the top with 150 steps outside the building. They allow people to climb the steps for a few kroner, so we eagerly started our ascent.

As I mentioned above it was cold and very windy with very, very strong wind gusts. After climbing wooden steps for a while we exited outside to finish our climb. The wind was so strong it was hard to stand up. Suffice to say that it was a little “narly” up there any way without the wind. After drawing straws Becky went first to "test" the wind for me. When we got to the top the view was absolutely spectacular, but we decided to sit while we took in the sites. Because the entire spire is framed with wood, it moved several inches with each wind gust.

Here is a picture I snapped on the way down the stairs. Thankfully it wasn't raining at the time. Looks like it would be a little slippery to me on the copper stairs!

Finally, here is one of the many spectacular views of Copenhagen you can see from the top of Vor Fresers Kirke Church.

Hej då! Brent and Becky

2005-09-29T12:05:00.000-07:00

Goddag from Copenhagen.

Brent and I have come up here for six days. We are in a bit of culture shock coming from Bulgaria, but enjoying every minute. The posting today is from a walking tour called the "royal rumble." You'll see why. The opening photo is Brent in front of Rosenborg. This was origninally built by Christian IV in 1606 as a summer palace. It was used up until the time of Christian's great grandson, Frederick IV in about 1710. The entire castle was open to us and for an additional 20 DK (a little over $3) we were allowed to take photographs.

There are two entrances open to us: one was to the basement with the royal jewels. I tried to take a few pictures but the stuff was all behind glass so too much glare to bother. However, the rooms upstairs (3 floors) were all open. Because we are past the tourist season we were basically alone in the castle. Well, we were alone except for the guards that stand behind you to make sure you don't touch anything. The guards know enough that they really served as mini tour guides for us.

We learned a lot about the connections between the royal houses of Europe. Here we see King Christian VII. At 16 he was described as "gifted" but later was diagnosed as schizophrenic. He was a cousin of George III of England (also schizophrenic). He married Caroline Mathilde of England and they had one son (the next king, Frederick VII). This painting was done just for show as Christian never really ruled. Rather, his physician became Prime Minister and held considerable influence. He (the physician) is the father of the Queen's second child. Later, Christian's mother-in-law took power in a coup until Frederick VII was old enough to rule. Oh what a great soap opera that royal families can make.

There are a lot of very beautiful tapestries on display in the Long Hall. Each show victories in the Scanian War in the late 1600s. Unique detail in one tapestry shows lepers with significant facial scars, another depicts men very much engaged in using snuff. The king's throne at the far end is made of narwhale tusk and the ensemble with silver lions was modelled after the Old Testament description of Solomon's throne.

The current royal family lives at Amalienborg Slot. It is part of a group of 4 palaces (identical rococo mansions) surrounding a square with a statue of Frederick V on horseback in the center. The Queen was not in residence while we were there but we were allowed to tour the lower floor (3rd floor to us) of Prince Joachim's residence. Joachim is the Queen's younger son. He was recently divorced--a very rare thing among royals here in Denmark. Our tour guide suggested that the rather liberal ideas about relationships here result in people making marriage decisions only after they have give serious thought (read--lived together) to their relationship.

We have walked a considerable amount of central Copenhagen. It's been refreshing to have cool weather--although I could do without the periodic rain. We walked along a street on a canal (Nyhavn). It is lined with quite colorful apartment buildings and the canal is filled with various types of boats. We saw several open-air tour boats take off from here. It reminded me of the Jurassic Park ride at Universal studios. The boat was wide with benches and the people looked very cold and soaking wet. We decided to just get wet on the sidewalk instead.

Conveniently we found a stoop with an overhang at #67 Nyhavn to wait out a downpour. It just so happened it was the home of Hans Christian Andersen. A small marker on the door was all that told us where we were.

Besides the general touristy stuff here we have had a great time walking and jogging along canals and streets with some very tall (and mostly blonde) people. Bikes are definately the mode of transporation.

And since Copenhagen is relatively flat, the bikes appear to be the kind I grew up with (baskets and all). All roads have bike lanes and, believe me, if you try to walk in one you are in for at least bell ringing. Crosswalks are organized very well, and, unlike Bulgaria, when you step in one the cars will actually pause to let you by.

We will try to take the train to Malmo, Sweden tomorrow. I'm very upset about this European Union (EU) thing. Since we entered the EU via Vienna our passport stamps are from Austria. Entering the airport in Denmark was like flying from pdx to sfo. I'm sure taking the train to Sweden will be the same. I feel like I've travelled a long way to the land of my mother's family and all I have is this silly blog for my memory books (I can't afford to buy much of anything here-- coffee is about $5).

I hope to get those pictures of Plovdiv up when I return. I sure hope that its not just my Powerbook that is the problem. Brent's little Dell is working like a charm here in Denmark.

We'll leave you here with a photo of the little mermaid (Den Lille Havrue). She was a gift of the Danish beer baron Carl Jacobsen who was so moved by a ballet performance of The Little Mermaid that he had this comissioned for Copenhagen's waterfront. It survived both the Depression and WWII but has not fared so well recently. She has been decapitated twice in the last 40 years and both the head and one arm are no longer original. It is very far out from most tourist sites and our tour book says the vandalism is related to the view of "so bloody what" if we have a mermaid statue.

Farvel.

2005-09-25T01:50:00.000-07:00

[new pictures posted for]: HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY BULGARIA

This week Bulgaria celebrates the 97th anniversary of its independence from the Ottoman Empire. Brent and I took the opportunity to visit the second largest city in Bulgaria (located in the south central area of the country). We took a 3 hour bus ride over the Rila Mountains to the city of Plovdiv. What we've done here is to post just a few of the 100 or so pictures from this trip. We stayed at the Trimontium Princess Hotel which was conveniently located for access to both "old" and "new" Plovdiv. From our hotel window we could see significant ruins that were uncovered while the hotel was built as well as the Roman amphitheater on the hill in the distance.

The "new" Plovdiv is the part of the city that rests in the plains below seven hills (tepe). It has a very European feel to it with LOTS of small shops and cafes. The most popular types of shops are shoe stores (oboovki). The main street is anchored by two squares. The Dzhumaya square at the north end has two pretty interesting features. One is the Dzhumaya mosque (built in 1423); the other are ruins of a Roman stadium.

Only a dozen or so rows have been unearthed and partially restored. This stadium is measured at 180 meters in length (almost 600 feet or 200 yards long) and could hold 30,000 people. The picture here is taken from the street above the ruins.

Walking up the hill to the east of the square you run into many old churches and intriguing streets. Here we show a picture of the Gate to the Fortress Hisa Kapiya built during the time of Marcus Aurelius.

We loved finding alleys going steeply downhill or uphill. We followed as many of these streets as we could, finding lots of ruins that are left open for exploration. One of the more disappointing sites was on the top of Nebet Tepe (named by the Turks as "prayer hill").

Here you find the ruins of Eumolpias, a Thracian settlement from about 5000 BC. We include one of the few pictures we could get without graffiti on the walls or stones. The views from the top of these hills are spectacular.

The highlight (well, one of them) is the Roman Amphitheater. It was built by the Romans during the reign of Trajanus in early 2nd century AD. It was uncovered during a landslide in 1972. In its day it held 6000 people. Because the theater is built on the side of the hill, the view behind the stage is of the valley below. It must have been a site to see. We paid the 3 leva each to walk through the theater (between tour groups) to get a few snapshops.

We hired a taxi driver to take us to Bachkovski Monastir. Located about 30km south of Plovdiv, the monastery was rounded in 1083 by two brothers who were military officers for the Byzantine rulers of the day. As with other monasteries, this one has gone through periods of looting and reconstruction. As you can see from the photo, there are two churches in the courtyard. The older (Archangel Church) is 12th century, while the newer (Church of the Assumption of Our Lady) is very early 17th century.

The frescos are typical. We show here just two. The one of Jesus and the ten virgins is often shown in guidebooks. We also show here the entrance to the newer church. Just inside and to the right is a 14th century silver icon of the Holy Virgin. This was kissed by almost all Orthodox visitors.

On the drive back down from the monastery our taxi driver pointed up to what looked like a castle on the hill. He must have indicated that it was something we should see, so we said "da" and off we went. The lesson here is to always listen to your taxi driver. While we had read something about Assen's fortress we either forgot about it or didn't think it was here.
The "Assenova Krepost" (fortress) was built in the 12th century by Tsar Ivan Assen II.
From its vantage point, military could keep an eye on the major road between Turkey and Greece (east to west) and from Plovdiv to the Agean Sea (north to south).

We lucked out a bit as a large man approached us on the steps up to the church and said "tourista?" "Da." "Otkudesse?" "United States." "Aaaahhh, which state?" "Oregon." "I've been to your beautiful state with beautiful mountains and rivers, and nice fish." He then proceeded to tell us he was a historian of the area and gave us a lecture on this fortress and church. What is left to see here is the medieval church (Holy Mother of God) and some of the wall of the fortress (the Bulgarian flag at the top of this posting is on the top of the fortress wall). The historian began his descent and we saw him later giving a lecture to a group of Bulgarians (from whom he secured the always present cigarette). We are always surprised to find people (all ages and abilities) climbing the steep steps to the various sites with cigarettes burning.

Which reminds me--I am getting to know my students a bit more so got the nerve to ask one of the young men (who was, of course, smoking outside the classroom door): why does everyone smoke here? He replied, "let me ask you a question: do you want to live forever?" I responded, "well, I guess I want to live longer than you do."

On our final evening in Plovdiv there was a festival with a band. I've tried to lighten up this picture so you can see "the band." The band consists of a singer, a keyboard player, AND.......an IMac. Yes, the songs are all produced on computer. There were a couple of Bulgarian songs, but many US songs from Stevie Wonder (superstition) to Saturday Night Fever songs. Lots of people were dancing and enjoying the local beer (Kamenitza). We went back to our room and watched the fireworks in the park. The only colors in the fireworks were........(check the flag)......red, green, and white. It was a nice ending for our trip.

We left the next morning for our bus trip back to Blagoevgrad. The bus stations here are very active. They have sectors (spelled in Bulgarian like CEKTOP) and you buy a ticket and wait for your bus to show up in your assigned sector. We would be in serious trouble if we couldn't read the Bulgarian alphabet.

We include a picture here of a couple of buses in their sectors. The buses vary in terms of condition. Tonight we are going to attend the Macedonian Folk festival. It is in the square right outside our office building (see picture in the first blog entry). The president of the country is here so the security is tight.

We are offline this week so I hope to get more posted by about October 3rd.

2005-09-18T04:53:00.000-07:00

Sunday at the Office--Again.

It’s Sunday so that means it is time to check Beaver (ouch) and Duck (whew) scores, and update the blog. I’ve started with a picture of the area around Rhozhenski manastir (Rozhen Monastery). These rock formations around the monastery remind us of the badlands in South Dakota. They may have served as some deterrent against enemies, but from the history books it appears that the Turks had their way with most of the towns around here.

We have hired a taxi driver to take us on a number of our upcoming trips to the Sofia airport, and he agreed to take us to Melnik and Rhozen this weekend. Melnik is south of Blagoevgrad and the drive took us through Sandanski, the birthplace of Spartacus. Melnik just seems to appear out of nowhere, nestled between sandstone cones and scree slopes.

Once a town of 20,000 people in 1880, it is now a village of about 250. The draw here is for the red wine that they store in cellars that seem to be holes in the hills. The reputation of the wine is legendary (we heard about it in Russia) and we read that Winston Churchill ordered wine from here for his son’s wedding.

There are some ruins of medieval churches here (e.g., St. Barbara—Sevta Barbara) and a couple of older churches that still function. We walked up a short way to visit Sveti Nicholai Chudotvorets (St. Nicholas the Wonder-worker) and found several people sleeping on benches at the sides of the church.

We heard music off in the distance but found that when we reached the bottom of the hill we just missed some traditional dances by students from surrounding countries.

Not far from Melnik is Rhozenski Monastir (Rhozen comes from the root word “roden” which means “born” and the monastery is dedicated to the “Mother of God’s Nativity.”). The foundation dates back to the 12th century, but the current structures are of course much more recent.

We were not allowed to take photos inside the monastery (unlike Rila) but we did snap one through the entry door and one from the “bakery” upstairs. The bakery oven and walls are constructed of mud- and straw- bricks. The Church of the Birth of the Holy Virgin is small and has the usual frescos outside depicting Judgment Day. People are shown climbing a ladder to heaven with some being torn off and tossed into a mouth of a red serpent.

The local priest was working in the church and we watched him fill the water bottles of those who entered. The courtyard around the inside of the monastery has the thickest grape vine we’ve every seen.

We went for another long walk up in the hills today. It is so hazy in the mornings that the pictures just don’t show up clearly. I’ve put a couple here—one of the soccer (sorry, football) stadium. I sure hope to see a game.

As we walked up we passed a woman and said hello (dobar den). We walked on for another 15 minutes and saw she was ahead of us again. She turned around and waved, waiting for us at the local spring at the top of the hill. She tried to explain to us the shortcut, and we just smiled and shook our heads (remembering for once that no means yes).

This next week will be our week 2 of class. I took a little survey. My students are from 7 different countries and speak 18 languages among them. We are off to Plovdiv on Thursday (second largest city in Bulgaria). We will be using regular transportation, so wish us well.

2005-09-13T05:42:00.000-07:00

It's Tuesday afternoon here and very quiet. I thought I might take a break from preparing a lecture to post a couple more pictures. We have not had any new "big" adventures. Rather, our life is becoming quite settled. As I mentioned before, we spent our first week here trying to get the apartment filled with the important items: coffee maker, hair dryer, bath towels, etc. As it turns out, you can buy everything you need in the "universal magazine." (That's what the sign says on this building in case anyone is trying out their knowledge of the cyrillic alphabet. Enlarge the picuture for a better view.). Magazine means "store" and, of course, universal means everything is there. Inside this building are independently run kiosks. We have since learned of other places to buy things of better qualilty and lower price, but it was a good place to start.

The university sits on the edge of a town square. There are many streets going at angles with lots of cafes. This cafe with the green awning is called Pizza Napoli and is quite popular among faculty and students. The menu is in both Bulgarian and English. It gives us the chance to order things and then remember the Bulgarian so we can order in other cafes. As with the 'magazine' we have since wandered on to other places.

Strolling along the steets in the city square there are shops for everything. Most popular (or so it seems) are shoe stores. Fashion is really important here. Brent and I have chuckled at one thing about t-shirts here: anything with English seems "cool." However, I think if people knew what the words said, they might not be quite so popular. Many women have shirts referring to themselves as "sexual attractions" while men have more behavioral themes "do it on the first date" (recognize I'm not using the right slang here--the shirts do).

Another fun kind of shopping is grocery shopping. No Winco here! Instead, there are many "super markets" on every block. They have a little of everything. This shop is called "super market cosmos" and we stop here sometimes on the way home for bread, cheese, and yogurt. There are really only two kinds of cheese here that I can figure out. One is the regular chees (serene) that is white and varies in taste from a mild to tangy mozzarella. Then there is yellow cheese (kashkoval) which is also white but tastes from mild to tangy provalone. Some comes from goats, some from cows, some from sheep. We don't have a clue how to tell the difference. But they are all pretty good.

Yesterday was our first day of classes. Both Brent and I teach in the Multipurpose Room of Skaptopara (the dorms). I've posted a picture of the outside of Sakpto 1 (there are three). They are very nice dorms. I have 36 students enrolled in my introduction to sociology class. Just for fun, let me give you some last names of my students: Bajramspahic, Bekkoyonov, Cvetanovski, Karagyozova, Pabaruyeva, Zhisova. First names are similarly challenging: Chingiz, Stojche, Lyubomira, Rumyana, Velichko. I suspect you guessed that I did not call roll the first day. My students were very active and I am really looking forward to getting to know them better. Once I do, I'll ask if I can take a picture or two.

Ok, here's a perplexing thing. While walking to campus with a woman named Pavlova I asked if this really warm and humid weather was atypical for this time of year. Shaking her head back and forth (which means yes, by the way, and is another perplexing thing) she said "well, it is not always the case. But, sometimes it is and we call it gypsy summer." Interesting. In the US we call it "Indian summer." So, Brent asked a professor here about this and he indicated that in Russia it is called "women summer." What do these groups have in common? I've been doing some investigating on the web, but I'm not sure I have an answer.

Dovijdane. Preatin den. (see you later--have a nice day)

2005-09-10T07:04:00.000-07:00

History lesson: In the late 9th century John of Rila (Ivan Rilski) took to the wilds of Bulgaria in search of solitude and enlightenment. According to the literature, John of Rila was a champion of the purity of the Christian Faith and of high moral standards. The hermit of Rila advocated equality between people, and the renunciation of wealth that has been acquired in unfair ways. His reform-minded ideas came to appeal to many and the cave in which he lived became a holy place for people from all over Bulgaria.

Shortly after his death in 946 he was canonized and because the bones of saints were important symbols that added legitimacy to the current ruler, Tsar Petar had St. John’s remains brought to Sofia. The bones were moved several times-- and the right hand took a tour of Russia to raise funds for the restoration of Bulgarian monasteries—but returned to Rila for good in 1469. The left had is on display in the current monastery church for a short period every day for “real” pilgrims. Gazing upon the hand (crossing one-self and kissing the glass) is said to bring a state of spiritual grace. [We were fortunate to be in the monastery church during the time the hand was displayed. People were clearly moved by this experience.]

A monastery was first built 4km west of St. John’s original hermitage in 1335. Several renovations have occurred as the monastery was plundered several times and experienced a fire in 1833.

As you can see from the pictures here, some bits are quite old (14-15th century) while other parts were built in the mid 20th century.

The outside walls of the monastery church are covered with the most beautiful frescos. They show the fall of Constantinople and visions of hell. The bat-winged demons that loom large in Bulgarian imagination are frequently displayed in somewhat gross detail. The pictures are displays of sin. If you can enlarge the one picture you can see some rich men eating while a poor beggar below the table has his leg being gnawed on by a dog. (I can enlarge a picture just by clicking on it.) Why the woman is being attacked by the demon is not clear.

The ceilings are also beautifully painted and include images of the “good guys.”(see two below)

There is a really nice museum connected to the monastery. No pictures were allowed. The highlight included a 14-inch high wooden cross made by the monk Rafail during the 1790s. It is composed of 140 tablets telling stories from the bible. There are more than 1500 figures carved in the tablets. It took Rafail 12 years to carve this (using a needle) and he went blind doing so.

We returned to Blagoevgrad this afternoon and after lunch in the square we walked by our local church in the "old town." It's not quite Rila, but it's pretty cool as well.

Until the next post, dovijdane! (PS: Sorry about the floating text. I have not quite figured out how to use this editor)

2005-09-04T03:59:00.000-07:00

Hello again from Blagoevgrad. It is Sunday afternoon here and we are up at the University setting up a wireless network so we can both work at the same time. Well, Brent can check the football scores and I can post pictures on our blog.

We have been here two days. The first day was spent getting settled in our apartment and buying the necessary appliances (coffee pot and hair dryer). I've posted a couple of pictures of our apartment (Warner warning--we aren't in Kansas anymore).

Our apartment is the upper most balcony on the right. We overlook a garden and other apartment buildings from the balcony. A resident rooster wakes us up with a yell that sounds like "noc tuurrr nal" (without the consonants, of course). Our landlord says she has "such criminals" in her neighborhood as well.

The apartment has plenty of space. Kitchen, formal dining room, living room, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. The kitchen overlooks a busy street and the living room is connected to the balcony.

This morning (Sunday) we went for about a 2 1/2 hour hike in the hills above the old town in Blagoevgrad. Views from the top included the city to the north, and small villages to the southeast. Two views-- two different centuries. On one side there are streets filled with cars (some American and Russian, but mostly from France--Peuget, Renault, Citroen)and the other side has unpaved roads filled with goats and horse drawn carts. People are very friendly and always say some form of hello. We looked a bit silly in our shorts and hiking shoes but I guess it lets people know we are foreigners. We'll remember to bring our camera next time.

This afternoon we had lunch at a place called "Pizza Italia." I ordered a pizza with "three tipes" of cheese. It turned out to be quite good. There were two crusts. The bottom was traditional bread while the top was a kind of biscuit dough. In the middle were three cheeses--one of which was feta, the others were a bit more like mozzarella or provalone. Brent had a chicken and pickled cucumber pizza. The pickles were sweet pickles. Interesting.

We begin our orientation week tomorrow. Neither one of us has given any thought to our syllabi or lectures. But hey--what's new? Here's a picture of Brent in our office. Better get to work. Later. B

2005-08-19T19:25:00.000-07:00

We have arrived in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. While the trip here was uneventful, we are facing our first challenge. The person who was supposed to meet us at the university to rent us an apartment has not arrived (about an hour late). It gives me time to post our arrival, but I'd rather have a shower and a bed.

We will try to take some pictures this weekend and post them. Until then, Go Beavers and happy Labor Day.

Becky and Brent