A Visit to Nessebar, Bulgaria

 Yesterday, Saturday July 13th, I had the great experience of visiting the old town of Nessebar. Nessebar is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is referred to as a city-museum. There have been people living in Nessebar for thousands of years. In the 6th century it became a Greek city. It was inhabited by rich sea merchants. They made their money by making and selling fig wine. It was a big seller all over the area. One way that the locals would show just how rich they were was to build a family church. The more beautiful the better. Here I am standing in front of what is left of one of these churches. Note the brickwork and intricate design. Also note I am wearing my Dodger shirt (Go Dodgers lol). At one time there were more than 40 churches in this small town. Only a few remain but those that do are beautiful.

 This is what remains of the town defensive wall. The town is actually a small island that has been joined to the land by a small road way. This is part of the original fortification of the town. When you have something valuable you want to protect it. The people who lived in this town were rich enough that when the Ottoman Empire defeated them, they were able to pay tribute and not have their town and churches torn down. The Ottomans did not mind Christian churches as long as the roof was no higher that a man on horse back. The churches in this town are much taller but because they had money the Turks left the churches alone. So even though you had a great defensive wall like this one must have been it was no guarantee that you would survive an attack.

Here is a view up one of the streets in Nessebar. As you can see the streets are still lines with cobblestones, nice to look at but not the best to walk on. The house have wood siding because it is the best for this seaside location. Also as you can see, and this is not even the most crowded street, every nook and cranny is filled with a vendor trying to sell you something. Interestingly enough, many of the vendors were selling Jack Daniels Tee-Shirts. Go figure. As my host and friend Miss Tony said "Jack is probably rolling over in his grave."  I hope you enjoyed this small view. I have some more pictures of some of the churches, if I hear from enough of you I will post them too.

Ruins from Roman Times

 Varna has been an important seaport on the Black Sea for thousands of years. The Greeks were here and so were the Romans. What you see here are the ruins of a Roman Bath House In the center of this picture is what is left of the large dome. They believe the dome would have stood around 60 feet high. The baths are from the 1st century, so see Varna has been around for a long time, Livermore is proud of our almost 150 years, Varna has been around more than 10 times longer.

 In this picture you can see some of the large community rooms that would have been used in the bathhouse. Public bathing houses were very important to the Romans. This particular one is the 4th largest bathhouse found. The size gives you and indication of the importance of Varna to the Roman Empire.

Here is another view. I included this one because as I was taking this picture a man came by and wagged his finger at me and said something. From his tone of voice I am sure he was not saying,  "nice day to take some pictures." It was more like, "you are not supposed to take pictures from outside like this." There is an entrance fee to get in but I figured why pay to go inside when you can see all of it from out here. So, oops here I am getting in trouble in ancient Varna. Thank goodness it is not ancient Rome, or I might have been put in the arena with a gladiator or wild animal. lol

The Varna Zoo and Another View of the Cathedral in Varna

 The zoo in Varna is not a very big zoo but it does have a little bit of everything for all to enjoy. Here is a picture of Bambi. When anyone would come by the deer would all get up and beg for food. This particular one was too cool to get up. Of course it was really hot and humid so maybe it was not too cool, maybe it was too hot.

 The owl here is an eagle owl. I thought he looked good up there looking down at me, like he was the king of the castle. There were lots of different types of birds at the zoo.

 Ahh yes the bear. He was sitting down in the moat looking up at a group of kids and trying to get them to feed him. So there were lions and tigers and bears, oh my at the zoo. I saw the lions and bear but I did not see the tiger. The sign said there was a tiger but he must have been in back resting from the heat.

Last here is another view of the cathedral here in Varna. It is such a beautiful building and since I was directly across the street from it and there were no buses in the way I thought I would take a picture. This is the place where the bus I rode from Bucharest to Varna stopped and let me off. It is near the Sea Gardens. I also liked the cloud formation that was behind it. For a while I thought we were going to get a thunderstorm, but we did not.

Around the Sea Gardens

 Here in Varna, where the city meet the Black Sea is a place known as the Sea Gardens. It is a lovely park like area where you can wander around on tree-lined avenues, occasionally getting a glimpse of the Sea.

 In addition to the tree-lines walkways there are streets to walk on and plazas to walk through. Here is one of the many plazas that fill this area. The streets are lined with shops and restaurants. Also, as you can see, there are plenty of places just to sit and watch the world walk by.

 If you want an ice cream or a soda there are many kiosks like this one throughout the area. You can stop and get an ice cream cone (I picked chocolate) for 2.5 lev (the local money) and a Coca Cola Zero for only 2 Lev. That totals to about $3. Not bad, and don't worry, if you prefer a different brand of ice cream, just keep walking there is another kiosk up ahead.

If you prefer to sit down and have a meal, or just drink a coffee, or have dessert, there are many restaurants like this one all over the area. This particular one I have eaten at and the food was very good I had a mixed grill, some beef and some pork sausages with french fries. So there is a quick look at one of the beautiful places to see here in Varna, Bulgaria.

How I get to and from work here in Varna

 I guess 7 really is a lucky number. Today I was figuring out how long my trip to my work place was. So I timed myself as I went to work. First I have to walk to the bus stop from my apartment. It took me 7 minutes to get to the stop. From there I take the number 7 bus for, you guessed it 7 minutes. Once I get off I have a walk of, yep 7 minutes (actually it was like 7 minutes and 30 seconds but for the fun of this we will call it 7 minutes). So I walk 7 minutes, ride the number 7 bus for 7 minutes, and then walk 7 more minutes and arrive at the area pictured above. The stairs you see on the right of center of the picture lead up to the Vista Language School. I go up those stairs and in the door to where I teach my class.

 Here is a picture of the sign that is outside the language school. You can see the worm coming out of the apple where it says Vista language Centre (like the British would spell it). The window there looks into the office area.

Here is another Vista banner that hangs on the back side of the center. This window looks into one of the classrooms. So now you know how lucky I am to be able to work at the Vista Language Centre.

The New Classes

 Here are the students attending the first class of my U.S. History class in Varna, Bulgaria. They are from left to right Toni, Teodora, and Martina. They were very good students today during our first lesson.

This is what we discussed today. We talked about the First Americans and where they came from and how they got there. Then we discussed the major Native American tribes that were around at the time of Columbus' arrival. Yes I know this is not U.S. History but I thought it was important and when you are teaching like this, there is no curriculum guide hanging over you or test results threatening to bring your school down, so you can improvise. Besides I am designing the course as we go, who knows what we will talk about on Wednesday!

Wrapping Up Camping with Vista

 Here is a schedule from day 5 of the Vista Camp. It was the day we took the long hike to the waterfall. If you look closely you can see that I am on the schedule at 3:30 and again at 6:00. You can also see that the night went very late. We had a Vistas Got Talent night and I got to be one of the judges, I got to be the nice one who liked everything he saw.

 At the waterfall there was this cave. I have no doubt that in prehistoric times this cave was inhabited by cave men (and cave women too!). The location is too nice to not have been used. It is right at the waterfall so you have access to clean fresh water. The only problem I could see was that the ceiling was not very high. I could not stand up inside the cave. It does go back quite far and maybe the ceiling is higher back there.

And lastly, here is my new friend and interpreter Tsveti getting a quick hair rinse at the falls. This view would be what you saw if you lived inside the cave in prehistoric times. Well not with Tsveti in the picture, she is not that old.