See the hot spots around The Balkans In 60 Days – Stop 26 Rila, Plovdiv, Varna, Bulgaria

17/9/2018. From Sofia, I took a day trip to the town of Rila. Along the way, fields of bright yellow dominated the color scheme. Bowing to the command of the sun, sunflowers opened up unreservedly and bloomed in unison.

Finally, deep in the mountains, an old monastery revealed itself, in dimmed, colorful stripes, still insisting to be no part of the world, but visitors were welcomed.

Back in Sofia that evening, I ordered grilled fish with rice and vegetables fish for dinner. A skinny fish was served. Though decapitated, the detached head was re-connected to the body, attesting to this being a fish. They had not bastardized the fish with any extraneous adornments. If I wanted to have a twist of taste, they gave me a slice of lemon to help myself. If I was vulgar enough to want to enhance it, they had salt and pepper at my disposal. Less is more, that is the beauty of Western cuisine.

Every ingredient was perfectly placed, the colors lit, on a plate like the white canvas a painter draws on. There was not an extra comma, not an unwanted period. I appreciated this candid presentation, so I dove in with gusto, leaving the head intact, and the bones on the plate, as a token of appreciation.

To top it off, the dishes were usually served with a good attitude; I felt respected, esteemed. In return for this pampering, the prices charged were more palatable than in many European cities.

I had an Italian quiche and a prune tart for lunch a couple of days ago; a bit of guilty pleasure that hurt no one.

All so good that I could not stop drooling at night.

17/9/2018 从索菲亚到里拉修道院一日游。一路向日葵灿放。这修道院名气大，古老。这季节每天只有一趟直达，我迟到十分钟，结果周转几班车才抵达，晚上九点才回到索菲亚。这一天出的问题太多，真需要修行。

修道院在深山林里，与世隔绝，不问世事。这世界有不同信仰哲理，各行其道。偶尔会有走偏的，甚至走火入魔的，使这文明的世界有点不论不类。还是把自己做好。

晚餐跟服务员点了鱼和菜，服务员真的端上来的，摆在眼前的丝毫不含糊，很直观，一条鱼和一点青菜，就像小同学在碟子一笔一划的画了只鱼，加蔬菜。这条鱼虽身首异处，那头至少证明不是挂鱼头卖鸡肉。这些西餐名厨学艺多年，只求掌握火候，讲究几分熟，不得玩得过火。油盐醋全摆在桌上由顾客自助。吃完了还要付小费奖励服务员的微笑。日本人做得还要过分，干脆活生生的端上来。简单也是一门艺术。

18/9/2018. From Sofia, I took the train to Plovdiv, the second-largest Bulgarian city, just three hours away. Plovdiv is one of the oldest cities in the world, but it is aging gracefully. The residents’ ancestors left behind numerous old houses, amphitheaters, cathedrals, and old cobblestone streets to remind them of their long history. The old part of the town is so quiet that I could hear my own thoughts. A retired man happened to walk past, and we chatted. He had worked for the Bulgarian embassy in many countries. I asked him, “Why is Bulgaria so unknown when it is such an attractive country?” He suggested it might be because of their ethnicity and orthodox religion, which was closer to the Russians than other Europeans. Oh, I thought they were all white.

I have traveled through the Balkan states of godlessness, Roman Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Islam. Religion has played a part in people’s lives. As though by uncanny coincidence, I shared a dorm room with an Indian young man in Bulgaria, who proudly confessed he believed in Luciferianism. He studied medicine in Ukraine, but was taking drugs, not the type prescribed, then had a brush with the law stabbing a Ukrainian. After his release, he came to Bulgaria on a medical internship. As we spoke, he wore a T-shirt with a big, ghastly drawing of a dark spooky character on the front. To prove his conviction, he pulled out two big pendants hung around his neck: symbols of Luciferianism. He was dating a Turkish girl. Knowing that Turkey in general, is quite a conservative country, I asked him what his future mother-in-law says about his religion. He took out his phone and showed me his default screen face: a dark, scary figure! “Each time the lady sees it,” he said, “the lady screams ‘Satan! Satan!’”.

I know, it is a weird story. But isn’t that Bulgaria, an interesting mix?

18/9/2018 从索菲亚搭上火车到三小时外的普罗夫迪夫。这是保加利亚第二大城市，也是世界最古老城市之一，因此可见古房古楼，竞技场，老教堂，大石块铺的老街道。

老城区很幽静，路上街道行人无几；也没什么商业，没高楼，只有木质古香老楼；大白天在寂静中溜达，悠闲自在，感受古老韵味，格外赏心悦目。

一位在这里生活的长者跟我聊起来；他曾在大使馆工作期间也周游多国。我问他保加利亚有不少旅游亮点，为何却默默无闻。他解释可能是因为他们信东征教，且跟俄罗斯同族同教，在欧洲可能有点受排斥。哦，站队也很重要。

Pedestrian street in Plovdiv 普罗夫迪夫步行街 — Dzhumaya Mosque 市中心老清真寺

19-20/9/2018. My last destination in Bulgaria was Varna, the largest Bulgarian port on the Black Sea, six hours from Sofia by train.

The weather was hot when I started on this Balkan trip, but it was now getting cooler. The peak season was about over, and the tourist crowd was getting thinner. I took a nice walk along the beach and the park alongside it. The sun was still glorious; the sea continued to make waves; the people were still out in a throng trying to catch both.

This city, like many others in Bulgaria, has a proud historical legacy. Majestic cathedrals, imposing in stature, are mighty houses fit for the worship of the almighty. Old buildings with charming architecture continue to catch eyeballs, round or squirmy. The Romans left something behind, too, but what’s left of the old Roman bath, like the distant memory, is fading away.

It was a bit late in the evening, there were few choices to feed this hungry horse. I stumbled upon a Chinese restaurant in the city center, somewhere near the Assumption of the Virgin Mary Cathedral. Unsurprisingly, it has an auspicious name, a name like others that often include either luck, dragon, prosperity, horse, or a combination of these. I was not sure if it whetted my appetite or dampened it, as auspicious as it sounded. I sat down to order a plate of stir-fried beef, all cut into pieces, dowsed generously in black sauce. In that dim lighting, I could not be sure I was eating part of a cow. This was my first Chinese dinner since embarking on this long Balkan trip about 50 days ago. It tasted un-Chinese; I felt un-Chinese. Deep down, somewhere beneath my skin, I think I was still Chinese.

19-20/9/2018 在保加利亚最后一站是离索菲亚六小时火车程的瓦尔纳，是保加利亚第二大城市，也是在黑海的最大港口。

巴尔干之行开始时大热天气，现开设秋凉气爽，旅游旺季刚过，一切降温了许多，冷清了不少。这里沙滩真的有沙了。海水并不平静，后浪推前浪，一直前冲，又一直后退，浪花滚滚，好傻看，不好游。市内也保留了一些老教堂，年迈但魁梧身躯使人敬畏。宽阔的步行街广场两旁排列再度生辉的老楼，罗马人也曾经在此做主，并留下一堆废墟，余味未消，凸显这海边古典小城的情调。

到这里后第一次吃中餐，五十天来第一次，口感怪怪的，可能是口味开始退化了。奇怪，几十年的饭桶，几十天来没米饭也无痛痒，是玩得废寝忘主食，精神粮食满足即可。