(Possibly) Last Outpost Of The Bulgarian ... Balkan Travellers - The - City
A reality in “upside down style”, this creative, witty and softer version of striptease is back on stage, following an absence of nearly 80 years. All the gulls of Ahtopol go there to sleep, make love, look after their nestlings and, well, poop. Apart from the tasty migrating bonito, which passes by each autumn, the local attractions consist of an old Greek school, an eighteenth-century church and a mysterious white-washed rock. Balkan Travellers - The (Possibly) Last Outpost of the Bulgarian Black Sea’s Old Charms function correctPNG() // correctly handle PNG transparency in Win IE 5.5 or higher. Being part of the invisible, albeit important cycle of nature, they used to drive the mackerel close to the shore and hence into fishing nets.The adverse changes in Ahtopol involve the mainland too. Carnivorous, swift and with excellent, aromatic flesh, it's the tastiest offering thrown up in abundance by the Black Sea.Unfortunately, the bonito is a migratory fish that only frequents the Bulgarian waters in autumn. Consequently, the settlement Agathopolis – Ahtenbolu – Ahtopol never became a large one and its relics can hardly be defined as impressive. Expats say the best tactics is not to get annoyed. For outsiders, however, it quickly becomes a part of the experience of being precisely in the Balkans and nowhere else. For the elderly sexton, however, it is at least as important as a major national monument. FullStory Insiders' AdviceIs it easy to drive in the Balkans? FullStory Curiosity ChestBulgariaBalkan Mysteries: Veda Slovena, the Bulgarian Epic from Old Testament TimesBulgaria’s Homer perplexed Europe in the nineteenth century with the biggest literary mystification in the peninsula’s history. Greek keftedes too, please!The saddest song about meatballs in history was sung by an African-American. Hence Bulgarian fishermen cannot catch the rich variety savoured by their Greek and Turkish counterparts in the Aegean and Mediterranean seas. However, many women in the town are still called Maria, a name popular with Greeks living along the Black Sea coast.The Thracians, Greeks, Bulgarians and Turks were not particularly captivated by the place. However, the amount of fish has dropped dramatically since many dolphins perished in the 1950s and 1960s. Ideally, the fish should be cut lengthwise into two parts and grilled, but not excessively because its flesh should retain its succulence and slight taste of brine. If you are looking for adrenalin, this is a cheap way to get it. In Ahtopol, unofficially known as the Bonito Capital, the situation is just the opposite. In autumn, the surrounding water becomes home to thousands of the tastiest Black Sea fishSitting between pinups of several scantily clad models, his wife Maria and his own paintings depicting fishing life, Bay Milcho leans forward. It was built in 1796 and is worth a five-minute visit. Its appearance always causes some excitement. Its most remarkable ruin is still the dilapidated stretch of ancient city wall. Judging from the story related by its 1,500 citizens, they are truly convinced of this. Last year, the headline of a major daily read “The Bonito Attacks the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast” and you can constantly hear grievances that “there are less than in the past”.This may apply to the rest of the coast. Long ago, it used to protect the promontory from mainland raids. Marine fish, however, like highly saline water. Most holidaymakers are low-income Bulgarians or people from the new EU countries, but you can occasionally meet some bohemian Sofianites. Neither has the northern bay been spared. Nobody has painted it!” Bay Milcho is so exasperated that he finally reveals the secret of the white rock if we agree to leave him alone. Now, there is a small park on its site where everything – benches, playground toys, litter bins and chairs nailed to the trees – is painted in the colours of the Bulgarian standard – white, green and red, without any trace of self-irony. OK, how about the Neretva delta and channel in Croatia? On its beach, just opposite the white painted rock, stands a wooden ship functioning as a disco and the sand is covered with straw parasols.Did the disco owners paint the rock white? One of them, for instance, says, that Neretva River in Bosnia and Herzegovina flows FROM the Adriatic towards the inland of the Balkans, never reaching the sea. Overlooking the dark blue waters are some 200 quiet stone houses, their entrances shaded by wild figs and vines. Raymond Detrez, a Belgian scholar of Bulgarian and Balkan Studies, describes this sometimes entertaining and other times annoying, and even dangerous, social phenomenon. Several years ago, Bay Milcho headed to the old school at the very end of the headland, descended the narrow path making his way to the rocky cove through the thick bushes and, watched by two curious, giggling Polish girls, created his greatest work. She uses only Black Sea mackerel for this purpose, according to timeworn recipes. Shortly after coming to power in 1944, the Communists demolished it because it “was in the way”. Some time ago, to preserve the memory of the church, somebody erected its bell tower again – from steel posts. The latter caused Dimana Trankova to undertake a private investigation. The legend has been recounted on several tourist websites and tells of the “Greek goddess of love, Agatha”, who was so enamoured of the headland and its environs that she began holidaying there. The moment she sees you taking out your camera, she will demand that you leave.Fate was not kind to Ahtopol's other old church. The only noteworthy exception is the bonito. The small houses belonging to fishermen and their families (they have rooms to let in the summer) are still there while their owners quietly toil in lush gardens, waiting to chat to passers-by. Then again, who cares how cold it is - the locals have a cheap cure: heavy red wine. Then she christened the place Agathopolis, the City of Love.Agatha was not the only citizen of Greek origin here. Then they were replaced by Bulgarians from Eastern Thrace, which remained a Turkish territory. They are not painted in the colours of the national flag.In the autumn, this lack of singularity about Ahtopol disappears. They have a long-standing tradition of spending their summer holidays in Ahtopol, as evidenced by the worn-out cabins owned by various theatres, universities and art academies. This is when the palamud, or belted bonito, appears.Due to its recent past (from a geological standpoint) as a freshwater lake, the Black Sea is not particularly salty. This is why the rock is white.”This article is courtesy of the Bulgarian magazine Vagabond. To find out who the secretive painter is, she interrogated a local celebrity, Bay Milcho, and the owners of a disco housed by a wooden ship on the beach.Ahtopol may be known as the new Sozopol, but it has an advantage. Until the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 most of Ahtopol's population was Greek. While the cabin area is overgrown with weeds, new hotels have sprung up on the southern end of the fishermen's bay, right opposite the old city and the lighthouse. Winter is beautiful in the high mountains, the problem is, it can be so cold! Yet it's the first occasion on which he's been asked such a stupid – in his view – question.For recent arrivals to Ahtopol who already know Bay Milcho, it's a very pertinent question. You can even take a stroll on the promenade and look at the quaint wooden houses, the lighthouse opposite and fishing boats in the bay below without slipping on sunflower seeds or bumping into a sunglasses' stand.Ahtopol is a place blessed by God.
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