Elias Canetti was born in a small Bulgarian town on the banks of the Danube. The famous writer spent his childhood in Ruse, a town where people from various origins lived. “There were seven or eight different languages every day,” the Nobel Prize later recalled in his book “The Saved Language.” In Ruse, Jewish merchants from Spain met with merchants from Türkiye, neighbor Romania and other parts of Bulgaria. A diverse mixture of villages lived with and from the Danube as a commercial route.
The Romans, and subsequently the Ottoman and the Slavs, settled in this privileged location. It is not surprising that the first beer was made here, the first film and the first Bulgarian railway will be screened. The beautiful and old Ruse train station inspired more than Agatha Christie. In fact, the famous Orient Express stopped Ruse on his Route from Paris to the Black Sea.
In the small ethnological museum of Ruse, the piano teacher interprets a musical piece for visitors, creating a harmonious environment. The building still retains its original wooden structure and is furnished as a wealthy family in Bulgaria would have lived in the early twentieth century. Heavy furniture, numerous carpets and curtains, and wood crunch quickly evoke how the life of these wealthy citizens should be more than a hundred years ago.
The central square of the town is quickly traveling. In the small church of the Holy Trinity, the priest celebrates a mass. Today, prayers are scheduled for five hours, since it is an orthodox holiday: the sleeping of the Virgin Mary, or as we call it, the assumption of Mary.
Monasterio de Bassarbovsky
We left the small center of Ruse and headed to the nearby monastery of Bassarbovsky, or Basarbovo, as it is called in Bulgaro. Basarbovo is just outside the city and has become a popular residential area. Those who can allow it to buy a country house in the field to escape the bustle of the center. The monastery rises imposing on us, nestled between the rocks. Orthodox monks still live in the small complex. Just when we arrive, I see one of them disappear inside the rock church.
Probably the smallest active rock monastery in Bulgaria, is dedicated to San Demetrio Basarbovo and is located on the banks of a river. Founded in the Middle Ages, during the apogee of the Bulgarian Empire, it was abandoned centuries later, like most monasteries. The monks did not return to the rocks near Basarbovo until 1937. It is said that San Demetrio slept in the small cave, which is accessed by climbing some steps from a steep staircase.
A wonderful place in an incredibly beautiful and quiet landscape, with the fair amount of tourism so that it is easy to guide even without language knowledge, but far from being a popular destination. An area where you can meet interesting people and feel that you are knowing the real Bulgaria.
This article and its photos are reproduced with authorization from the author.
The author loves to travel, and he believes that it is not always necessary to go very far, because even in central Europe there are still small unknown places, exciting landscapes and exciting stories that expect to be discovered. After finishing his studies, Nicole Biarnés moved to Spain, where he has resided near Barcelona for 23 years. As an independent writer, she writes travel books, writes texts for several websites, conducts in situ research for television productions and reports life in the Mediterranean in her travel blog www.freibeuter-reisen.org.
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