A Day in the Bulgarian Countryside

Each day we are assigned a different color group.  Our guide carried a paddle with that color and the bus has a placard of that color in the front window.  Although there are four buses, we are never at a spot at the same time so there is no waiting==quite amazing.  Well, yesterday we were yellow.  We left the ship and drove through the Bulgarian countryside for at least 2.5 hours.  Half the time we traveled on poor, narrow country blacktops.  During that time, we passed 10 (ten) New Holland combines that were huge--not easy when the bus took almost all of the road and the combine did, too.  Aftter the fall of communist, land was eventually returned to original owners.  The fields were large with no fences.  So the land is owned independently, but they farm cooperatively. There are no farmsteads out in the country.  The farmers live in villages with large gardens right up to the house - both vegetable and flower.  Every night all equipment (which is why the combines were all headed back to the fields) is returned to the village where it is kept under armed guards.  Every once in a while there was a flock of sheep or goats or a herd of cattle out in a field.  There were no fences and a herdsman and dog were always with the animals.  Every night those animals are returned to a barn in the village.  In contrast the Romanian fields were much smaller and their equipment was smaller, too.
Anyway, we eventually found a highway and drove to a town, Veliko Tarnovo, which had been the country's capital in medieval times.  Had lunch which included the basic lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers, a meat and vegetable stew/soup.  (Chuck and I can't remember if we had dessert or not so it obviously wasn't memorable!)  We also visited a nearby village and toured a house which had been a wealthy merchant's house from the 1400.  It was basically a two story building with lots of rooms to accommodate the 9 children.  Then we visited Bulgarian Orthodox church built in the 1600- two rooms of worship with one for men and one for women. The interior was covered with icon all over the walls.  While there four men dressed in long black cassocks came in singing.  Beautiful.  Drove back to the ship which had moved to Ruse.  Ate dinner with two couples from Platteville,  WI --delightful--delicious pork tenderloin.