Srednogorie Secrets
„I hit the table, I shouted „Enough!"
Far from here!“
Will I be moaning forever?
My life and my destiny are as free as the road,
free as the wind.“
George Herbert
„... I was just thinking that after the song „Night and Day“ followed „Stormy Weather“ on the record player in the downstairs room, there was no way „Lazy“ wouldn't play, when, almost with the suddenness of Herbert's verses, quoted at the beginning of these pages, inspiration struck me. The plan unfolded with the speed and perfection of a Japanese paper flower in a glass of water.“
Patrick Lee Farmer, „Gift of Time“
The unexpected journey begins with an impulse.
Sudden impulses and chance encounters give birth to some of the most delightful travel experiences. A long-planned trip usually brings disappointment. Reality cannot measure up to what imagination can conjure, especially when fueled by dreams. Therefore, the great mastery of travel is to trick your imagination – that fantastic movie studio in your head – to lull it to sleep, tiptoe away when it's drowsy, and rush off wherever your eyes may lead.
The pure gaze, released from conscious control, is the true, unique, fresh spring for the delight of a soul wound up by opinions and preconceived notions, or shrunken by various fears and prejudices.
The true journey is a passionate adventure, a gamble, a madness. Without them, it turns into a trip, a vacation, Balkan tourism, and basically everything else it isn't, remaining a not-so-inspiring movement through space.
Under the influence of this adventurous alchemy, outrunning the winter cold, I am heading towards Sredna Gora – the most unknown of our larger mountains.
I decided to cut straight through the main section, where it's least likely we'll encounter many people or anything too familiar.
In a vague childhood memory, it spread hospitably on soft, deciduous hills, free from the steep slopes and rocky outcrops of our other large mountains, which usually provoke ambitious conquerors and today's adrenaline seekers.
From Koprivshtitsa, I will descend to Starosel via logging roads across Bogdan peak. I'll take a walk, take some photos, see some Thracian ruins, and maybe even write a travelogue afterward.
Why did I need that?!
If only I had remained in the depths of ignorance, in the comfort of not knowing. Because knowledge never satisfies, it only intensifies the itch of curiosity. Ever since then, this arbitrary whim has cost me sleepless nights, anguish, impatience, and countless other headaches, but most importantly, a magical portal seemed to open up before me out of nowhere, behind which I found much excitement, joy, and the unique rapture of discovery.
KO PRIVSHITSA - ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE SPIRIT
Eighty kilometers from Sofia, shortly after Pirdop, the road leaves the Sub-Balkan highway, turns south, and almost immediately, at the bottom of a small clearing of meadows, it snakes through the thickets of the western part of Sredna Gora. After about fifteen more kilometers against the mountain rapids of the Topolnitsa River, which playfully flash under the high curves of the road, the forest opens up again.
A tiled and vast valley, covered with hollows of lush emerald pastures, gives way to a large sky, from which pure light pours unobstructed. The ornate ancient town has settled comfortably like a canopy of painted Easter eggs amidst the soft slopes where countless sheep once grazed.
Koprivshtitsa - the painted fairytale gates of the mystical mountain, inhabited since time immemorial by people, deities, and spirits living in friendly coexistence. There is nothing here of the banal straightforwardness and colorlessness of modernity.
Every house speaks its own language, looks with its own gaze, mixes its own palette. To tell about what you see and feel here is as unfathomable as describing music, a painting, or retelling poetry.
The democracy of beauty
Unique diversity has its own internal rhythm, the different colors and asymmetrical shapes constantly surprise and yet complement each other in wonderful harmony.
The surprises never end, there is no resolution, They continue to amaze without a moment's rest, more and more like a Bach concert, they don't stop until the soul begins to overflow from everywhere, surrendering and letting go with the flow of pleasure, no longer seeking a finale. Despite the abundance of the unending lavish feast for the senses, satiety never comes, the enjoyment never ceases, just like when watching a fire, the sea waves, or a flowing river.
This is how, in natural harmony with nature, these contours and colors blend into the heart, both drinking it in and saturating it in rhythm with its pulse, and it comfortably relaxes and slips on slippers. The touch of eternity is felt, and one can sense why humans dream of it. Here it shows the edge of its garment and somehow acquires meaning and clarity.
You can see how she lives in the small, the cozy, in human presence that doesn't fight her with concrete behemoths, but seeks her out with respect, with serene humility, childlike sincerity, faith, and love.
The Square – the Heart of Revival-Era Koprivshtitsa
The area of each old town is his usual heart, a beginning and an architectural treasury. There are often the most representative, richest, and most magnificent buildings, designed to maintain the pride and self-esteem of the inhabitants, to unite and uplift them. In Koprivshtitsa, almost all houses are equal, subordinate to a democracy of beauty.
Beautiful women managed to reach the square, not particularly different from the well-dressed crowd that was flocking from everywhere, all the way from the edge of the settlement.
The extensive stone square is surrounded by Stretched facades In blue, red, yellow, and brown costumes, resembling an exotic troupe of commedia dell'arte actors, they compete to see who can look more playful, cheerful, and welcoming.
They've shown their strength openly., seeking and desiring the foreign eye, they bring joy to the returning homeowner and generously welcome their guests. Wide cobblestone streets begin here and wind through a procession of wondrous colors, wood, and stone, cozy shelters under warm, secure eaves, created as if a living backdrop for an endless celebration.
To be continued: Koprivshtitsa in its full glory of architecture, history, and modernity.
Impeccably masterful thoughts, framed in words, boundless.
See more Author Atanas Krastev here
