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Our introduction to the Five Mountains Trail (E4) in Bulgaria came by way of some pretty extravagant wildflower displays. I don't remember nearly so many wildflowers on the Stara Planina / Kom Emine (E3), though we were there at the same time of year. Unfortunately, since we were just getting used to the pacing of the trail I did not always linger as long as I should have to photograph them. I believe this is common/meadow bistort, near Cherni Vrah (2290m), Vitosha mountains, Bulgaria.
Another surprising and mysterious object in the collection of the Plovdiv Archaeological Museum. This is a phiale, or libation bowl, from the Panagyurishte Gold Treasure, a collection of nine ceremonial 23 carat gold objects weighing in at over six kilos. They date to the late 4th or early 3rd century BC and--given their immense value--are thought to have belonged to the Thracian monarch of that time, Seuthes III. Like the famous Portrait Head of Seuthes, they were probably made by Greek artists. This, the most interesting of the objects, is decorated with African faces for reasons that are not entirely clear.
The gold objects were discovered by quarry workers in 1949, not in one of the famous Thracian monumental tombs, but in an unmarked hoard. Like most such hoards it was probably hidden during a time of unrest or invasion, but the person who buried it must have been killed or taken captive, else he surely would have returned to recover it. Part of the Panagyurishte Gold Treasure, Plovdiv Archaeological Museum, Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
We're back after a marvelous two months in Armenia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia and Austria. The highlight was undoubtedly hiking the Bulgarian section of the E4, about 250km from Sofia to the Greek border. This was a hike we'd wanted to do since the first time we were in Bulgaria six years ago, and finally doing it provided a great opportunity to visit old friends, make new ones, and see some of the highest places in one of our favorite countries. Mrs. Orca on the trail to Vihren (2914m), Pirin Mountains, E4, Bulgaria.
This was one of two days on the trail (part of this day and the next) when we crossed sections of trail on via ferrata in heavy clouds. The downside, of course, is that this does away with many views, but as a compensation the heavy clouds mean you can't see what is (or isn't) beneath you when you're on the via ferrata, which makes the experience much less stressful. Prekorechko Lake, (@2400m) on the Five Mountains Trail (E4), Bulgaria.
Perhaps the most striking building in Yerevan, Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral was consecrated in 2001 to commemorate the 1700 year anniversary of the state adoption of Christianity. It is, of course, named for the Gregory who was instrumental in the conversion in 301 of King Tiridates III, his erstwhile persecutor. It was also intended to house the relics of the saint, which for complicated historical reasons had long ago been removed to Naples, Italy.
There was a serious obstacle to the repatriation of the relics, however. Over the course of the Middle Ages, the various Eastern and Oriental Christian churches had all fallen out with each other and with the Western church in Rome. This falling out was ostensibly over very arcane theological disputes (in the Armenian vs Roman example, which came to a head in 451: Christ had two natures, but were they united or distinct?). In reality, the falling out between the different churches was really over matters of supremacy and power, as the heads of various churches sought out and found justification for why they should be in charge and not that other guy.
In recent times, councils of the the several churches have as much as admitted that the theological differences either don't really exist, or aren't that significant, or at least aren't significant enough to have warranted the breaches in the first place. Still, no one has yet agreed to hand over the power to that other guy, and all of the distinct church hierarchies remain. Yet, the renewed good feeling did bear some fruit: just in time for the consecration of the above cathedral, the Catholic Church transferred Gregory's relics to the Armenian Apostolic Church so that they could be housed in the Saint Gregory Cathedral.
Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral, Yerevan, Armenia.
This is Utricularia inflata (swollen bladderwort), a very strange carnivorous plant. It has no roots, only a stem and leaf structure that floats freely in the water and has evolved into a system of carnivorous traps to ensnare small organisms, such as mosquito larvae. Each of the thousands or tens of thousands of bladders on the plant are small vacuum traps with tiny hair triggers which, when they detect a passing organism, spring the trap and suck it in to be digested. The plant also seasonally forms the strange floating cartwheel raft (left image) that acts as a base for the rather attractive snapdragon-like flower that emerges several inches above the water (right). This species is native to the American Southeast but has spread invasively to much of the country, including to our neighborhood ponds and, from there, to my goldfish pond. Composite image of swollen bladderwort (Utricularia inflata), backyard Olympia.
Das imposante Schloss Gottesaue ist ein Renaissance-Schloss in der Karlsruher Oststadt auf dem Areal einer ehemaligen Benediktinerabtei. Es ist heute Sitz der Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe.
My poor rhodie suffered severe damage from the heavy snow and ice this past winter. We lost 2 of the main branches so it doesn't look as full anymore, but I still love those blooms.
We've had two nights in a row without raccoons, which makes life a little easier for me and much easier for the amphibians in the yard. Northern red legged frog, backyard Olympia.
While climbing the steps to the Castillo de Gibralfaro in Malaga we came across this couple performing the smoldering dance.
Sofia takes its modern name from this 6th century basilica dedicated to Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia in Greek). It was built in the reign of Justinian and is therefore contemporaneous with the more famous church/mosque of the same name in Constantinople/Istanbul. During much of the half millennium of Ottoman occupation it served as a mosque. It was eventually abandoned, but has since been restored and is now an active Bulgarian Orthodox church. It was itself built atop the site of several earlier churches dating to late antiquity which had been destroyed by successive waves of invaders clawing apart the crumbling Roman Empire. Today there is a very worthwhile museum in the excavated underground beneath the church where you can descend centuries into the past and visit these churches to view their ancient Christian mosaics and tombs, some with surviving frescoes. The Hagia Sophia, aka Sveta Sofia church in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Today's Bulgaria was part of a region known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Thrace, after the people who lived there. They were a tribal people, but with the 5th century BC establishment of the Odrysian Dynasty a large portion of them were organized into single kingdom, which commenced a Thracian golden age when Thrace played a major role in the politics of the ancient world. Deceased kings of this era were deified and buried in monumental tombs (some of which can be visited) in the Valley of Thracian Kings.
During a period of internal division resulting from dynastic dispute, Alexander the Great's father, Phillip II, conquered much of the region, and many Thracian elites became Hellenized. The conquest was completed by Alexander, but the Thracians rebelled after his death and revived an autonomous state which continued in some form until final conquest by the Romans in the 1st century AD.
Above, a life sized portrait head of the Thracian King Seuthes III, who led a restored Thracian State after Alexander's death in 323 BC. This portrait was almost certainly produced by a Greek artist. It is one of my favorite artifacts from one of my favorite museums, the Sofia Archaeological Museum. The museum is somewhat small (it is housed in a 15th century Ottoman Mosque) but packs a real wallop and is amazingly well curated. Particularly memorable is the Hall of Treasures, which is actually a fairly small room containing artifacts excavated from and around Thracian burial mounds, mostly executed in the Greek style. Portrait of Seuthes III (4th century BC), in the Sofia Archaeological Museum, Sofia, Bulgaria.
We cycled about 15 kilometers upstream from Bratislava on rented bicycles to visit the ruins of DevÃn Castle, which sit at the confluence of the Danube (left) and the Morava River (just visible at the foot of the castle). The hill overlooking the river confluence has been occupied since the stone age, and became a strategic fortified location throughout the Celtic, Great Moravian, and Hungarian periods. The most conspicuous parts of the castle date to the mid 13th century, when King Bela IV of Hungary embarked on a castle building campaign in response to the Mongol invasions of Eastern and Central Europe. With the advent of modern artillery the castle lost much of its military significance, but it was nonetheless blown up by Napoleon's army in 1809. The ruins visitors see today have changed little since then, except for the addition of some lawns mowed by robot mowers, a coffee stand, and an abundance of historical signage indicating the ruins' present status as an open air museum.
Despite the destruction of the castle, it remained a contested site through the 19th and 20th centuries. In the mid 19th century Slovak nationalists adopted the ruins of the castle as a symbol of medieval Great Moravia, which they saw as a predecessor to the Slovak state they hoped to create. Hungarians, however, tended to view the castle as a symbol of the greatness of the Kingdom of Hungary, and in 1896 Hungary erected a twenty-two meter column at the site to commemorate the millennium anniversary of the Magyars' arrival in the Carpathian Basin. With the creation of Czechoslovakia at the end of the First World War the monument was removed, but two decades later the castle was annexed by Nazi Germany and renamed Theben, its traditional German name. The castle reverted tp Czechoslovakia at the end of the Second World War, but it soon became part of the militarized Iron Curtain dividing the Soviet Bloc from Western Europe.
Devin Castle at the confluence of the Danube and Morava Rivers, Slovakia.
This castle (which shares its name with the town below) sits high atop a hill overlooking a broad bend in the Danube. We took the slow tourist boat there from Budapest and clamored up a very rugged and sweaty trail to visit the castle and enjoy great views from the top.
This hill served as a strategic location dating to its time as a fortress on the Roman frontier. When the empire collapsed it acquired its present Slavic name (high castle), which was kept after the arrival of the Magyars. The present castle dates more to the 13th century, when it was constructed as a response to the Mongol invasions. The town below is now a small one, but was once the site of the famous palace of Matthias Corvinus, one of Hungary's most significant kings and a great patron of Renaissance art. It was largely destroyed during the Ottoman Era, and while there is an archaeological site there, it takes a fair bit of imagination to envision its former glory. Visegrád Castle, Visegrád, Hungary.
This dates to the 1360s and was built on the site of a medieval cathedral just after the Ottoman conquest of Plovdiv. It was rebuilt in the 15th century and is still active. The Dzhumaya Mosque, AKA Friday Mosque in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
Mrs. Orca on one of the highest peaks of the summer, Malyovitsa (2729m). This is in the middle of the Rila Mountains, and in the distance you can see most of the first four days of our route, with the Verila Mountains in the middle and Vitosha (2290m) in the far distance. Mrs. Orca on Malyovitsa Peak, Rila Mountains, Five Mountains Trail (E4) Bulgaria.