{"id":2528,"date":"2019-10-24T11:40:45","date_gmt":"2019-10-24T11:40:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=2528"},"modified":"2026-08-05T20:42:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T20:42:41","slug":"08-fortress-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=2528","title":{"rendered":"08. FORTRESS DAY"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’ve done enough churches – now it’s time for a couple of medieval Bulgarian fortresses!\u00a0 Wednesday is Fort-day!<\/p>\n

Mooring at Vidin, we loaded on board our buses.\u00a0 It’s funny how we have become creatures of habit (or are we just getting institutionalised?).\u00a0 We all have our places on the bus!\u00a0 Well, more or less.\u00a0 Four people rush on and bag the front seats.\u00a0 These have the advantage of good forward views but the disadvantage of poor leg-room.\u00a0 We seemed to have settled on the third or fourth rows back – better space to get your feet under the seat in front.\u00a0 We did get the front seats on a couple of occasions.\u00a0 More to displace the two couples who monopolised these seats than for the view!\u00a0 Games, games, games!<\/p>\n

Anyway, we had an hour’s ride to the snappily named town of Belogradchik.\u00a0 We are thinking of proposing a name change for our village.\u00a0 Plymptogradchik.\u00a0 It could catch on!\u00a0 En route we had another account of life in Bulgaria (of course).<\/p>\n

We heard how Vidin suffered particularly when two factories closed.\u00a0 One tobacco processing plant and one chemical factory.\u00a0 This is an image of part of the abandoned tobacco factory.<\/p>\n

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About 15,000 people lost their jobs over a period of two years.\u00a0 As a result 35,000 out of a total population of about 65,000 people left Vidin.\u00a0 The hollow shells of these massive industrial concerns are all that remain.\u00a0 A constant reminder on the road out of town.\u00a0 The NW region of this country is affectionately known as the “Abandoned Bulgaria”.<\/p>\n

We heard about an interesting characteristic of Bulgarians.\u00a0 Something about not being team players!\u00a0 There is a strict smoking ban in bars, restaurants etc.\u00a0 This is almost totally ignored.\u00a0 By everyone!\u00a0 And they all smoke!\u00a0 Not only that, but Bulgarians’ driving is totally undisciplined.\u00a0 We did see a few examples of risky overtaking manoeuvres.\u00a0 Luckily the roads are relatively quiet although very narrow!\u00a0 Bulgarians also show a serious lack of unity with each other.\u00a0 Strikes are not supported.\u00a0 If the taxi drivers, for example, decline to work, other countrymen (and women) refuse to support them.\u00a0 Ditto for train drivers, teachers or policemen.\u00a0 Not at all like in Greece.\u00a0 There, if one group strikes, it’s all out!\u00a0 The whole country!\u00a0 And it happens frequently at that!<\/p>\n

And so to Belogradchik.\u00a0 The fortress consists of three separate fortified yards on three separate levels.\u00a0 It’s built around some spectacular rock formations.<\/p>\n

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The levels are connected with each other through gates.\u00a0 The view above is looking at the gateway to the second level from the first.\u00a0 Below is the higher level gate looking back down to the entry level.<\/p>\n

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The fortress walls are over 2 metres thick and reach up to 12 metres in height. The whole place has a total area of more than 10,000 square metres.<\/p>\n

The first level walls have a total of 243 arrow slits and emplacements for four cannons.\u00a0 There are also two ammunition stores and two guardhouses (these structures have been much restored).<\/p>\n

The second level has a further bunch of arrow slits and two more cannon platforms.\u00a0 But more significant, in a defensive sense, is the steepness of the approach.\u00a0 There are over 200 steps in total, but I’m guessing that the neat metal ladders with handrails which allowed us relatively easy access are not original features.<\/p>\n

The third level covers 1800 m2.\u00a0 It was originally established as a Roman defensive position.\u00a0 Approached by more steep and irregular steps.\u00a0 It nestles on the top of the rocky outcrop amongst weird and wonderfully sculpted rock pillars.<\/p>\n

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… and just to prove we both got to the summit …<\/p>\n

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Our guide tried to persuade us that each rocky pillar could be viewed as, for example, a monkey or a dog.\u00a0 She pointed out a pair that looked like two lovers kissing.\u00a0 But these have to be viewed from a very specific position.\u00a0 I failed to find the right spot – but Glenda managed.\u00a0 She has a much more vivid imagination than me – obviously!<\/p>\n

Anyway.\u00a0 An absolutely amazing place.\u00a0 Fabulous views from the top.\u00a0 Really worth the trip.\u00a0 Indeed it is now being developed as a tourist attraction.\u00a0 We saw at least four tourists there apart from our group.<\/p>\n

Back to Vidim where the main landmark is another fortress – of course!\u00a0 It is Fort-day after all.<\/p>\n

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The Baba Vida fortress was built in the period from the 10th to the 14th century.\u00a0 In the Middle Ages Vidin used to be an important Bulgarian city, a bishop’s seat and the capital of a large province.<\/p>\n

The city has had a very colourful history with sieges and despotic leaders.\u00a0 By the early 1290s Serbia expanded towards the vicinity of Vidin. The city failed to repel the invading forces, and had to accept Serbian suzerainty.\u00a0 <\/sup>In practice, Vidin continued to be largely independent and dealt mainly with the rest of Bulgaria. Suzerainty lasted until Serbian king Stefan Milutin’s death, in 1321.\u00a0 I was determined to get that word in a couple of times!\u00a0 (Defined as: “The right of one country to partly control another”.\u00a0 I knew that!)\u00a0 (I also know that that’s a split infinitive!)<\/p>\n

Moving on, we elected as a bus-load to walk the mile or so back along the riverbank to our lovely ship rather than take the coach.\u00a0 On the way we did diverge a bit from forts-only day.\u00a0 We passed the ruins of a huge synagogue.<\/p>\n

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Despite being in ruins, the synagogue is still famous for being the second-largest Jewish temple in Bulgaria.\u00a0 Built in 1894, it fell into disuse after the majority of the local Jews left Bulgaria during and soon after World War 2.\u00a0 Today, the Vidin Synagogue with its four towers stands as a ruin, roofless and forlorn.<\/p>\n

During the 1970s a plan to restore the building was hatched.\u00a0 Work began in 1983 and continued until 1989, when the collapse of the communist regime lead to the abandonment of the project – sadly, just as workers had removed the roof.\u00a0 Exposed to the elephants for thirty years the synagogue is now a total ruin.<\/p>\n

Moving swiftly on, our boat soon came into view…<\/p>\n

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… much to everyone’s relief.\u00a0 \u00a0After all, we had no passports, no bus, no guide and the sun was about to set!\u00a0 OK, and it was dinner time!<\/p>\n

Got to go!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’ve done enough churches – now it’s time for a couple of medieval Bulgarian fortresses!\u00a0 Wednesday is Fort-day! Mooring at Vidin, we loaded on board our buses.\u00a0 It’s funny how we have become creatures of habit (or are we just… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-danube-2019"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2528"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8069,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2528\/revisions\/8069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}