Homemade Goodies, Ancient Mosaics, and Walks with Friends

Week 5 of my life in photos

As I enter the second month of documenting my life in photos, it’s becoming clear that this will also be an archive of my daily walks, something I’d wanted to start doing in 2021 but never got to.

Another reason to love this challenge!

I avoid scheduling appointments on Mondays to spend an extra day in the countryside when possible. My parents have Internet in their house, but I’d rather not have meetings when I stay with them since most are in the evenings because of the time difference with the US.

This past Monday, I also had no work assignments due, so I had a pretty relaxing day. I caught up on some reading (Medium articles and books) and writing, cleaned my parents’ house, and went for a nice walk in the countryside. Of course.

The day was rather windy and cold, but the sky seemed endless, and I enjoyed watching the clouds swim across it, boosted by the strong wind.

Though the winter has been quite dry in this region, I woke up Tuesday morning to a frosted yard shimmering in the sun.

After a quick breakfast and a longer look at my calendar to plan my work day, I packed my backpack and a bag of homemade goodies and took the bus back to Plovdiv. I had three appointments in the late afternoon and wanted to return to the apartment a couple of hours before the first one.

Other than seeing my family more regularly, another reason I love working remotely from Bulgaria is the easy access to tons of delicious homemade/homegrown food.

Are there grocery stores and markets in the city? Yes. Can I easily go purchase any food I want in those stores? Also yes. Do I still lug the jars and bags of food my family prepared with me on the bus. Absolutely!

This week’s haul included walnuts (my dad loves growing the trees), dried plums, homemade cream cheese and regular cheese, tomato juice, roasted peppers, pickled bell peppers with garlic, туршия (pickled cabbage, carrots, and green tomatoes), eggs, mint tea, and sujuk (dried sausage).

Yum!

I had one work assignment and a couple of tutoring hours on Wednesday, which took most of my morning and early afternoon. An hour or so before sunset, though, I ventured out for my daily walk.

I went down a side street I hadn’t been on for quite some time, noticing the several buildings whose only residents seemed to be a flock of pigeons.

Many of the buildings in the city center and old town have been renovated and repurposed in recent years, but many still need attention.

After walking along the main pedestrian street in the city center, I turned around and, through a side street in Old Town, made my way back.

As I was making dinner, I received notifications about new assignments, so I spent the rest of the evening reviewing the information provided and preparing a plan of action for the next day. Before bed, I squeezed in some reading time, as well as a few Spanish lessons on Duolingo.

On Thursday morning, I had planned to work on a rush assignment due that day, but when I checked my email, I saw that the client hadn’t sent me all the information yet. Sigh.

I had a couple of future assignments I could work on, but instead, I decided to finally visit one of the newest museums in Plovdiv — The Bishop’s Basilica of Philippopolis.

Philippopolis, by the way, is one of Plovdiv’s old names. If I remember correctly, the city has had at least 9 different names throughout its 8,000 years of inhabitation.

The Bishop’s Basilica was first discovered in the late 1980s during the construction of an underpass, but because of the politically tumultuous 1990s, the site was left unattended and forgotten until 2016 when, with financial support from America for Bulgaria Foundation, the hidden mosaics of the basilica were finally dug out, researched, and preserved.

It’s inevitable that in an ancient city like Plovdiv, remnants of times and cultures past will be discovered when someone decides to dig. I’m just happy that in recent years, there has been an effort to actually preserve what is found.

I thoroughly enjoyed walking around the museum, admiring the ancient mosaics, and learning a bit about the history of this location. As you can see in the photo above, I was given plastic booties to put over my shoes before I entered the museum. Glass walkways help you enjoy the entire layout of the basilica’s floor, and there’s an audio tour you can tap into by scanning a QR code.

My favorite part of the experience was the VR stations that allowed me to see in 3D what the basilica looked like in its heyday. The museum is a great example of how modern technology can facilitate learning about ancient locations without being overwhelming. I’d go back just for that.

During my visit, I learned a lot about mosaic art, as well as about the significance of birds for early Christianity. Peacocks, especially, which symbolized immortality. The peacock in the top right image is at the main entrance of the basilica, but there are multiple other birds throughout. The interactive aspects of the museum help you learn more about each bird, its ancient meaning, and its presence and status in present day.

I spent two hours exploring the museum and could have easily spent two more, at least. I had, however, purchased the combined ticket that allowed access to a smaller basilica nearby, so I wanted to check it out before going back to work.

Unfortunately, when I got to the small basilica, the woman at the front desk informed me that they were about to go on a lunch break.

I’m all for people having a lunch break, but if you are selling combined tickets and there are 2+ people working the front desk, please do not close one of the locations for 30 minutes in the middle of the day.

By that point, I’d received a notification that the client had sent me the additional info, and I could start working on the rush assignment, so I just headed back to focus on that for the rest of the day.

I had a busy work day Friday, with a couple of assignments due that day, tutoring, and three coaching appointments in the evening. I spent the morning working on assignments and after lunch, decided to make my way back to the small basilica. I had two hours before I had to be back for scheduled tutoring hours. I barely made it, but I made it!

The small basilica, as the name suggests, is small, much smaller than the one I’d visited the day before, so it took about 20 minutes to walk around. The staff, though, asked me if I’d like to watch two short movies about the history of Plovdiv, so of course I said yes.

After, I had to hop on a city bus to make it on time for my tutoring hour.

I worked for the rest of the afternoon and evening, making it to bed a bit after midnight.

On Saturday, I had made plans with a couple of friends to drive to the town of Kalofer, located at the foothills of the Balkan Mountains, and walk around the area.

Kalofer is the birthplace of Hristo Botev, a Bulgarian revolutionary and poet, and a notable sight in town is a giant monument in his honor.

As with many other historical places, monuments, and sights in Bulgaria, you have to climb tons of steps to get to them. The views are worth it, but I was shocked to see the lack of snow. This place should be covered in snow this time of year and as you can see, that wasn’t the case.

The highest Balkan peaks were snow-covered, but that’s not nearly enough.

After our walk around Kalofer, my friend drove to a nearby village to meet some more friends, and while she did that, I decided to take a walk around the village, take in views of the Balkan, and enjoy the sunset.

It was dark by the time my friends dropped me off at my parents’ house on their way back to Plovdiv. I had a quick dinner and read a bit before calling it a night.

Sunday was windy but warm, unnaturally warm for this time of year. The landscape is wintry, but it felt like spring was in the air. Not good.

I spent the morning reading and writing, and after lunch, I convinced my mother to join me for a walk. We passed by the village church and ventured up on one of the many hills in the area.

There isn’t much vegetation this time of year, and what we came across made me feel as if I were in a desert. Though there was water in the nearby spring, thanks to the couple of rainfalls and snowfalls of January, the land appeared parched.

On our way back from the hike, we came across one of my parents’ neighbors and her herd of sheep, and I couldn’t help but snap a photo :)

This photo essay is inspired by the works of Dennett and Anne Bonfert. Anyone can join the challenge, and I highly recommend it!