Today is a huge religious holiday in Bulgaria

Today is the day of Dormition of the Mother of God

In honor of the holiday, I'm posting a picture of the highest statue of the Holy Mother of God in the world. It's 14 feet tall and the chapel below it-17. It's located in Haskovo, Bulgaria.

Truth be told, this is an old photo but I still love it :) 

About the place:

Getting there is easy. There are signs all over the town because it's one of the main landmarks. If you climb up the bell tower you can enjoy a panoramic view of the town. The chapel is open every day, but in order to enter, you have to be properly dressed.

The story behind the shot:

This shot is an accident. I had some bad luck that day, I ended up on location right at noon when the sun shines directly from above. With that sun, the statue remained in shadow, so I didn't expect miracles. Before I left, I decided to take a shot of the sun and the statue to make a silhouette. 

However, this was far beyond my expectations...

Photoadvice:

To create an image like this, you'll need a closed aperture (the biffer f/ number, the better) and bright sun. The rest is a matter of luck.

Color palette

Color Palette

Sighisoara old town, Romania

A walk through the alleys of Sighisoara in a gloomy and rainy afternoon. You must have seen this shot here and there, if not - now's the perfect time to stop and read.

The Crossroads point: 

Sighisoara is a really strange place. Mainly because the tourist industry advertises it as the birthplace of Vlad Tepes (or Vlad Dracula, as popular culture knows him). The town has nothing to do with vampires, though. It is a bit creepy and has an unique Medieval look but apart from that, nothing else. 

What makes it so unique is that Sighisoara is located in Transylvania - which means it is in Romania BUT the town and its population are actually NOT Romanian at all. In fact, you could hear German speech in the streets (but not the German you study at school, I can assure you). People there speak a Saxon dialect which remained intact for several hundred years. Even though the German-speaking population is a minority, it is proud of its roots and isolates itself against the Romanian 'intruders'. 

The reason behind that lies in the history of the place - in the 12th century the Hungarian king invited Saxon craftsmen to settle in the area in order to defend it against invasion (I suspect that the 'threat' was the Bulgarian kingdom across the Danube, but that is a topic of another post). The craftsmen did settle and became so prosperous, they managed to get autonomy from the king in the 14th century. To defend themselves, the guilds joined forces and each of them built one of the towers of the imposing citadel (all towers are 7 but now only 5 or 6 can be seen). 

Throughout the centuries, Sighisoara was regarded, along with the neighbouring Sibiu, as 'the gate to Transylvania' and it's strategic position dictated the change of rulers. The place was exporting goods to half of Europe and crafting other goods for the other half. 

The houses, though picturesque, are not a dream to live in - small, crowded, as within any citadel where space is the most valuable commodity, lacking sewers etc. They were restored (to the state you see on the pic) due to sponsorship (I think it was the Romanian government BUT I am not quite sure). 

The town has 3 names - Segesvar (Hungarian), Sighisoara (Romanian) and Schäßburg (German) - and now the predominant population is Romanian (around 70+%). Each of the minorities calls the town by the name in their own tongue :) 

The place is part of the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1999 :) It's deemed one of the most beautiful medieval towns (still inhabited, that is) in Europe and the moment you set foot there, you inevitably look for a knight in shining armour. 

More information on what to do in Sighisoara, on these websites: 

https://sighisoaraonline.com

http://romaniatourism.com/sighisoara.html

Happy Spring!

Happy 1 of March everyone! 

Or as Bulgarians say Chestita Baba Marta! Wishing you to be red and white like a Martenitsa! 

The Crossroads point:

Today Bulgarians celebrate the end of winter and the arrival of spring. Unlike Western cultures where Spring is a young and beautiful woman, our Spring is the so called Baba Marta - an old and fiery-tempered granny. She is best-known for her ill temper. When March starts, all want to keep to Baba Marta's good side :) 

The legends:

According to folklore, Baba Marta is the only sister of the 11 month gods and is particularly angry with her two brothers - January and February - because during the winter they drank all her wine  :-D 

So, even though March is technically a spring month, the weather is heavily dependent on Baba Marta's mood swings. One day she's happy and the sun shines, the next day she's furious and blizzard comes around.

On this day, Bulgarians greet each other with the wish: Happy Baba Marta! Let you be red and white like a Martenitsa!.

Another legend ties Martenitsa to the dawn of Bulgarian history. Back in 680 AD, when Khan Asparuh (the first Bulgarian ruler and founder of the Bulgarian state in traditional historiography) was fighting Byzantium, his sister was taken captive by the Byzantine emperor. She sent a pigeon with a message to her brother about the Byzantine army coming to the Bulgarian stronghold on the bank of the Danube river and tied the slip of paper to the animal's leg with a white thread. The pigeon flew but was shot crossing the Byzantine lines. Still, it made it to Asparuh's camp. He read the message and saw that the thread had turned half white and half red. He took that as a good omen, tied the thread around his wrist and rode into battle... To win and to establish the Bulgarian state - 1300 years later, the country has not yet changed name (not even once) and still stands in its original place on the map.

What is a Martenitsa?

The symbol of the holiday is called a Martenitsa (from the name for the month March in Bulgarian). It is either a bracelet made of white and red thread or two anthropomorphic figurines - called Pizho (the male one) and Penda (the female one) . You can see them below. Usually Pizho is a red figurine and Penda - a white one. The Martenitsa is worn as an amulet  all March and is taken off only after one sees a stork (the messenger of spring in Bulgarian folklore) or till the month is over. Usually, the martenitsa is then tied to a fruit-bearing tree, so that it would bear more fruit the upcoming year. 

Fun fact is that Martenitsa is worn all over the Balkan peninusula - in Romania, Greece, Macedonia, parts of Serbia. Bulgarian nationalists explain that with the territory occupied by the First Bulgarian kingdom (which covered the territories of the present-day countries above). Truth is that it's a wonderful tradition to keep. 

Fun fact 2 - a joint application of Bulgaria and Romania put Martenitsa on the UNESCO World Heritage list (of intangible heritage) in 2017 :) 

So, happy spring and be healthy!

Djavola varos

Silent witnesses

The Devil's city (Djavola varos), Serbia

The Crossroads Point:

The Devil's city is one of the popular places for a trip in the country of our western neighbors. The place is about 300 kilometers from Sofia and looks quite like Melnik or the Stob pyramids phenomenons. The nearest town is Kurshumlija and this is the most famous sight to see. 

The Serbians have taken care of the visitors and you can find almost anything in place - from a toilet (don't laugh, this is something you cannot find at each and every rock formation you visit) to cafes and small chapel. The walk to the place is also quite pleasant. The entrance fee is quite small and you can stay for as long as you like there.

The place itself is known for its poisonous water. I'm not kidding, the concentration of heavy metals in it is so big, that it is not potable, nor fit for washing and kills everything in its path. Water is even acidic and if you get closer, it lets out a strange smell and makes you dizzy (take my word for this, no need to try it yourself as well). Even the trees around her are very strange, like enchanted monsters. The place looks like an haunted forest, indeed. 

The legend:

The Legend of the place invented by the locals is also not to be missed. Followers from Bulgaria can see it in the video on Bistra Stoimenova Photography page (I decided to play the tour guide, so it's better to hear it from me). For anyone who doesn't speak Bulgarian, here we are:

Once, there was such a prosperous village in the land. So rich and full of happy people, that even the Devil himself was envious. And he decided to put an end to the wonderful time the villagers were having. So he poisoned the water in all wells of the village as well as the river that ran near it (some variants of the legend claim it was a witch that acted on the Devil's orders). And the villagers did go mad. So mad, in fact, that they decided to wed a brother to his sister. It was pure madness and incest but no one seemed to notice it. As the wedding preparations went on, a fairy wanted to save them. So she prayed to God to stop this madness. But God didn't say a thing. The wedding started and the procession with the brother and sister at the front started making its way towards the church at the other end. Then God saw what was happening and turned the people into stone figures. They still stand there, frozen in time. The water is also there.  Poisonous as ever. 

Tourist information:

The place is one of the most people-friendly ones I have seen. The ticket costs only 350 dinara (the local currency) which is not much and there is plenty of space to relax. The road to Kurshumlija may be a bit of a problem as it is a bit tricky once you get off the highway. Otherwise, the place is totally worth the visit. You'll need to allow a full day for it as the place is a bit remote. 

More information, on the Djavola varos website :) 

https://www.djavoljavaros.com

The story behind the shot on Bistra Stoimenova Photography page :)