A Battle Of Lights And Lasers

It was dark.

The lights were all out.

Nobody was home.

So we waited.

We walked along, looking for a better vantage point, wanting to be prepared when the battle began. We spoke with an innkeeper we met along the road. He told us of the two battles that had already been fought earlier in the 
night, and that the troops may have settled in to get some rest before the new day began. He also provided us with details of the local leaders and some strange ideas about how they were ruling their lands. We thanked him for the information and then continued on our way. Finally we stood outside the gates to the fortress, hidden in the shadows. Then suddenly, all of the lanterns lining the road went out at once, as if by magic. Then the bells began to ring. This was it. The moment had come. Battle was imminent.

The fortress lit up as the history of Bulgaria played out before us in a spectacular show of lights and lasers in the city of Veliko Tarnovo. The city would have already been well worth the visit even if we hadn’t gotten a chance to see the show, but this definitely put it over the top.

About 24 hours after arriving back in Sofia on the bus from Belgrade, Mr. Toad and I had hopped on a bus and headed out for a weekend here. The place we were staying had a great view out over the Monument of Asenevci, a statue dedicated to the rise of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom in the 12th century.

Veliko Tarnovo was the capitol of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom in the middle ages, and while it has now faded into relative obscurity in the global view, this beautiful city was once one of the great cultural centers in all of Europe, and is currently a rather hidden gem of the Balkans located in the heart of Bulgaria.

One of our afternoons in town we headed over and spent a few hours at the Tsarevets Fortress where we would later view the light show. The fortress is quite large and impressive both for its remaining structures as well as it’s spectacular views. At the top of the hill sits the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Holy Ascension of God, it stood on the spot in the middle ages before it’s destruction at the end of the 14th century and was rebuilt at in the 1970’s to 1980’s. After traveling for a while it takes something special for me to really be interested in the inside of cathedrals, as the interior of most are very similarly decorated and with a few exceptions I tend to feel like I have been there, done that. The Patriarchal Cathedral of the Holy Ascension of God is one of those exceptions. The interior of the cathedral was painted with modern frescoes that were quite different than anything I had ever seen in a cathedral before and well worth the look.

After checking out the cathedral for a while we sat atop the hill outside the cathedral and admired the spectacular view. We took a great amount of enjoyment watching a minivan driving back and forth around the inside of the fortress for quite a while, on a mission we tried to guess at but were unable to fathom what they were possibly up to, as they didn’t seem to be transporting anything or really doing anything productive at all.

Our first day in town was Saint Patrick’s Day, so when we went out that evening for a late night snack and drink, I decided I should probably get some whiskey in celebration of the holiday. We walked around for a while looking for a good spot and finally settled on a place that claimed to be a rock bar and had a bunch of items advertising bands like AC/DC, Black Sabbath, and the like. The musical selection inside the establishment did not really fit with the décor however as we listened to Simon and Garfunkel, Bill Withers, and other music of that nature. While there I got a plate of fries with white cheese, a Greek salad and two double shots of whiskey, with an orange Fanta as a chaser.

The wars we watched being waged on the fortress were not the only fights fought that weekend in Veliko Tarnovo. Mr. Toad and I brawled in several battles of our own. These skirmishes were not sorties of light however, but rather clashes of cards, as we played several knock down, drag out contests of both cribbage and spite & malice.

Pretty much everywhere you go in the old city of Veliko Tarnovo you will find something interesting to check out. Aside from the fortress and the monuments there is the Interhotel Veliko Tarnovo, which sits down near the Monument of Asenevci. Whether you like it or hate it, there is no denying that the architecture of this hotel is quite unique.

Down another random street in town you can find a few random large wooden chairs. No idea what the story is behind these.

Mr. Toad had been to town a few weeks prior with his wife Portia and during their visit the only issue they had with the city was that they were unable to find anywhere to get breakfast. We did not encounter the same problem on this trip however as we found a great breakfast spot within about a minute after we began to search. We both got an English breakfast with orange juice and were quite satisfied and ready to start our day. The next morning before leaving town we didn’t return to same breakfast spot, but once again we had no trouble finding a good spot to eat and play cards until it was time to catch our bus back to Sofia.

Both days in town we had a late lunch at a cozy little restaurant with traditional food on a small street near the heart of the old city. On our first visit I got tarator soup (a cold cucumber soup), a shopska salad, an appetizer of bread with fish roe spread, and skewers of pork and chicken with tomatoes, along with a jug of wine to wash it all down.

Obviously the food was delectable since we chose to return the next day. We sat in the same seats we had for our meal the day prior and this time we once again both chose to get the tarator soup as well as both picking out a delicious sounding dish with pork and veggies. We decided we would split an appetizer similar to the bread appetizer I had gotten the day before except instead of fish roe spread this one came with a cheese and truffle spread. Mr. Toad ordered the battered white cheese and I got the bean salad, then we decided that we would split both of those as well. So, the only difference between our two meals was going to be that I was going to order a lemonade and Mr. Toad was going to get the yogurt drink, however it turned out that they were out of lemonade, which pushed me to go with my backup option of the yogurt drink making our meals identical.

My time in Veliko Tarnovo was short but memorable.  This city is a must visit for anyone coming to Bulgaria, and if you get there, make sure to check out the light show.

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