Varna

From Aladzha we will drive only a few kilometres to the main city of the region - Varna. The history of human settlements in this region dates back to Antiquity. The city has been destroyed, burned, conquered and rebuilt several times, belonging in different periods to Romans, Bulgars and Turks. Actually more than once to each of them. Today, it is a nice coastal town, best know for its beach resorts called Golden Sands.

If you want to spend some time in the city rather than on the sand, you are likely to choose one of the city parks that offer the blessing of shadow.

You can sit on a bench.

Or take one of those pedalos if you wish to be close to water.

The small pond is supplied with water by a small river that runs into the sea.

You can also use this opportunity to learn more about Bulgaria and its sacred places and famous people.

Under each marble plate lies the soil from sacred Bulgarian places. Like here - the soil from the Dryanovo Monastery.

Down the lane, you can meet and greet some of the national heroes of different backgrounds. Vasil Levski was a revolutionist who was one of the fathers of the movement that led to the freedom of Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire.

On the other hand, Simeon was a bishop of the Orthodox church taking care of the Varna and Preslav metropoly.

On a warm summer day, the city of Varna is of course very hot. I would still invite you to take a few steps out of the park and see some of the main landmarks.

You will undeniably find some churches ...

... a theater ...

... and nice residential buildings.

If you wish, you can greet the fisherman and his golden fish. Who knows, maybe she will grant you a wish if you are kind enough?

Or you can shake your hands with this nice gentleman. It is the architect Dabko Dabkov, who has designed and created over two hundred buildings in Varna in the beginning of twentieth century. The statue is placed in front of a building designed by Dabkov.

As we move down the pedestrian zone, we reach two more amoung the most important buildings in the city. First, the clock tower, built in 1888. The fire brigades of Varna used it to monitor the city from its top. If they spotted a fire during daytime they were passing signals with flags. At night, they used lanterns. The process stopped in 1898 when the fire brigade received a telephone line.

On the other side of the street you will find the second largest church in Bulgaria - the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God. It belongs to the Bulgarian Orthodox church that was established back in 870 AD. 

Inside, the church is indeed very vast. It is also beautifully decorated.

In the main dome you will find, as in most of the orthodox churches that I have visited, a painting of Christos Pantocrator or otherwise Christ Almighty.

We cannot leave Varna without seeing one more place or one more personality. It is the horse of emperor (tsar) Kaloyan. In the twelfth century he carried his master to the independence of Bulgaria from the Byzantine Empire. We horses have always been vital to the freedom of nations!

Grodno

Welcome to Grodno, “The Pearl of the Neman Region”. The city is located on Neman river, whose basin covers huge part of Belarus, Lithuania and Kaliningrad oblast of Russia. It used to be the central river of Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the city used to be one of the crucial municipalities of the Duchy.

Let's start with oldest tourist attraction: the old Grodno Castle. The first stone fortifications were erected on the site of the castle in the twelfth century. After that, the castle was repeatedly destroyed, rebuilt and reconstructed. Recent significant changes in his appearance were made in the nineteenth century.

Until the second half of seventeenth century there used to be a wooden bridge here, leading to the castle gate.

Apart from the main gate, only ruins remain of the mediaval walls until our days.

If the city has an Old Castle, you must have guessed that there exists also a New Castle. It is also an important landmark of Grodno. It was built directly next to the Old Castle in 1742. Although it is called a castle, it has never fulfilled the defensive functions, but used to be a royal palace.

Just in front of the New Castle you can find two monuments. The first one presents David of Hrodna, the castellan of Hrodna and one of the most famous military commanders of Gediminas, Grand Duke of Lithuania in the first half of the fourteenth century.

The second one commemorates another famous hero, the Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas. He was the prince of Grodno from 1376 to 1392, and he stayed there during his preparations for the Battle of Grunwald.

In sixteenth century, the Grand Duchy united with Kingdom of Poland to create The Commonwealth of Two Nations. The most beautiful sacral building in Grodno was built soon after it under huge influence of the Polish culture. Ladies, gentlemen & horses, please admire the St. Francis Xavier Cathedral.

It has survived World War II with no serious damage, but in 1960 it was officially closed for public religious services for 27 years. The communist authorities tried to convert the building into a museum or a concert hall. Despite this, people attended the church every Sunday for a common player, songs and rosary. The religious services were restored in 1987 and in 1991 the church became a cathedral for a newly created diocese of Grodno.

It is very similar to Holy Cross Church in Warsaw, including the Statue of Christ Bearing His Cross before the church.

But the main altair is more impressive in Grodno.

Towards the end of the eighteenth century, the city became a part of the Russian Empire. From this period originates another landmark of Grodno, a fire station with a tower built in the early twentieth century. This fire station is still operational and fulfils its main function.

Then after World War I, Grodna found itself in the boundaries of the Second Polish Republic. But only twenty years later came the World War II. Although I am proud of all the horses that won the battles, I am also happy that we horses can now live peaceful life, since there is a new cavalry. Like the one below, on the monument to commemorate the liberators.

After 6 years of war the city became part of Soviet Union. This spectacular building is Grodno Region Drama Theater. It is the contemporary symbol of the city. Have you noticed the muses on the horses ?

Much more impressive than the contemporary Town Hall.

In 1990 Belarus declared itself sovereign. The city is very green, with many artificial water reservoirs.

Quite often one can find also beautiful sets of flowers, like here in front of Basilian Nuns Monastery.

And this obelisk is the starting point all from which the distance from Grodno to other cities is provided. So you can say we are just in the city center. Do you see the tents behind ? I will show you their content next week.

Vindonissa

Today I will take you for a trip in time. We will move back to the times of the Roman Empire. You already know from our previous trips that the Roman Empire was very large.

We will begin our journey in the Swiss town called nowadays Windisch. Our aim will be to visit the Roman legion camp of Vindonissa.

The camp was large since a Roman legion would include between three and five thousand men. Not mentioning all the administration around them. This is what Vindonissa looked like when it was at its full splendour.

The round shape on the left was the theater. A bit like the Colosseum in Rome. Just smaller. The upper part was made of wood so today we can only see the foundations.

But if you look at one of the side entries and you close your eyes, you can easily imagine the gladiators who enter there to fight fiercely against other slaves or wild animals.

The theater was built with stones, found most probably in the neighbouring fields.

Because when you need to feed five thousand men, you need fields. But even more - you need water. And to bring water to their camps, Romans used aqueducts. One of them is still active today.

Obviously, it is no longer used by the local utilities (though it was two hundred years ago!) but the water is still moving inside the ancient pipes.

One interesting thing is that to build the aqueduct, which was several kilometers long, Romans used a special device called chorobates. The pendula allowed to ensure that it is standing straight.

The binoculars on the top allow to check if the other end of the pipe is in the right position.

Shall we check? Everything seems to be in order.

The main part of the camp was of course surrounded by a wall. To enter inside, one had to pass through a gate. The gates in Vindonissa were of course not as impressive as Porta Nigra, but still they inspired respect.

Of course, this is only a reconstruction. All that remains from the Southern gate are its foundations.

Inside the camp, the most prominent houses belonged of course to the military leaders, the centurions.

Unlike their soldiers who lived together, cooked themselves and generally did not enjoy much of luxury, the Roman officers had large houses with well equipped kitchens and slaves to take care of them.

If your imagination is not working today at full speed, you can always sneak into this magic binocular.

I hope that you have enjoyed our visit in Vindonissa. I was really impressed by the way the site is organised. I particularly appreciated all the visualisations. In one moment we can see the relief of the location ...

... a minute later this is the plan of the Roman legion camp ...

... that converts in a glimpse of an eye in the plan of modern Windisch.

A history that continues beyond the time and space.