New York impressions in few pictures and words...

 

 My first time in New York city...The city is at the same time magical and majestic, big and cozy, multicultural and American, busy and quiet:-) This time I have decided to share with you my travel impressions in likes and dislikes, about my one week in Manhattan...

My top  LIKEs are:
- the extremely diverse and impressive architecture
(from art nouveau to headturning skyscrapers and shiny ads on enormous screens);
- the  very friendly, polite and helpful locals;
- the yummy greenmarkets: like the Farmers market at Union Square  or the one on 47th street;
- the incredible art and culture programme
(with several pieces of art in the streets and tons of great museums)
- the beautiful and charming shops displays and  their interior decoration;
- the breathtaking views that some platforms (as top of the Rock or the Bar "View, last picture)
offer of this big and busy city;
- the cute and curious welcome-greeters in Central Park, the sqirrels
(one even came to me and show me the nut she/he has found before going up on a tree to hide it for the winter);

 

...As everything has two sides, here are also my top DISLIKEs:
- the stinky food carts at every second corner;
- the crowds in Manhattan at certain times of the day;
- the (American) addiction to non-stop shopping and consumption
(yesterday when I was in front of Macy`s almost squeezed from shopping-addicts and when I saw how full the shops are-both with people and products, mostly made in China, I start to wonder how did mankind could change that way, or was this just the job well done of all advertisement industry)....

Some more of my discoveries to come in few days...

Sculptures in Sofia center : open-air and between autumn leaves

 

In the middle of the center of Sofia several beautful sculptures are literally hiding in the garden behind the National Art Gallery. They are located around the cozy bar-cafeteria "Toba&co" I had already written about. Most of the sculptures depict ordinary people.

I had difficulties finding the names of the artists, however I have to admit that I love the mix of pieces of art in this open-air setting and their different colours and materials....What do you think?

Cozy bar Taba&co in Sofia

Today I am gonna whistle-blow to you a very favourite location of mine in Sofia. Perfect on a hot or warm summer day, when looking for some refreshing shade. The "Taba&co bar" (6A "Moskovska" Street), glued on the back of the yellow ex-Palace, now National Gallery of art, is a cozy place for a stop and/or also to meet friends for chat and drinks. I love their creative menu with fresh pressed juices (of course they have also alcoholic cokctails and more). The whole bar is decorated in art-nouveau style and in the garden next to the bar several statues are also contributing to the art-flavour! 

In the evening the bar becomes a night club, usually on weekends. While in the winter the place is pretty smaller as the terass is closed, but It is however lovely sipping on a warm drink and gazing the snow-covered statues and trees in front...

New gates in China Town den Haag

 

What makes a Chinese quarter (in Europe) really Chinese...the names of the streets in Chinese or something else?! China Town in den Haag has got two really impressive stone gates, which were inaugurated in January 2010. The are lighted in the night and together with the traditional Chinese street lamps the neighbourhood gets indeed the Asian touch and feeling!

 

The beautiful gates emphasise the fact that The Hague and China have maintained trade relations for 100 years. The Municipality of The Hague commissioned Chinese architect Momoko Cai and the Shanghai Tayjuan construction company to design and construct the gates. 

Rock monastery Basarbovo/ Басарбовски манастир

The only still functioning rock monastery in Bulgaria is the tiny and colourful  "Басарбовски манастир". 48 stairs hewn in the white rocks lead the visitor to the rock cells, where one may light a candle and admire a gorgeous view of the nature reserve Russenski Lom, which is all around the monastery....

The earliest historical records for this monastery date back to the 15th century and are found in some Ottoman Empire's tax registers. A description of a land property (so-called "timar"), owned by the Wallachian leader Ivanko Basarab, father-in-law of Tsar Ivan Alexander, is found in one such register. This "timar" is the first written document that mentions the name of the village of Basarbovo as "the Basarab monastery". In 1911, a Committee on Historical Remains was established at the National Archeological Museum in Sofia with its main task being the elaboration of an archeological map of Bulgaria. The famous Czech traveler, Karel Skorpil, who had carried out scientific trips across Bulgaria in 1887 and 1892, was invited onboard for the job. In 1912, Skorpil set off on a trip down the Lom rivers, visiting and describing the Basarbovo monastery.

The year, in which the monastery was left without permanent dwellers during the Ottoman rule of Bulgaria, is not known. The then-future bishop of Smolyan, Tihon, took care of the monastery in 1919, while in 1937, a monk named Hadji Hrisant from the Preobrazhene monastery settled there and started to restore the monastery. A Committee for the Construction of a "St. Dimitrii of Basarbovo" Chapel was established the same year. The first job of the committee was to build a monk's cell in the fenced yard of the monastery. The cell was consecrated on May 14, 1937 but it existed only until 1940 when it was destroyed by a flood. After the flood, Father Hrisant started to raise donations for the monastery and within a month, he raised enough funds for the construction of two cells against the church. They were finished on August 30, 1940.

The above historical information is taken from the site http://www.bulgarianmonastery.com;

Varna, the marine capital of Bulgaria

Today I will take you on a walk through the center of Varna. Varna is our marine capital and the third largest city of Bulgaria.

It is not a favourite city of mine I have to say, it is pretty busy, haotic and dirty. However in the city center there is a lot of pretty and colourful architecture in Western style with local interpretations of Neo-Renaissance, Neo-Baroque, Neoclassicism, Art Nouveau and Art Deco.

Unfortunately almost all of the beautiful buildings in the center got additionally "decorated" with huge advertisements, which i find pretty grotesk and ugly...The sea garden along the beach is the oldest and biggest park of the city.

Varna is a front-runner for European Capital of Culture for 2019, planning to open several new high-profile facilities such as a new opera house and concert hall, a new exhibition centre, and a reconstruction of the Summer Theatre, the historic venue of the International Ballet Competition.

And something with which Varna beats even Sofia....is of course the sea:-) And last but not least Varna offers a great attraction with the its dolphinarium!

Pobitite kamyni next to Varna/ Побити камъни

"Pobiti kamyni" are natural rock phenomenon around 17 km away from Varna, on the road to Sofia. The place consists of several groups of stone columns (between 5 and 7 metres high and from 0.3 to 3 metres thick) on a total area of 70 km². The columns are instead hollow and filled with sand, and look like they are stuck into the surrounding sands, which gives the phenomenon its name ("Pobiti kamyni" means stones put in the ground).

Several rocks have names, such as the "Throne", the "Camel" or the "Lion"...The place is believed to charge visitors with positive energy. "Pobiti kamyni" are a nature reserve since 1937.

The origin of these rocks is still not confirmed. The place was under water some 50 millions years ago. One theory says the limestone columns represents the result of coral activity. The other theory is minaral based and supposes connection to bubbling reefs.

There is no doubt, its an impressive place to visit, as well as the amazing colours in a field we also had the pleasure to admire on the way to it!

Sofia in the spring sun...

My home town, Sofia, is extremely beautiful when the sun comes out. Last week I enjyoed several of Sofia landmarks in the sun...Not only the Russian church shines in the natural light, but also the golden cupolas of the cathedral Alexander Nevski.

The statue of the Saint Sofia, the protector of the city, is also worth admiration (by or without sunshine). Since 2000 it has replaced a statue of Lenin located on square "Nezawisimost" (the busy central crossing of boulevar Maria Luisa and street Todor Alexandrov). The new statue is 24m high and represents Sofia (with golden skin and bronze dress), holding the symbols of wisdom and fame (an owl and an wreath). With the building mess around one may though kind of overlook this beauty....

Another of my favourite building in the city is of course the National Theater Ivan Vasov (on the picture above).

"Ankeruhr" in Wien/Vienna

While having a stroll through the center of Vienna I have discovered the lovely clock called "Ankeruhr". Die Ankeruhr am Hohen Markt is a 4-meter-big clock in art nouveau design, which has been installed in 1914. It feautures 12 different characters from the Austrian history (such as old kings and musicians). Its location, "der Hohe Markt", is the oldest square in town.

At 12h (lunch time) every day a big crowd gathers in front of it to watch the show display of all of them. Even in the night the clock is worth a sight!

Stare miasto, Warshaw...

Let me take you to the colourful and cozy part of Warshaw...the old town known as "Stare Miasto"(the old place) charmes one straight away, also when the temperatures outside are pretty low. Last weekend there were already two Christmas markets, decorated Christmas tree and .... it was also freezing cold;

Sunday morning it was sunny, so we repeated the round by sunshine...It is impressive to walk around here, when one consider that 90% of the city was completely distroyed and what now is standing there is an excellent restauration work!