Don Feidner

Last Update:   17 April 2013

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Passport Check and 3 Euros Tax to Enter Bulgaria

The Cyrillic script ( /sɨˈrɪlɪk/) or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system. It is based on the Early Cyrillic, which was developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD. It is the basis of alphabets used in various languages, past and present, in Eastern Europe and Asia, especially those of Slavic origin, and non-Slavic languages influenced by Russian. As of 2011 around 252 million people in Europe and Asia use it as official alphabet for their national languages. About half of them are in Russia.

With the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union on 1 January 2007, Cyrillic became the third official script of the European Union, following the Latin and Greek scripts.

Ghetto Outside Vidin
The Numbers on the Buildings Remind One of Military Barracks

Gypsy Collecting Glass - Which One is the Horse’s A...?

City Park on the Danube - Lawn Needs Mowing

National Monuments

By now, you get the picture of my first impression of Bulgaria - The prices were about half compared to the prices in Romania, but the quality of the products is also halved. The two Bulgarians at the bottom of the previous page, Alexander and Danny, were amazed at how clean it was in Calafat, Romania. What they didn’t know is that Calafat is dirty in comparison to many cities further east in Romania. Let me show you a few things that are much nicer in Vidin.

ich glaube jetzt verstehst du was ich in der ersten Stunde in Bulgarien erlebt hatte - Die Preise warn nur halb so teuer wie in Rumänien, aber die Qualität von den Produkten war auch nur halb so gut. Die 2 bulgarische Männer auf der vorherigen Seite, Alexander und Danny, waren überrascht wie sauber es war in Calafat, Rumänien. Was sie nicht wüssten ist das Calafat schmutzig ist wenn verglichen mit anderen Städten weiter ostwärts in Rumänien. Erlaube mir Dir etwas schöneres in Vidin zu zeigen.

Orthodox Chapel

Mosque and Library - Osman Pazvantoglu

Fountain and Entry Portal

Entry Portal in City Wall

Soldiers’ Monument in City Center

City Center in Vidin

Public Library in Vidin

Orthodox Cathedral

Casket at Turkish Konak (Town Hall) Koluka

Turkish Konak (Town Hall) Koluka - Front View

ATAKA Building Entrance

Baba Vida Fortress (Photo Below) from Wikipedia

Baba Vida is a medieval fortress in Vidin in northwestern Bulgaria and the town's primary landmark. It consists of two fundamental walls and four towers and is said to be the only entirely preserved medieval castle in the country. Baba Vida served as Vidin's main defensive installation during the course of the Middle Ages and acted as the most important fortress of northwestern Bulgaria. The Baba Vida stronghold stood an eight-month-long siege by Byzantine forces, but was destroyed and once again erected. Between 1365 and 1369, the fortress was suddenly attacked by the forces of Louis I of Hungary, but it took several months to conquer Baba Vida. In 1369, Ivan Sratsimir managed to regain control of his capital, albeit he had to remain under Hungarian overlordship.

The fortress played a significant role during the Ottoman rule of Bulgaria. serving as a weapon warehouse and a prison, as it has been no longer used for defensive purposes since the end of the 18th century.

Today, Baba Vida is a fortress-museum, where information about its history are kept. Being a popular tourist attraction, the fortress was restored to its former appearance.

Danube River between Calafat, Romania, and Vidin, Bulgaria

Tourist Roadsign with Cyrillic and Latin Scripts

Das kyrillische Alphabet oder Kyrilliza (Кирилица, Кириллица, Ćirilica/Ћирилица), nach den traditionellen beiden ersten Buchstaben a (slawisch as) und b (slawisch buki) auch Asbuka (азбука; transliteriert Azbuka) genannt, ist eine Buchstabenschrift, die für zahlreiche, vor allem slawische Sprachen in Europa und Asien verwendet wird. Sie ist nach Kyrill von Saloniki (826–869) benannt, der jedoch nicht die kyrillische, sondern die ihr vorausgehende glagolitische Schrift entworfen hat.
 
Seit dem Beitritt Bulgariens zur Europäischen Union 2007 ist die kyrillische neben der lateinischen und der griechischen eine der drei offiziell verwendeten Schriften in der Europäischen Union.

Alexander and Daniel. I met these two gentlemen (left) on the ferry from Vidin, Bulgaria. They both spoke English. These two university students (Philosophy and Economics) are in Romania for the first time. They said, “Romania is so clean!”  Actually, Calafat is not nearly as clean as some cities in Romania, but much cleaner than Bulgaria. They were impressed. We talked for about an hour about their plans for the future. They were both born after the revolution and know nothing about the Communistic regime that existed in their country before the fall. They plan to visit Berlin soon.

Alexander und Daniel. Diese zwei Gentlemen habe ich auf der Ferry zwischen Vidin und Calafat kennengelernt. Beide sprechen Englisch. Diese zwei Studenten aus der Uni (Philosophie und Wirtschaft) in waren zum ersten Mal in Rumänien. Sie sagten, “Rumänien ist so sauber!”  In Wirklichkeit, Calafat ist gar nicht so sauber wie einige Städte in Rumänien, aber viel schöner als in Bulgarien. Sie waren beeindruckt. Wir haben etwa eine Stunde geredet über ihre Pläne für die Zukunft. Sie waren beide nach der Revolution geboren und wissen nichts über die kommunistische Regime, vor dem Fall in ihrem Land existiert hatte. Sie möchten bald Berlin besuchen.

Bulgarian Super Highway and Autobahn
Overgrown with Weeds (Bicycles are Allowed)

City Wall - Not very Pretty

Vidin Beach - One Customer - At Least He had a View of the River

National Monuments - No One to Pull the Weeds

Orthodox Cathedral

Mosque - Osman Pazvantoglu

Entry Portal Through City Wall

Soldiers’ Monument

Typical Architecture - Building with Watch Tower

City Center in Vidin

City Center in Vidin

City Center in Vidin

Orthodox Cathedral

Turkish Konak (Town Hall) Koluka

Turkish Konak (Town Hall) Koluka

Wailing Tree

Old House in Vidin

Baba Vida Fortress

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