Veliko Tarnovo girl Stanimira Antonova won the final contest in Bulgaria of the World’s top model. The contest, in which 15 girls participated, was held last night in the complex Kaloyanova krepost in Arbanassi. The girls have never modelled and practically this was their debut, explained Diana Velikova-general manager of the agency Expose model management, which holds the rights to contest in the country. Stanimira Antonova is a student at the University of National and World Economy. The Crown, which she received, is made of silver, decorated with coral and pearls. The model was a replica from the frescoes in the Boyana Church. The winner in Veliko Turnovo will represent Bulgaria in the finals in Berlin in January.

On friday night one more car was set on fire in Veliko Tarnovo. The crime took place around 3:30 am at Yuri Gagarin street in the old capital.

Renault 19 was burnt away, leaving the 26-th author with no transport. The firefighters managed to save another car parked nearby from the flames.

There are about 10 cases of autos set on fire in less than a month in Veliko Tarnovo. Those incidents tend to happen at 3-3:30 am.

The police is working on a couple of versions, but the most probable is that a gang is setting those cars on fire just for fun. Most of the cars were not new, so it’s probably not an insurace fraud.

don't drink and drive

An Irish driver was caught dead drunk in the village of Yakovtsi near Elena, officials said. 41-year old John Noel Burn was driving his Volvo, when a police patrol pulled him over. The test showed 3,5 per mille, which is a record.

This summer there were a lot of crashes with lethal ending already, so the police appeal that drivers do not drink before going on the road.

The entrance of the Patriarch monastery

The Holy Trinity monastery, also known as the Patriarch’s monastery, lies about 10km away from the ancient town and ex-Bulgarian capital, Veliko Turnovo. The monastery has been built high above the town in an extraordinarily beautiful area, huddling at the foot of a vertical rocky massif.

The first sanctuary in the vicinity dates back to 1070. Later on, in 1368 a hermit, Teodosii of Turnovo, moved to a small cave formed in the rocky massif above the present-day monastery. As other monks started arriving here to seek spiritual advice from or just talk to Teodosii, the place was gradually transformed into a true community of monks. Soon afterwards, the future Patriarch Evtimii also joined the cloister and promptly became famous for his abilities in the first literary school in Bulgaria, established by the monks there. As Teodosii grew older, he gradually transferred his everyday tasks of running the monastery to Evtimii. Thus, after the sudden death of Teodossi in Tsarigrad (present-day Istanbul) during an oecumenical council, Evtimii became naturally father superior of the monastery.

The monastery was supported by the authorities in the face of Ivan Alexander and Ivan Shishman who used to come to the cloister to talk to Teodosii and often provided financial support and food for the monks. At the end of the 14th century when the state was invaded by Ottoman troops, the then-Patriarch Evtimii was entrusted with gold by Ivan Shishman to buy out the capital if needed, while the tzar himself led his troops to the borders. Unfortunately, neither the Patriarch nor the tzar was able to save the country from falling under Ottoman domination. While the 300 monks of the monastery were slaughtered by the Ottomans, Patriarch Evtimii together with other high-ranked officials of Turnovo were lined up and forced to either convert to Islam or die. When the turn of Evtimii to make his choice came, the Patriarch declined to convert and was sentenced to death. The verdict was not executed though as the hand of the executioner froze in the air and could not move. This was taken by the Turks as a holy sign and the Patriarch was sent in exile instead.

Shortly before the liberation from the Ottoman domination the monastery was restored with the famous master, Kolyo Fitcheto, having his contribution. The master rebuilt the church in 1848 while another famous artist of that time, Zahari Zograf, painted its frescoes. Unfortunately, an earthquake ruined the church and other buildings of the monastery in 1913. The design of the reconstructed church, kept till present days, is different from Kolyo Fitcheto’s one as it has domes, banned for Orthodox churches during Ottoman times.

The monastery was a male one until 1946 when the first women came here, initially living in the staples and cattle-sheds. The current mother superior arrived in 1948 and is currently 84 years old. Due to her and the other nuns’ efforts, the monastery has grown in the past few decades. The oldest buildings that are still functioning date back to 1948, while the church in its present-day design is about 10 years old and is still being painted inside.

The monastery does not offer food and accommodation, Instead one can rent a room in a private house or in one of the many hotels of Veliko Turnovo and taste traditional Bulgarian cuisine in beautiful old-style restaurants and pubs in the town.

The road to the monastery starts in the suburbs of Veliko Tarnovo close to the remains of Tzarevets fortress. It is surprisingly good as it was recently re-asphalted.

bulgarianmonastery.com

For more photos click here.

29 June 2009 – Bulgarian Prime Minister, Sergei Stanishev, said in Veliko Tarnovo that the government has allocated BGN 825,000 (USD 593,013/EUR 421,833) in 2009 for conservation-related activates for buildings and mural paintings situated in Veliko Tarnovo region.

Some BGN 300,000 were granted to the “Resurrection of Christ” church, which is currently being built. The government allocated BGN 200,000 for the church in the village of Sushitsa and some BGN 120,000 to the “St. Constantine and St. Helena” church in Veliko Tarnovo. St. Nicholas” churches in Elena and Zlataritsa each received BGN 50,000.

During its whole term, the government allocated approximately BGN 6 million for archaeological and related projects on the hill of Trapezitsa.

(BGN 1 = USD 0.719/EUR 0.511)

St. Peter and St. Paul monastery

29 June 2009 – Today (29 June) we celebrate the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. This day also marks the official holiday of the town of Lyaskovets. A festive liturgy was held at 08:00 (EEST) in the St. Peter and St. Paul monastery.

On a special meeting, the city council will announce the new honorary citizen of Lyaskovets as well as winners of various awards. The special ceremony of hoisting the flags will start at 19:00 at “Vazrazhdane” square. Veronika, a Bulgarian pop-folk singer, along with Neshka Robeva’s dance group will perform at the central square, starting 20:00.

Other Bulgarian cities which also celebrate their official holiday on 29 June include Belogradchik, Etropole and Svoge. People that go by the name of Petar, Pavel, Petrana, Polina, Pavlina, Petya and Kamen also celebrate their name day.

The spanish building company Europea will invest 300 mln. € in the creation of a logistics center in Polski Trambesh near Veliko Tarnovo. The strategic location was the primary factor in choosing the small  bulgarian town.

The facility will cover around 300 000 sq. meters. The 720 storage houses will be accesible round the clock, with 4000 parking spaces and offices. Europea already has finished similar project near Elin Pelin.

Hotel Anhea

The rooms are newly furnished, offering the necessary coziness, peace and comfort for you to enjoy your stay at our hotel. In every room, at your disposal are cable TV, wireless Internet, mini-bar, local air-conditioner and self-contained bathroom and toilet. We guarantee the cleanliness and disinfections treatment of the premises.

You can visit their site here.

Root Souljah

The bulgarian Greens have arranged a concert in Veliko Tarnovo. The activity is part of the supporting actions in their campaign for the coming Euro Parliament Elections. These bands will rock the stage:
SOULSLEPT& МЧК
PATACA
МЕЛ
1 МАЙ
ZAFAYAH & DIZZATA /ROOT SOULJAH/

If you’re interested, you may come on June 3rd in the Marno Pole park from 5 pm.

Image:dariknews.bg

A golden Ducat and a female ring found the archeologist Hitko Vachev during excavations in the old Armenian church (map) in Veliko Tarnovo. Some of the other discoveries are earrings, altar with indented wooden cross, lots of coins, ceramics and ritual utensils, used during lithurgies.

The quarter of a ducat, the most interesting find, was dated from 1698. It is the first one found in Bulgaria. More than 100 coins were collected during the excavations. Most of the are from tsar Ivan Shihsman’s nime, and some are from the early ottoman ages.

The Armenian church is also known as The Assu (Uspenie na Sveta Bogoroditsa in bulgarian) and this is the second time Hitko Vachev is doing excavations there.

Municipality of Veliko Tarnovo started painting the pedestrian crossings in town. They need renewal and as central streets have priority, they will be refreshed first. After the crossings, the dotted lines on central boulevards will be renewed.

The Asens are three brothers and a heir of theirs that ruled Bulgaria after liberation from the Byzantines. The first two of them – Assen and Peter are the ones to “blame” for Bulgaria existing as an independent country, and their brother – Kaloyan – for making it become become a major force in Eastern Europe. He even fought and won a battle with the crusaders, keeping emperor Baldwin as prisoner. Tsar Ivan (John) Assen II is their successor, exceptional diplomat, who through a bunch of diplomatic marriages managed to reach the second historical peak in bulgarian history.
Assens’ monument (Assen, Peter, Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II) was built in 1985, to cellebrate 800 years of the uprising of the brothers Asen and Peter. The sword, which is located in the middle, symbolizes power and the rise of medieval Bulgaria. The monument is large and is situated on the very picturesque place in the city – near the river at the foot of Sveta Gora to Stambolov bridge (built during the Stefan Stambolov reign), giving special broadcast of the city. The place really deserves to be visited, on the one hand to feel the power of the Bulgarian kings and the other – to enjoy the magnificent panoramas that are revealed there.

Hotel Panorama

Situated in the heart of the town, hotel “Panorama” is very close by the most visited and primary tourist destinations and sights in the Old Capital, such as the old trade street, known as “Samovodska charshia” , the hill Tsarevets with the ruins and the castle on it, “The house with the monkey”, the Stambolov`s Bridge, The City Art Gallery, the Assens` monument and the architectural reserve “Arbanassi”.

With its unique architectural and interior design the hotel offers to its visitors 24 double rooms, 3 single rooms and 5 apartments. All of the rooms are equipped with air-condition, cable television, phone, electronic lock system, high-speed internet access, as well as luxury bathrooms with bath-tubs and hairdryers.

Some of the rooms have terraces. The rooms has two beds or one king size bed, some of them with a possibility for additional bed in order to accommodate third person and one of the rooms is fully equipped to be used disabled people. The apartments have two separated rooms; all of them have two bathrooms and provide for our guests stile, comfort, cosiness. The rooms offer a magnificent view to the Asens` monument, the hill Sveta gora and Yantra river.

Veliko Tarnovo 5000,
63, Stefan Stambolov Str.
tel.: + 359 62 602 600
cell: + 359 889 12 66 12
fax: + 359 62 650 434
Visit their website
e-mail: panorama.vt@abv.bg

All taxes for administrative services in Veliko Tarnovo municipality will be raised, as well as the money, collected from traders. All building permissions, taxes for bar tables in the open and animal taxes are on the rise in order to save the administration from going bankrupt. Veliko Tarnovo mayor proposed that prices of municipal properties should be lowered just to have more investments in the region. One of the radical changes is that citizens with dogs should pay 20 levs to have permission to have a pet in the city.

Cold yoghurt and chopped cucumber soup

Cold yoghurt and chopped cucumber soup, or as bulgarians call it “tarator”, always presents on their summer table. It is prepared of yoghurt, chopped cucumbers and spices. It is very delicious when you add some walnuts, vegetable oil and dill and this makes it a unique dish. The special thing about the cold yoghurt and chopped cucumber soup (tarator) is that it has many and different from one another varieties. Various recipes for its preparation exist: piropod tarator, standard tarator, jetvar tarator, selski tarator and many others. The cold yoghurt and chopped cucumber soup is entirely Bulgarian “invention”. In the hot summer days it is irreplaceable on the table and sometimes it is the only and main dish. If you visit Bulgaria during the summer do not miss to try this unique dish. Tarator is served in almost every restaurant. Goes very well with rakia. It’s called soup, but usually is consumed as salad.

Lazarovden in Bulgaria

The Orthodox Christian Church dedicates St. Lazar’s day to St. Lazar, whom Jesus Christ raised from the dead on the fourth day after his burial to show him his gratitude for his hospitability. Our people call the holiday “Lazar”, “Lazaritsa” or “Lazar’s Saturday”. It does not have a fixed date in the calendar. It is always on Saturday, a week before Easter. It is characterized with several particularly interesting and ancient in their origin maiden’s customs – “lazaruvane”, “kumichene” and “boenek”. Early in the morning on St. Lazar’s day the dancers (“lazarki”), clad in new and clean maidens’ national costumes, decorated with wreaths and fresh posies on their heads, in groups, start going round the houses of the village. All the time they sing holiday ritual songs and perform their ritual dance, most often called “boenek”.

Kukeri in Bulgaria

On 10th March is celebrated Mummer’s Day. From that day on during the whole week mummer’s dances are performed in south and east Bulgaria. The mummers – masked young men go round all the houses in the village to bring to the people health and fertility and the hosts give them plenty of gifts. At the end the mummers’ group symbolically starts ploughing and planting the “mummer’s filed” on the square in the middle of the village, thus they send the evil away and predestine welfare for the village and its inhabitants. The holiday ends with a mummer’s round dance on the square. The following days of the week the people consider as black days. Black Tuesday – also called dry Tuesday is thought to be the worst of all Tuesdays during the year. Mad Wednesday – they celebrate it in order to protect from madness. On scatter-brained Thursday the women should not roll yarn, should not work with yarn crutches in order to protect people from brain-scattering and giddiness. Black Friday is considered to be the worst of all 12 black Fridays throughout the year.

UNESCO ambassadors from 45 countries are on a visit in Veliko Tarnovo. The guests are on a 8 day trip in Bulgaria. Visiting the Rila monastery, Boyana church, Kazanlak tomb, Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo and Arbanassi.

There are ambassadors, minsters and secretaries of the national commisions in UNESCO, as well as people on the behalf of tne Ministry of foregn affairs and Ministry of culture of Bulgaria.

ATM

Unknown thieves tried to steal an ATM in the city of Biala cherkva, municipality of Pavlikeni, near Veliko Tarnovo, police officials said.

The bandits broke into the deli, housing the machine and got rid of the automated security system. Then they tried to cut away a metal part, keeping the ATM in its place. As they didn’t succeed, they left the machine alone, not taking any money from it.

But to make their run “count”, they took 230 levs from the food store and, cigarettes, liquor and some food.

Shiroka laka, Rhodopi, Bulgaria

If you want to sense the true atmosphere of the past times and meet the sunrise awaken by the song of the first cocks, you must visit any of the Rhodopi villages. At the feet of the north-eastern slopes of the Perelik locality of the western Rhodopi and the south-west slopes of Chertanitsa you will find the village of Shiroka laka. It is officially recognized as an architecture and ethnographic reserve. The village is 24 km. away from Smolyan and 5 km. away from Pamporovo. Your visit to the village will give you a clear notion of the life style of Bulgarians about hundred years ago. You will see the Rhodopi as they were at times of the Bulgarian Renaissance. Most typical of all id the architecture of houses: Zgurovski mayoralty, where the ethnographic museum is located, the Kalaydzhiyska, the Grigorovska and the Bogdanovska houses. You can taste the traditional Bulgarian food and enjoy the folklore entertainment, or go sightseeing accompanied by a tourist guide.

Ribaritsa, Stara Planina, Bulgaria

Ribaritsa is situated 12 km. to the east of Teteven.. The biggest attraction is the wild nature of the Balkan. The village bounders to the national park of Central Balkan and one of its nine green pearls – the Biospheric reserve of “Tsarichina”. Comfortable tourist roads lead to the two neighboring reserves of “Tsarichina”: “Boatin” to the south-west, and “Kozya stena” to the south-east. Starting from there the road leads to a number of mountain hostels. The village offers excellent conditions for rural and eco-tourism. Guests may enjoy the funny stories of the local people. The protected area of “Cherven rat” is very attractive for ornithologists. There one may observe a large variety of birds. One can enjoy a ride on the tourist train or mountain bike and visit the place where Georhi Benkovski was killed, near the Roman Bridge and the old villages of Bryazovo and Gorunyovo.

Koprivshtitsa, Bulgaria

Koprivshtitza is a national architectural reserve with entirely preserved architectural appearance since the Renaissance. It combines our historical past and splendid folklore with perfect mountain resort and ecological paradise. The Renaissance houses are the greatest treasure of Koprivshtitza. They are ancient, luxuriously decorated with fretworks, planes and frescoes, with cobblestone yards and motley flower-beds. The cobblestone streets with stone bridges over the mountain brooklets, fountains and snug little houses are unabolished part of the antique appearance of the town. You can take with you a real memento of the artistic crafts, practicing even to this day – fretwork, weaving, ceramics, and fragrant sweeties of aromatic wild fruit. The oak and pine forests, pure mountain water, favourable climate and temperate temperatures are suitable for the sterling rest and relish in this mountain paradise.

Nessebar, Bulgaria

According to some critics Nessebar is called the pearl of our south Black Sea and is one of the most antique towns in Europe. The old part of the town is a national architectural reserve and is in the UNESCO list for protected objects. Especially attractive as museum objects are the churches: “St. Stefan”, “St. Spas”, “Christ Pantokrator”, “John the Baptist”, “St. Sofia”, “St. John Aliturgetos”. Parts of the Renaissance atmosphere in Nessebar are the very well preserved monuments from 18-19th century; houses, windmills, fountains, and squares. The town is situated on a peninsula, which is connected to the land only by a narrow strip of land. The incredible atmosphere of the old town combined with the modern hotels, spread like stars all over the seashore are the premise Nessebar to be the most preferable place for rest for Bulgarian and European tourists.

March 3rd is Bulgaria’s Independence day. On this date there’s usually a big show on Tsarevets in Veliko Tarnovo, as you may see here.