We managed to get back out to the house in the August and this time we were there for four weeks, we could hardly contain our excitement as we were now ready to meet the locals.
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| Bulgarian village house |
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| Bulgarian House and Colin 2008 |
We bought the house in January 2008
Opening the door and walking in, the property gave me a lovely sense of well being, the house was just as we had left it, 20 minutes the dust covers removed floors swept ,surfaces wiped, beds made and we were ready.
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| Baba Ginna and me Bulgaria |
It amazes me the kindness and welcome that we received, The first neighbour we met was Baba Ginna. This was over the garden fence she talked and talked to me, waving her arms and smiling, patting and holding my hands. I didn't have a clue but guessed a big welcome was being given she then gestured for me to wait as she disappeared into her house then arrived back a plate full of freshly baked bread, more gesturing that Colin worked out was she wanted the plate back, we devoured the bread which was filled with a white cheese and mouth wateringly tasty. I later found out that this was Mesenitza also known as Tutmanik,
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| Mesenitza |
The recipe and easy to follow instructions can be found on the blog Adventures in Cookery and definitely worth a go.
"Tutmanik is very popular in Bulgaria. Every region, every village, and even family have different recipes and names for it. You may know it as mesenitza, or tutmanik, and the shapes and recipes vary but the basic idea remains the same – make dough filled with the feta cheese, brush the top of the bread with egg yolk and bake until it starts to smell insanely good!
The standard ingredients for tutmanik are flour, oil or butter, eggs, feta, yeast and lots of flour." Adventures in Cookery
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| Ivan in his yard |
we met our neighbour Ivan, the next day when the Electric cut off (midst shower and hair washing) we weren't sure if it was a power cut or our Electrics had faulted, Colin called round to next doors, with the Bulgarian phrase book and very limited Bulgarian - ne toc - using many hand gestures, he established it was a fault with our electric. Ivan came round and changed the fuses in our Electric box and I could finish my shower. Ivan has been an absolute rock and a better friend and neighbour I couldn't wish for, on many occasions he has come to our rescue, no fuss but always a solution.
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| Tutrakan, red brick roofs looking over the river Danube |
The following day we were off to Tutrakan (our closest town) for more fuses, it turned out we were going to need a lot of these over the next four weeks, Tutrakan is situated on the Danube it has an old fishing quarter, where traditional fishing is still practiced, situated 60 km from the regional centers Rousse and Silistra The town is located in the westernmost part of Danubian Dobrudja, climbing up a steep hill. The town is terraced on the slope consisting of two landslide terraces. It is part of a high-level plateau to south of the river Danube.
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| Sefan, me, Colin. Molly and Cathi |
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| Me and Al - Sunset over the Danube |
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| me and Chris, cafe Tutrakan |
Tutrakan has a Saturday morning market where local produce is sold also shops, cafes including an internet cafe and restaurants, a couple of restaurants have English translated menus, here we met my sister Cathi who is now living in Belitsa the next village to ours and met Molly and Stefan for the first time. A lovely couple who over the next five years become very good friends. Stefan is Bulgarian and Molly American, Stefan a film producer and Molly a journalist by trade now teaching in the American University, Sofia..
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| Molly and Stefans house 2008 |
Molly and Stefan have bought this grand old wine merchants property as a project. there is so much potential with the original features and high ceiling rooms, the wine cellars and old shops are all just waiting for restoration
Our next priority the garden,
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| overgrown garden |
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| front garden under bedroom window |
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| Adinan the gardener |
At the back, the garden has an Apricot Orchard with twelve Apricot trees also four Apple trees, six plum trees - two Victoria/blue/plum, two wild plum and two lovely little yellow plums, a very large walnut tree and numerous grape vines , vastly overgrown with the weeds well over head height. As I'm not sure what creatures and crawlies are lurking in the long grass we decide to hire Molly and Stefans gardener Adinan to tackle the majority of the work. A good but rather slow job as Adinan used the traditional method of a scythe and ......
Here starts lesson number one:-
No Alcohol for the workers till the job is done,
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| moving the corn store |
at the back, the garden was divided into two , the orchard and the animal pen this included a corn store that we had no need for so we gave it to our next door neighbour, as soon as I said they could take it a possy came over and shifted it, as Baba Ginna grows corn it it was of much more use to her and her family, we could of sold it to the "iron men" for 20 lev but of course good will is invaluable. There was some confusion about the wire fence that surrounded the animal pen as I wanted it stored in the shed and they wanted to take that as well, but a phone call to Stefan and the matter was cleared up,
Lesson number two:- be clear and concise in your instructions even if it is in a language you are only just starting to learn.
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| Al and Chris chopping a dead Apricot tree |
It was all cleared up and we were the recipients of two dozen eggs, fresh that day and free range. The golden egg yolks were to die for, and into the bargain Baba Ginna arranged for her workers to prune our Apricot trees in the Autumn. Very good will.
A problem that Adinan was very good at dealing with was getting rid of the wasps nests, as the house had been left unoccupied for a couple of years we had a few nests in sheds, the outside Loo and fence poles. . They will build anywhere there is a hole. Colin a fine student now clears the nests without a second thought, though we don't get many anymore.
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| Wasps in the shed |
Part of clearing the house and cellar was removing numerous fridges, that had been used for storage of nails, screws and bits and bots. Also a dentist chair from the cellar that the boys were convinced was a torture chair, the meat hooks hanging from the cellar oak beams helped to fuel their imagination.
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| The Iron Men |
Heres the Iron men loading up the Lada with some of our stuff we sold each item for 10 lev each under the watchful eye of Baba Ginna who as much as I could guess told them in no uncertain terms not to rip us off.
As they were loading up Ivan came out giving them the same message, how lucky we are.
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| picking plums |
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| Romania cleaning a drum for the plums |
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| Colin stirring the fruit |
I was picking plums in the front garden when Romania came and started helping me, and in the way that the people I meet in the village make an massive effort for me to understand (which still amazes me as I hardly knew a word of Bulgarian and she had no English), she managed to explain that these plums were best for making the Bulgarian drink Rakia rather than cooking or eating, she proceeded to help me pick them, cleaned a barrel from one of the sheds which we filled with the plums and added water, we then added sugar, (heres a big debate sugar or no sugar). The plums were very ripe and would naturally turn to alcohol, this had to be stirred every day until ready to go to the village distillery and turned into Rakia. The more traditional fruit is Apricots (thus the Apricot orchard) but it can also be made from grapes and plums.
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| Sunny on the Rakia run |
We live at the end of the road that the village distillery is located and often see carts pulled by horses or cars filled with barrels and wood for the fires, Sunny and his wife posing for the photo, with winter supplies of Rakia for himself and the extended family.
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| Cart loaded with wood and barrels off to the distillery |
As we had Al and Chris with us, Stefan arranged for them to go on a fishing trip with local fishermen, they had to be there at sunrise so we stayed over night in Tutrakan at the Lodka hotel ( a favourite place of ours as it has a great restaurant and WIFI) It's on the banks of the Danube and a stones throw away from the river (and Tutrakan Distillery). We were up early but not as early as the men at the Rakia factory. This was on the way down to the Danube and already it was busy.The boys had a great time and caught a catfish, they were out for hours as you can't rush a fish or a fisherman.
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| lounge stripped and ready for builders |
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| lounge |
We have come to the end of our four weeks having packed absolutely loads in, met lots and lots of fantastic lovely, warm people, learnt so much about Bulgaria and the culture I can't believe its only been four weeks. We have arranged for a builder to re wire, new ceilings, plaster and put new wooden windows in, so big changes. The next time we come it will be onwards and upwards. Walls stripped and rooms ready for the builders we leave once again homeward bound for England.
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| Small bedroo |
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| large bedroom |
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| middle dining room |
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| Porch |
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Storks in Belitsa
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