Tonight, at 1:34 local time the Sun is reaching the northernmost latitude of this year - 23º26.1', and will stay in our, northern hemisphere until 16:21 on 22 September, which is the day of the autumn equinox.
See how a group of friends celebrates the longest day of the year in a magnificent animation:
The One Who Doubts
Yamboool
Sorry, but whenever I think of Yambol, it comes the ludicrous association with the Bulgarian one-hit wonder Drajeto and his obsessive rap song of the same name (according to its lyrics, 'Yamboool is the Town...'). But it's more important that I turned the first sod of change with my visit to the town. As we wandered in search of downtown for a while, it led me into a complete inability to differentiate its districts, but as I stepped on the pedestrian zone (photo below) things started to fall into place. The recently renovated main street is inviting for walks and relaxation - with its many benches, cafes and restaurants, and I was even more impressed when I heard of а second pedestrian street in the town.With the luck of an unprepared hiker and limited amount of time I managed to see the buildings of the municipalities of Yambol and Tundzha, the Cultural Center 'Saglasie' ('Consent' in English) and the mall of Yambol. A nice surprise to me were two buildings from Ottoman times - the Yambol Arcade, which is currently at an advanced stage for harbouring shops, and a mosque with an uncommonly low minaret.
I didn't visit the Central Park - an omission which a local friend of mine mentioned after my visit, as well as the ancient city of Kabyle.
The third of the four days off because of the National Day of Cultrure and Slavic Script - 24 may, was the first sunny one after the long rainy series from Easter.
It was already 10 when a friend of mine and I were already driving along the Plovdiv - Karlovo road. Unnoticeably the field was going behind while the Sredna Gora mountains were rising up in front of us, and beyond was the realm of the Balkan mountains and nothing else. Chernozem, Dolna Mahala, Pesnopoy, Banya, Beguntsi, Domlyan, Mrachenik. Going through all these villages the number of cars was decreasing at the expense of road curves.
'He who falls in freedom's fight
Dies not - he's mourned
By earth and sky, Nature and beast,
And singers remember him in song...'
These words marked the first part of our adventure. It started soon after passing Mrachenik, when we stopped our car at the beginning of path to the grave of Hadzhi Dimitar - a legendary Bulgarian voivod working for the Libertation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule.
This walk appeared to be too short for us so our next stop was the village of Svezhen. Despite the crumbling architectural monuments, we found a good number of memorial tablets paying tribute to past events and honoured people. As well as hope of a better future.
For the next time we left two more paths that we found on our way back home. To reveal the secret of the multicomponent route, please look through the gallery HERE.
