TECHNICAL DETAILS
Leica D-Lux typ 109. 1/400 at f/3.5 ISO 200. 75mm equivalent focal length. Hand held.
THE RUINS OF PLOVDIV
I will admit that before my work trip to Bulgaria, my knowledge of the country’s geography and history was thin. That’s unfortunate, as I was struck by the beauty, diversity and history of the parts that I saw.
I arrived in Sofia and worked a couple of days with my colleague Emil. Sofia was a pretty typical European capital. Some impressive buildings. Interesting streets. Not too much in the way of oppressive post-Communist feel. I’ve been through enough other parts of eastern Europe to ease into it. My Cyrillic reading ability came back fairly quickly, and I could pronounce the street signs, even if I didn’t know what they meant.
After Sofia, we took Emil’s brother’s car and drove south for some meetings with potential business associates in Plovdiv. The couple of hour drive south through the Bulgarian countryside was lovely, alternatively pine forests and mountainous, to agricultural, flatter and more arid. Plovdiv is just one mountain range away from the border with Greece, and definitely has a Mediterranean feel to it. I was surprised to find that it claims to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in Europe, with evidence of settlement within the city limits going back 7,000 years.
As I got a look around the city of 500,000 later that evening, I was immediately struck by the intermixture of old and new. You don’t have to go anywhere to see ancient things in Plovdiv. They are just mixed right in with everything else. A 13th century mosque abuts a Subway restaurant. The Roman-era hippodrome is next to Coach and Fendi stores in the shopping district. The Roman ruins are the ‘newer’ ones in town. Only a couple of thousand years. Head up to the park at the top of the hill in the old city, and there’s a Thracian wall, Roman house footings, all intermingled. Boom. That Thracian stuff is 5000 years old.
I saw most of the old city in the evening after dark as we walked the cobble streets. So in the early morning the next day, right at dawn, I grabbed the camera and walked the mile or so back there for some images. No meetings until 10:00 a.m. afforded the luxury.
On the side of the hill in the oldest part of the current old town is a Roman-era amphitheater, spectacular in its setting overlooking the hilly city. I stood at the top and made this exposure in the warm early morning light, before heading back for the days events, stopping at the Starbucks next to the Roman aqueduct along the way for a flat white. Incredible.
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