May 21, 2019 Why Bulgaria

The Liberty Gazette

May 21, 2019

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

“Why Bulgaria,” we were asked by several friends. “That’s why, exactly,” we answered. And we’d answer that way because what interested us was that we knew nothing about the country. In just a week and a half, through six cities and visits to over 20 different monuments of historical significance, we learned a lot.

Since we traveled on airliners, we don’t have much to tell about the flying, except to state our gratitude to Lufthansa for great vegan meals, including introducing us to vegan liverwurst. Truly, we were amazed. Other than that, the Airbus A-380 is quite comfortable in Premium Economy, although we felt the sway of the plane that far up front. The A-350-900 we rode on the return was the most impressive. No sway, not too big to fit at most gates (and therefore, no waiting as we did on the A-380). The cabin, designed by BMW, is wide and comfy, and the Rolls Royce engines are quiet and smooth. And, the A-350 seemed to take off in an impressively short distance, just 8,000 feet.

This trip was the first we have taken as part of a group, and the only reason we did was because of the touring company – Atlas Obscura. They are just what their name implies: traveling the globe for the more obscure treasures. The tour of Bulgaria was fascinating. Their 5,000-year history is complicated, and we think of the nation as having somewhat of an identity crisis. They only ended communism thirty years ago, and before that, they were ruled by others – the Ottomans (Turks), the Soviets, the Nazis, and the Soviets again.

There has been tremendous brutality. Killings, torture, and slavery. But one amazing fact for which Bulgarians should be highly revered is their refusal to turn over their resident 50,000 Jews when the Nazis insisted. Those lives were spared because people stood up and said no, such as the bishop of Plovdiv, Metropolitan Kirill, who lay down in front of a transport train filled with Jews, stopping one deportation.

But five hundred years of torture and massacre at the hands of the Ottomans created the most heartbreaking stories. After visiting many cities, we came upon Batak. On our itinerary was the small Orthodox church where many people fled for safety when their priest came out to plead for mercy from the Ottomans. Only about a thousand people survived the most horrific massacre of the April uprising in 1876.

As we are all about the healing story, how grateful we were to have arrived in Batak at the very hour of their annual remembrance that celebrates life in the public square next to that little church. We joined men, women, and children dressed in period clothes and danced to traditional music, with occasional canon firings and shotgun blasts emphasizing the speaker’s reflective narration. Here was the depth of immense pain presented at the same time as witnessing how people move forward from tragedy. So much more than an educational trip, it’s “Why Bulgaria.”

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