Plovdiv is a city that's been continually inhabited for about eight thousand years, so it makes for an interesting city to visit, where the styles of architecture and culture are often mixed. This city will also be the European Capital of Culture in 2019, which is something I had never heard of before, but once I looked into it, I was convinced that it was well-suited to hold that title.
Due to the shenanigans I engaged in the night before, I woke up a bit stiff, but at least I didn't have a hangover. I got dressed and headed down to breakfast, but the door was locked to both the restaurant and the door to the back where the pool is, so I went back upstairs and waited on the couch for someone to come out. Once someone showed up, we both headed down to breakfast where the door was unlocked this time, and I grabbed my usual breakfast. We all talked and then waited for the bus.
We got a more comfortable bus this time since it was taking us to an excursion rather than just going to the dig site, and it had seatbelts, which our previous buses had not had, so we were told to put them on. The ride to Plovdiv was about an hour, an hour and a half, so much people dozed off while we were on our way. I have a hard time sleeping on public transportation, so I managed to stay awake the whole time. The bus driver stopped for gas about half an hour before we reached Plovdiv, so we were told to use the restroom if we needed it. Angela informed us that when we got to Plovdiv, there would be a walking tour first, and then we would go to lunch, and then we would have some free time to see other things or go shopping - which many of us were excited about. Since we started digging, this was the first day we didn't have to dig, so we were happy to have the break.
It was supposed to rain, so Angela suggested we bring our raincoats if we had them, but I put on a long sleeve shirt (mistake one) and brought the raincoat just in case (mistake two). I should have just worn and t-shirt and said I would deal with it, but alas.
Anyway.
Once we got to Plovdiv, our first stop was at the Archaeological Complex where the Small Basilica was, which dated back to the 5th-6th century C.E. The outside looked modern, but when you went inside, you got to see all of the conserved and protected mosaics from the original Basilica. There was a film presentation about Plovdiv that we watched in a little section above the mosaic area. The whole thing excited the group because it talked about a Stadium, an Ancient Theatre, the fortifications, and so on. Needless to say, the group was anxious to continue on with our trip. We all grabbed maps and pamphlets from the stand, and some people bought souvenirs - I got more postcards and a bookmark depicting the ancient theatre - before we continued on our adventure.
The group continued to walk to the next area, but on the way, we stopped in front of a church because next to it was another area that had revealed mosaics. Some of them were covered, but because there was a heavy storm in Plovdiv the night before, a lot of the coverings were blown off. This was even with the protective cover with sand on top - the winds were high, and the water was worse. Angela told us about how the restoration project would proceed and that they were trying to make sure that no further damage came to the mosaics.
Our adventure intensified when Angela took us down an original Roman road that had been flooded by the storm, so the group had to carefully walk in a single file line on the edge of the road so that we would get through the underpass. After scooting carefully to the next side, we met up with our tour guide who works at the Plovdiv Archaeological Museum. She showed us the Roman forum and the Odeon as we walked and explained that they knew that the library and treasury were there as well.
The guide took us toward the pedestrian road in Plovdiv and pointed out where the Roman Stadium started, we took a group picture on the "Together" sculpture, and then continued to the end of the Stadium, where you could see one of the entrances and the stairs. The only startling thing about it was someone was meditating on the stairs, so I felt a little uncomfortable taking pictures with her there, but I didn't want to interrupt her, either. I took them just in case I wasn't coming back, but luckily she was gone when we passed it again during free time so that I could take better pictures.
We left the one side of the Stadium and followed the guide to the model of the Stadium that was set up on the opposite side of the ruins. She explained to us how big the Stadium was and what sort of events were held there, such as gladiatorial games and chariot or horse races. The guide asked if we had any questions and when we didn't, she moved on to the theatre.
The Ancient Theatre is interesting because they still use it for shows and performances. There were workers setting up for an upcoming event, so there's a lot of modern equipment in the pictures I took, which part of me is delighted by, and part of me doesn't like at all. There were also ruins just sitting right outside of the theatre, and I took pictures of that, too. There wasn't much to explain or see, but she showed us that if you were lower class theatre guests, you would sit at the very top, and then she pointed out where the Emperor would be sitting in the front should he choose to come to the performance.
We passed the Ethnographic Museum on our way to the Roman fortification, but on top of the Neber Tepe hill, the ruins were jumbled with other materials, such as the Hellenistic and Medieval material. However, since Romans reused material, we know a Hellenistic structure stood in this area previously, but will never know what it looked like before the Romans dismantled it - at least, we don't currently have any evidence about what it looked like.
While we were on top of the hill, our guide explained to us that Plovdiv is "The City of Seven Hills," however, the seventh hill was used to pave the roadways so that it no longer exists. Additionally, on the hills we could see from where we were standing, there were temples to both Apollo and Demeter on those hills. Unfortunately, Demeter's temples (if I remember correctly) is fully excavated, but there's nothing there because concrete was poured to put in a weather building on that hill. The Apollo temple is fully excavated as well.
The guide took us to the other side of the fortification area to show us an area that's been partially excavated. She said it was difficult because they could go down four meters and still not reach the cultural material they were looking for; this is the lament of quite a few archaeologists, I'm certain.
She said she was going to take us the shortcut way to get to the Plovdiv Archaeological Museum from there. Of course, this was on a really high area, so I panicked a little because of my fear of heights. I kept my head down, looking at the stairs until I got to about halfway down. Eventually, we made it, but the stone stairs were original and extremely steep. It's no wonder no one could siege the fortress; it's nearly impossible just to get up a few stairs, let alone several sets of them.
The Plovdiv Archaeological Museum began with the Prehistoric objects in the tour, and once we got to the Thracian part of the museum, Angela took over. We saw the different treasures found in Plovdiv and the statues of gods and important political figures, as well as mosaics. Most of my pictures were of these objects and artifacts. The final room was focused on the Byzantine era, which we don't need to know about because our focus is on Thrace and the ancient world only, but it was interesting to see. After a quick browse through the temporary exhibits (more Byzantine and Christian artifacts), some people went to the store, and some went to sit and wait for the rest of the group.
This was one of my first big purchases because I bought several books in English and bilingual and a good amount of postcards, too. It was about 42 leva, so that wasn't that bad. I grabbed my raincoat out of the locker I used while we were in the museum. It was about 1:30 p.m. when we left the museum, and it was probably around 2 p.m. before we finally ate. The food was all traditional Bulgarian food. We were given a salad to start, and then some flatbread with dips, and then they had skewered chicken and pork. It was all very good, and I'm a very picky eater. The dessert was flan, but mine tasted extremely eggy, so I didn't eat much of it.
Since most of us were finished with the meal, we were given permission to run amok on our own. We tried to wait for the group, but the group split up relatively fast. Cyrene and I ended up going off on our own trying to find ridiculous or tacky souvenirs to take home. Since I saw a bookstore, I wanted to stop in and find a couple books I tend to buy while traveling: both a fairy tale book and the first Harry Potter book in the native language of where I am. The third book I got because Cyrene pointed it out to me and I got excited. I didn't realize I had to pay for bags or knew how to ask for one so I had to carry my books. After wandering around for a while, we connected with Sydney and Mathilde and made our way by retracing our steps and having to walk up the ridiculous hill again.
We finally found some of the souvenir shops we were looking for, and Sydney and Mathilde wanted to go ahead of us. Cyrene and I managed to stop at almost every souvenir shop and got a little something in each if we found what we were looking for. I got things like iron-on patches and pins, some more postcards, a keychain of one of the artifacts found in Plovdiv, a small traditional doll, and then I got a bag because the books were beginning to be hard to hold. The bag was not meant to hold heavy things, so I ended up having to carry it from underneath anyway, but it was better than carrying everything loose.
Sydney and Mathilde went off to different shops, so we split up for the rest of the time. Cyrene and I decided to wander down a few other streets into a couple more shops and then called it quits when we got most of what we wanted from the shops. We were getting tired, and we wanted something cold, so we stopped at a Raffy. I got a chocolate hazelnut flavor in a bowl. Cyrene got fig and violet in a cone, and she let me try some of it. It was very good.
There was still some time until we had to meet up with the group, so we checked out a place called Euroland, where I found another drawstring bag because the one I had bought at the Dollar Tree in Las Vegas was beginning to shred. It was an "I heart Bulgaria" bag, which is pretty cool. It was only 3.15 leva, so I was surprised at how sturdy it felt. There was another backpack for 14 leva, but I didn't want to go overboard with it. We paid, there was some confusion about being asked for a bag, I got one this time even though I didn't want one, but I was able to put my raincoat in the backpack and the other bag that was not very sturdy into the plastic one so that I was able to carry everything with nothing breaking.
Cyrene and I headed back towards the McDonald's, where we saw Gena and Madeline waiting. Eventually, Shane passed by us, and I talked about the Raffy, and he went to go get raspberry gelato. We were told Jenny may have been lost, so we were hoping that wasn't the case while everyone was waiting for each other. When it got closer to the time we were supposed to leave, we headed over to the McDonald's, and everyone eventually met up. The ride back I was sitting with Nico, who fell asleep, and I was near the front of the bus, so I didn't really have anyone to talk to.
I set my things down at the dinner table because I thought it was at 7:30 p.m., and we had gotten back by 7:18 p.m., but someone came down and told us that the schedule said that dinner was at 8 p.m. Mostly everyone went upstairs to do things or went outside to play with the kitten that was there, but I left my drawstring bag on the chair and took my souvenirs upstairs. I set them out on the bed so I could take pictures and show the Folklore Fiancé (except for their presents, of course). I had managed to send all of my pictures I had taken during our tour (217 pictures and videos, to be exact) during lunch at the restaurant, so I messed with some of those and sent them to people.
Dinner was good; it was some kind of meat and vegetables, and dessert was a chocolate crepe. I had changed after we had gotten back because I needed to get out of the long-sleeve shirt I was wearing, and it helped a ton. I went outside for a little bit because people were out there and I put my feet in the pool while Mathilde and Ivan played soccer with one of the instructor's children. He was very good at it. Elizabeth and Cyrene came out when I went back inside, and I tried to stay out again with my feet in the pool, but there were too many mosquitos for me - things I did not miss about where I used to live - and I went back inside to get ready for bed.
When I saw Cyrene again, I told her that the hotel staff had mistakenly thrown away the empty bottles I use as water bottles because I forgot to fill them with water and put them back into the fridge, so she gave me one of her empty bottles. It holds 2.5 liters of water, which is good because, apparently, you should be drinking 3 liters a day here when digging, so that worked out. Now that I'm falling asleep at my keyboard, I think it's time for bed.
If you want to know more about Roman Plovdiv, this is a good place to start: http://www.romanplovdiv.org/en
Due to the shenanigans I engaged in the night before, I woke up a bit stiff, but at least I didn't have a hangover. I got dressed and headed down to breakfast, but the door was locked to both the restaurant and the door to the back where the pool is, so I went back upstairs and waited on the couch for someone to come out. Once someone showed up, we both headed down to breakfast where the door was unlocked this time, and I grabbed my usual breakfast. We all talked and then waited for the bus.
We got a more comfortable bus this time since it was taking us to an excursion rather than just going to the dig site, and it had seatbelts, which our previous buses had not had, so we were told to put them on. The ride to Plovdiv was about an hour, an hour and a half, so much people dozed off while we were on our way. I have a hard time sleeping on public transportation, so I managed to stay awake the whole time. The bus driver stopped for gas about half an hour before we reached Plovdiv, so we were told to use the restroom if we needed it. Angela informed us that when we got to Plovdiv, there would be a walking tour first, and then we would go to lunch, and then we would have some free time to see other things or go shopping - which many of us were excited about. Since we started digging, this was the first day we didn't have to dig, so we were happy to have the break.
It was supposed to rain, so Angela suggested we bring our raincoats if we had them, but I put on a long sleeve shirt (mistake one) and brought the raincoat just in case (mistake two). I should have just worn and t-shirt and said I would deal with it, but alas.
Anyway.
Once we got to Plovdiv, our first stop was at the Archaeological Complex where the Small Basilica was, which dated back to the 5th-6th century C.E. The outside looked modern, but when you went inside, you got to see all of the conserved and protected mosaics from the original Basilica. There was a film presentation about Plovdiv that we watched in a little section above the mosaic area. The whole thing excited the group because it talked about a Stadium, an Ancient Theatre, the fortifications, and so on. Needless to say, the group was anxious to continue on with our trip. We all grabbed maps and pamphlets from the stand, and some people bought souvenirs - I got more postcards and a bookmark depicting the ancient theatre - before we continued on our adventure.
The group continued to walk to the next area, but on the way, we stopped in front of a church because next to it was another area that had revealed mosaics. Some of them were covered, but because there was a heavy storm in Plovdiv the night before, a lot of the coverings were blown off. This was even with the protective cover with sand on top - the winds were high, and the water was worse. Angela told us about how the restoration project would proceed and that they were trying to make sure that no further damage came to the mosaics.
Our adventure intensified when Angela took us down an original Roman road that had been flooded by the storm, so the group had to carefully walk in a single file line on the edge of the road so that we would get through the underpass. After scooting carefully to the next side, we met up with our tour guide who works at the Plovdiv Archaeological Museum. She showed us the Roman forum and the Odeon as we walked and explained that they knew that the library and treasury were there as well.
The guide took us toward the pedestrian road in Plovdiv and pointed out where the Roman Stadium started, we took a group picture on the "Together" sculpture, and then continued to the end of the Stadium, where you could see one of the entrances and the stairs. The only startling thing about it was someone was meditating on the stairs, so I felt a little uncomfortable taking pictures with her there, but I didn't want to interrupt her, either. I took them just in case I wasn't coming back, but luckily she was gone when we passed it again during free time so that I could take better pictures.
We left the one side of the Stadium and followed the guide to the model of the Stadium that was set up on the opposite side of the ruins. She explained to us how big the Stadium was and what sort of events were held there, such as gladiatorial games and chariot or horse races. The guide asked if we had any questions and when we didn't, she moved on to the theatre.
The Ancient Theatre is interesting because they still use it for shows and performances. There were workers setting up for an upcoming event, so there's a lot of modern equipment in the pictures I took, which part of me is delighted by, and part of me doesn't like at all. There were also ruins just sitting right outside of the theatre, and I took pictures of that, too. There wasn't much to explain or see, but she showed us that if you were lower class theatre guests, you would sit at the very top, and then she pointed out where the Emperor would be sitting in the front should he choose to come to the performance.
We passed the Ethnographic Museum on our way to the Roman fortification, but on top of the Neber Tepe hill, the ruins were jumbled with other materials, such as the Hellenistic and Medieval material. However, since Romans reused material, we know a Hellenistic structure stood in this area previously, but will never know what it looked like before the Romans dismantled it - at least, we don't currently have any evidence about what it looked like.
While we were on top of the hill, our guide explained to us that Plovdiv is "The City of Seven Hills," however, the seventh hill was used to pave the roadways so that it no longer exists. Additionally, on the hills we could see from where we were standing, there were temples to both Apollo and Demeter on those hills. Unfortunately, Demeter's temples (if I remember correctly) is fully excavated, but there's nothing there because concrete was poured to put in a weather building on that hill. The Apollo temple is fully excavated as well.
The guide took us to the other side of the fortification area to show us an area that's been partially excavated. She said it was difficult because they could go down four meters and still not reach the cultural material they were looking for; this is the lament of quite a few archaeologists, I'm certain.
She said she was going to take us the shortcut way to get to the Plovdiv Archaeological Museum from there. Of course, this was on a really high area, so I panicked a little because of my fear of heights. I kept my head down, looking at the stairs until I got to about halfway down. Eventually, we made it, but the stone stairs were original and extremely steep. It's no wonder no one could siege the fortress; it's nearly impossible just to get up a few stairs, let alone several sets of them.
The Plovdiv Archaeological Museum began with the Prehistoric objects in the tour, and once we got to the Thracian part of the museum, Angela took over. We saw the different treasures found in Plovdiv and the statues of gods and important political figures, as well as mosaics. Most of my pictures were of these objects and artifacts. The final room was focused on the Byzantine era, which we don't need to know about because our focus is on Thrace and the ancient world only, but it was interesting to see. After a quick browse through the temporary exhibits (more Byzantine and Christian artifacts), some people went to the store, and some went to sit and wait for the rest of the group.
This was one of my first big purchases because I bought several books in English and bilingual and a good amount of postcards, too. It was about 42 leva, so that wasn't that bad. I grabbed my raincoat out of the locker I used while we were in the museum. It was about 1:30 p.m. when we left the museum, and it was probably around 2 p.m. before we finally ate. The food was all traditional Bulgarian food. We were given a salad to start, and then some flatbread with dips, and then they had skewered chicken and pork. It was all very good, and I'm a very picky eater. The dessert was flan, but mine tasted extremely eggy, so I didn't eat much of it.
Since most of us were finished with the meal, we were given permission to run amok on our own. We tried to wait for the group, but the group split up relatively fast. Cyrene and I ended up going off on our own trying to find ridiculous or tacky souvenirs to take home. Since I saw a bookstore, I wanted to stop in and find a couple books I tend to buy while traveling: both a fairy tale book and the first Harry Potter book in the native language of where I am. The third book I got because Cyrene pointed it out to me and I got excited. I didn't realize I had to pay for bags or knew how to ask for one so I had to carry my books. After wandering around for a while, we connected with Sydney and Mathilde and made our way by retracing our steps and having to walk up the ridiculous hill again.
We finally found some of the souvenir shops we were looking for, and Sydney and Mathilde wanted to go ahead of us. Cyrene and I managed to stop at almost every souvenir shop and got a little something in each if we found what we were looking for. I got things like iron-on patches and pins, some more postcards, a keychain of one of the artifacts found in Plovdiv, a small traditional doll, and then I got a bag because the books were beginning to be hard to hold. The bag was not meant to hold heavy things, so I ended up having to carry it from underneath anyway, but it was better than carrying everything loose.
Sydney and Mathilde went off to different shops, so we split up for the rest of the time. Cyrene and I decided to wander down a few other streets into a couple more shops and then called it quits when we got most of what we wanted from the shops. We were getting tired, and we wanted something cold, so we stopped at a Raffy. I got a chocolate hazelnut flavor in a bowl. Cyrene got fig and violet in a cone, and she let me try some of it. It was very good.
There was still some time until we had to meet up with the group, so we checked out a place called Euroland, where I found another drawstring bag because the one I had bought at the Dollar Tree in Las Vegas was beginning to shred. It was an "I heart Bulgaria" bag, which is pretty cool. It was only 3.15 leva, so I was surprised at how sturdy it felt. There was another backpack for 14 leva, but I didn't want to go overboard with it. We paid, there was some confusion about being asked for a bag, I got one this time even though I didn't want one, but I was able to put my raincoat in the backpack and the other bag that was not very sturdy into the plastic one so that I was able to carry everything with nothing breaking.
Cyrene and I headed back towards the McDonald's, where we saw Gena and Madeline waiting. Eventually, Shane passed by us, and I talked about the Raffy, and he went to go get raspberry gelato. We were told Jenny may have been lost, so we were hoping that wasn't the case while everyone was waiting for each other. When it got closer to the time we were supposed to leave, we headed over to the McDonald's, and everyone eventually met up. The ride back I was sitting with Nico, who fell asleep, and I was near the front of the bus, so I didn't really have anyone to talk to.
I set my things down at the dinner table because I thought it was at 7:30 p.m., and we had gotten back by 7:18 p.m., but someone came down and told us that the schedule said that dinner was at 8 p.m. Mostly everyone went upstairs to do things or went outside to play with the kitten that was there, but I left my drawstring bag on the chair and took my souvenirs upstairs. I set them out on the bed so I could take pictures and show the Folklore Fiancé (except for their presents, of course). I had managed to send all of my pictures I had taken during our tour (217 pictures and videos, to be exact) during lunch at the restaurant, so I messed with some of those and sent them to people.
Dinner was good; it was some kind of meat and vegetables, and dessert was a chocolate crepe. I had changed after we had gotten back because I needed to get out of the long-sleeve shirt I was wearing, and it helped a ton. I went outside for a little bit because people were out there and I put my feet in the pool while Mathilde and Ivan played soccer with one of the instructor's children. He was very good at it. Elizabeth and Cyrene came out when I went back inside, and I tried to stay out again with my feet in the pool, but there were too many mosquitos for me - things I did not miss about where I used to live - and I went back inside to get ready for bed.
When I saw Cyrene again, I told her that the hotel staff had mistakenly thrown away the empty bottles I use as water bottles because I forgot to fill them with water and put them back into the fridge, so she gave me one of her empty bottles. It holds 2.5 liters of water, which is good because, apparently, you should be drinking 3 liters a day here when digging, so that worked out. Now that I'm falling asleep at my keyboard, I think it's time for bed.
If you want to know more about Roman Plovdiv, this is a good place to start: http://www.romanplovdiv.org/en
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