We had so much fun today exploring the red rock formations in Belogradchik, which is by the are Balkan mountain range in Bulgaria. We climbed up lots and lots of rock stairs and some rocky hillsides to see if we could see faces and figures that people say the rocks look like, and look out at the views too.
The rocks are natural formations, thought to be over 230 million years old, and are more that 20 meters high. We found out that the red colour comes from ferrous oxides and hydroxides for in the rocks.
The area was a perfect location for a well fortified fortress for the Romans somewhere between 1000 and 3000 AD. They could use the rock faces as walls, building their fort up against them and be safe from invasions. Others settlers also used the site over the centuries, and we were told that the latest fortress development there was in the mid 1800s, and has been maintained as that even now.
And our fun continued in the afternoon with an fascinating performance by some local students who showed us Bulgarian folk dancing. They had brightly coloured costumes and swirled around with all sorts of fancy footwork. So entertaining!
Later on while we were sailing off to our next town our cruise lady told us stories all about her childhood life under communism rule of Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife.
She told us how the people of Romania had their property taken and how everything was nationalized and the people from farms were moved into poorly made apartments in the city. Ceaușescu and his advisors thought that farming was the sign of under developed countries so he wanted to create industry in the cities.
They also had food rationing, like only 10 eggs and one pound of meat per month for each person. This meant long lines to get food, like when she had to go at 5 in the morning for eggs. They also had heat and electricity rationed and her family had to wear their winter coats in the apartment just to keep warm in the winter, some people even tried to find other heats sources like wood fires to try and keep warm.
There was a revolution started in 1989 to get rid of the government and Ceaușescu was captured, tried and killed.
She said that it is still difficult for some people to get used to living in ways that are more democratic and there’s still evidence of the communist past all over the country, like the factories that were set up to attempt at industry. We hope the the country can continue to get better so the people are better off.
Well Behaved Kids Travel 