The tour of the world
The Australian guy I met in the dorm told me he’d just begun his tour of the world. He was only at his second country after Greece, but had a worryingly clear idea of his proposed zigzagging across a couple of continents. This crazy rambling would leave him very little time for each country, for example his greed to “see” as many places as possible made him devote only four days to Italy. However, this much authorised him to tick it off as a visited country.
I’ve never understood people who want to do the tour of the world, especially in this way. For me the philosophy of travel does not reside in visiting the highest possible number of countries with the aim of impressing people. It is discovering civilisations and their history, cultures and their ways of living, places and their nature – and this requires time and concentration.
The wind has swept the sky to a state of absolute clearness and from the hilltop I can admire an enchanting view of the town of Plovdiv that stretches deep as far as the horizon. Snow-capped mountains provide a distant backdrop to the plains that surround the inhabited centre. By contrast, the sunrays not only warm my body chilled by the fresh breeze, but also tinge the scene in warm shades. A distraction to my blissful contemplation, the high-speed highway swallowed by the hill below me sends up a noise of passing traffic, amplified by the shape of the natural basin. Seagulls float in the sky.
Today I hiked with Carlos from Chile to a monastery out of town set amid thick woods. The trail starts from the hostel and is very easy to follow until you get to the probably illegal building sitting on top of the hill. It is a huge villa whose grounds bar the walking path and you do not know how to get around the obstacle. I hailed the warden of this still unfinished building who took to us to where we could resume our walk, while he was humming opera melodies after he knew I was Italian.
The most striking feature of Veliko Târnovo is probably its setting. The old town is formed by successive rows of small houses that look piled on top of each other to cover a swathe of the hillside. This extraordinary array of buildings overhangs the gorge dug by a meandering river. If you cross it you can reach an amazing viewpoint separated by the deep valley on three sides. From here the whole of the ancient town is spread out in front of your eyes.
After a visit to the remains of Tsarevets fortress I caught a train to Triavna. I was expectant to meet who promised to be the grumpiest hotel manager in the world. The hostel lady who acted as intermediary on the phone had in fact ended the call with a perplexed expression. She reported the man was not at all keen to take me as a guest because he speaks no English. I could understand his hesitation on that account, but when he threatened that if I turned up later than 7 pm it would not be worth going at all, I wondered whether I had made a good choice.