One Man in Bulgaria

Sunday evening of the 26th finds me back at the Varna Festival and Congress Centre. This is my second opportunity to hear the magnificent pipe organ which frequently forms the backdrop to the stage. Constructed and installed by Schuke Orgelbau, Potsdam, Germany in 1988, at that time situated in the GDR as the wall just excluded the district from West Berlin. According to Wikipedia the organ has III / P manuals and 53 registers. There is an extensive account of the company founded by Alexander Schuke in 1820 which has many illustrious organs to its name. The page makes fascinating reading bound up not only with the manufacture of great organs but also the collapse of communism and the nearly disastrous affect on the company.

Emerging from my burrow on the first day of March 2017, it has been a long hard winter. Temperatures are still pretty low and a cold wind blows however there is a blue sky as the sun struggles to bring forth spring. It is Baba Marta day once again. I wrote in detail about this annual event in my blog last year. Once again stalls have been selling martenitsi in the lead up to this celebration and will continue to do so until the end of the week. You can see a friend of mine in the photo. with her mother many weeks have been spent making these. The best are made from local wool and beads. This year I receive seven, worn on my wrist, from my increasing circle of friends. 'Pizho and Penda' are hanging on my door. Text messages are exchanged with distant friends containing images of cards just as we would once have sent cards through the post in my youth. New decorations have been installed at the "Compass" on the way to the sea garden. To celebrate I have lunch at ...