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Bulgaria

Liberty Square. The monument depicts a female figure with a sword in her left hand while pointing with her right hand to the direction from which the liberators arrived. The lions are tearing off the chains of slavery and standing guard of Bulgaria’s liberty.

Walking around town of Ruse you have the small town feeling that has a beautiful main square and pedestrian area. Outdoor restaurants, families walking together enjoying the day., the gardens, the fountain, the flowers. Yet it is a large city.

Last chance to grab and ice cream cone and walk back to the ship waiting to depart for Serbia.

Vidin is a port town on the southern bank of the Danube in north-western Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Romania and Serbia, and is also the administrative center of Vidin Province, as well as of the Metropolitan of Vidin.

The population of Vadin hit a peak around 1991 at 48,000. Today 2018 the popoulation would be around 42,000. The population has slowly been decreasing.

Here you see a man mowing grass with a small power lawnmower in a public park. Unfortunately the economy has been declining for a number of years. There are few funds for anything today. Even fewer jobs. The average income I was told is around the equivalent of $300 US a month.

Baba Vida is a medieval fortress in Vidin in northwestern Bulgaria and the town's primary landmark.

It consists of two concentric curtain walls and about nine towers of which three are preserved to their full medieval height, including the original battlements, and is said to be the only entirely preserved medieval castle in the country.

The name of the Fortress we are visiting Baba Vida Fortress.

The construction of the fortress began in the 10th century at the place of the Ancient Roman castle Bononia. The building of Baba Vida is tied to a legend, according to which a Danubian Bulgarian king who ruled at Vidin had three daughters. Vida, Kula and Gamza. Prior to his death, he divided his realm among the three. Vida, the eldest, was given Vidin and the lands north to the Carpathians, Kula was awarded Zaječar and the Timok Valley, and Gamza was to rule the lands west up to the Morava. Although Gamza and Kula married to drunkard and warlike nobles, Vida remained unmarried and built the fortress in her city. The name of the castle means "Granny Vida".

Map of the Fortress

Baba Vida served as Vidin's main defensive installation during the course of the Middle Ages and acted as the most important fortress of northwestern Bulgaria. Here we have a person selling his carvings on each of the stands. They were very nice.

A long-awaited new bridge across the River Danube opened several years ago between Vidin, Bulgaria, and Calafat, Romania. The desire was that it would bring new business into Bulgaria and create more jobs with tourism and industry. So far that has not happened.

One crazy tourist Me.. Jim

Despite being in ruins, the synagogue in Vidin, Bulgaria is still famous for being the second-largest Jewish temple in Bulgaria. Built in 1894, it fell into disuse after the majority of the local Jews left Bulgaria during and soon after World War II.

The synagogue was then seized by the communist government, and during the 1970’s, the Ministry of Culture and the National Institute of Monuments developed a plan to restore the building. However, when the communist regime collapsed in 1989, the project was abandoned, leaving the synagogue roofless and exposed to the elements. Restoration efforts have been talked for years, but nothing has been attempted yet, and it still remains an empty shell.

These statues were at the top of the Fort. Could find nothing as to their importance. They were impressive.

The building you see in the photo is supported by Grand Circle Foundation , the travel company for this trip. They have been very generous in helping the students of Vidi. It is a very poor community in Bulgaria today.

We visited a Mosque in Vidin and met with the Imam,worship leader of a mosque, for a few minutes. Interesting for a small town. We see the inside of the Mosque.

The front entrance of the Mosque.

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