There's no better way to start your day, right? A person sometimes forgets about the impact of symbols on his psyche, as well as on his life itself.
But let me clarify. Here, in my post for this Wednesday Walk, I start my day in a specific Bulgarian town called Chirpan.
I've written about it another time, describing its architectural and other specifics, but today's post will just be a few shots of a walk starting at a cafe with a heart early in the morning.
I don't even remember the name of this cafe. We got this far after previously eating Bulgarian patties sitting on a bench in the city park. I have been visiting this city once a year for the past few years to meet up with acquaintances and I am really interested in how this city is developing.
Caffè Vergnano - just recently and completely by chance I read that Coca Cola is a distributor of this brand for Bulgaria.
1882 - really? In fact, I must admit that I think I have never come across this brand of coffee anywhere else in Bulgaria.
After the coffee I actually went into a very hidden shop, so hidden I'm sure only the locals know how to get there and a really local guy took me there. To buy a bathing suit. I bought it there. Indeed. This was extremely surprising after a month or so of trying unsuccessfully to buy among all the various types of Chinese swimsuits flooding the shops that either weren't my size or didn't fit me well. Therefore, this incident was another proof that this city is as strange as it is exceptional in my eyes.
But what I'm already showing you is the exhibition hall building, part of the city's historical museum. It is a building with exceptional architecture and facade decoration, preserved for at least 100 years in my opinion, about which unfortunately I could not find any information on the Internet. And when I say preserved, this is a rather relative definition of a historical building in the country, where it is rare and very difficult for the state to take care of such an object. Too bad.
The funny thing about this is that as you can see the poor condition of this lovely building, it was actually closed for renovations inside, so I couldn't go in and see the interior.
But as I admired the facade, I noticed this:
I love the way inventive and enterprising people come up with even endlessly interesting names for their brands or businesses, I love this play on words and meaning that makes you stare, think and finally smile.
This brand, or this cafe, is only from this year. Congratulations!
Modern buildings are not abundant in Chirpan, but there are still quite a few old buildings, some really well maintained.
Here is one such.
I could guess that there are elements of Art Nouveau or Art Nouveau Revival style here, but these are just guesses. The most important thing in this case is that these buildings continue to please the eye and preserve and carry a special spirit of the city, a spirit that clearly comes from a time of prosperity that has nothing to do with the current time and situation.
Then there are the street specifics and I have to tell you that I didn't take many pictures that day, I just didn't feel like taking pictures. And street specificities abound in this city.
Here, for example, is the Bulgarian flag, along with two of its national heroes from the liberation of the country from Turkish slavery at the end of the 19th century, placed next to the images of several scary animals - street art on a garage that deals in car parts.
A little further down the street I came across this rather scary looking machine whose name I don't know. Parked in front of door number 13, lol. Quite symbolic, don't you think?
Then I gave up taking pictures until I sat down to lunch at a restaurant that had signs posted in the yard with the history of the Rotary Club - globally and locally. Apparently this restaurant is somehow connected to this organization, but I didn't really understand how.
So with this Wednesday walk, this town showed once again how many and varied faces it has. Almost surreally incongruous, almost unreal, almost as if from some other world.
Happy #WednesdayWalk to you all!
| Soul's Detour is a project started by me years ago when I had a blog about historical and not so popular tourist destinations in Eastern Belgium, West Germany and Luxembourg. Nowadays, this blog no longer exists, but I'm still here - passionate about architecture, art and mysteries and eager to share my discoveries and point of view with you. |