Rolling into Sliven

I arrived today in the bustling metropolis of Sliven. Where might that be? Why, it's nestled within the heaving bosom of Bulgaria. See for yourself:



As you can see, it's the hub of all things Bulgarian. Things such as green peppers:



Red peppers:



And bear statues.



It's a little much to handle all in one day, but I'm making the most of it. Those photos were actually taken on my last trip to Sliven, around 24 August. Not sure if there's any photography buffs out there, but those were actually taken with my crappy cell phone camera. I know! It's hard to believe from the quality!

Those peppers were from a farmer's market that sets up near the center of town and the bear was on top of a communal water fountain. There were probably 10-15 people at any one time around this water fountain; drinking, splashing their faces and hands, filling up little bottles. And when I say water fountain, I don't mean the metal, rectangular boxes that we see in office buildings. This was an old stone watering point, with little brass spouts that water flowed out of into a basin. The people would come up and either fill a little cup or bottle, or cup their hands to drink.

I did pack my video camera to capture the essence of what is Sliven. Unfortunately, that camera is packed away in my missing luggage that has still not materialized. If everything goes as planned, the luggage will arrive on the 1600 flight from Rome today and the airport's courier service will bring it to me tomorrow morning. We'll see how that goes.