After last week’s walk through locations associated with the creation of texts and novels before and around the time of Bulgaria’s Liberation, today our guide, Associate Professor Dr. Mladen Vlashki, brought us back to some completely forgotten authors and their memories and perceptions of Plovdiv.
We started our tour from Ivan Vazov Street, which, although not explicitly featured in any particular work, is key due to its role as a main route from the station to the city. This street also leads us to the first place where the story Three Plovdiv Mainichki by the iconic local writer Kolyo Nikolov begins. He is considered the founder of a new genre of the time – infantile prose – and through it, in a youthful and accessible language, he presents the excitement of three young people after finishing high school. The narrative starts from the former bookstore near the then “Lilyana Dimitrova” High School (now “Sveti Patriarch Evtimiy” High School) and spans across the entire city, covering iconic locations such as the “Trite Chinara” pastry shop, the Old Town, Bunardzhika, and more.
Angels' Tongues by Dimitar Dinev is one of the contemporary novels in which Plovdiv serves as a backdrop for the story of two families who lived through the time before, during, and after socialism. In the novel, the city is like a living organism, constantly changing and intertwined with the lives of the characters. Our stop related to the novel is the “Trimontium” Hotel, where the sister of one of the main characters, who had fled the regime, stays. Due to his affiliation with the Party, he is forbidden from contacting her.
We walk a few steps and suddenly find ourselves in front of the impressive Demeter Fountain in the Tsar Simeon Garden, where it is believed the entrance to the First Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition, opened in Plovdiv in 1892, once stood. This is also the setting of This Colorful Plovdiv, a chronicle novel by Georgi Raichevski. In it, the author presents a kaleidoscope of characters and events, showcasing the city’s vibrant economic and cultural rise during that period. The narrative takes us directly to the lake where a small boat once gave rides to visitors, tells the story of the first balloon flight in Plovdiv, and "paints" with words the small Swiss chalet built at that time near the bear cave, among other interesting and entertaining events.
We proudly stand at Central Square, where we are transported back to the time of parades through the prose Portrait of the Poet as a Young Man by Nedyalko Slavov. In one part of the novel, he humorously and in great detail describes how these official events in Plovdiv were organized in the not-so-distant past, and the feelings of those participating in them.
While we might expect the city center to be featured prominently in many works dedicated to Plovdiv, our next stop takes us to the old neighborhood known as Gyul Bahcha. This is the area around today’s 22 Septemvri Square, better known as Grozdov Pazar, where the house of another forgotten Plovdiv writer, Asen Hristoforov, once stood. In Volume 3 of his collected works, he vividly describes episodes from his childhood, and through the lens of a generation growing up, he presents the spirit of the city and its residents. The streets of this place are also featured in works by Rashko Sugarev and Svetomir Babakov, depicting Plovdiv with its unique blend of urban and provincial character, introducing us to the life of a small community.
We finish our tour at the top of Sahat Tepe, where our guide takes us back to the time of Ivan Vazov, who, in Chapter 16, Part 5 of his novel New Land, vividly describes the panoramic view from the hill and the vibrant atmosphere reigning over the capital of Eastern Rumelia. His words remain relevant to this day and perfectly capture the excitement that the residents and visitors of Plovdiv continue to experience.
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