Great Journey 🏍 Day 254
We drive into the Balkans, into the mountains that give the huge peninsula its name. By the way, they don't say Balkan here, but "Old Mountains", I'll spare us the Bulgarian name for it, we won't remember it anyway.
After endless and beautiful curves, a bit of snow on the side of the road (hello? summer!) and free-roaming horses and sheep on the road, we arrive at a big "thing". Later we learn that the Bulgarians affectionately call it "the trousers".
In reality, the monument is called "Arch of Freedom" and stands at the top of the Beklemento Pass. 35 metres high (Gerd estimates 12 metres, I 80), the concrete structure rises into the air. And commemorates in great veneration and deep gratitude all those who fought and died in the struggle for Bulgaria.
For me, it is once again an excursion into the socialist era with the huge memorials, with these angular faces that somehow all remind me of Lenin at first glance. As we walk between the "trouser legs" we feel like little Lego figures standing under a real human chair.
What it does to us? We are impressed by the greatness. And perhaps also a little by the veneration of those who fought for this country. But it doesn't touch us much more than that. The two great dates 1887 and 1944 stand for both great liberations of the country, for us generations away. But once again we are grateful to be able to live and travel in peace.
#ArchofFreedom #Beklementopass #Balkan #StaraPlanina
