I arrived in Shipka two weeks ago for a volunteering project. Before this, I’ve never heard anything about it, or even about Bulgaria. I only knew which its capital was. Aside from that, nothing else, as Bulgaria wasn’t a part of the world I would think when looking for a new adventure.
Fortunately, I’m here and I can admit I was wrong. Despite the fact that I haven’t had the opportunity to visit the rest of the country yet, I can say what I’ve seen so far has impressed me a lot. And I didn’t have to go to the capital of the country or similar places to be amazed. Sometimes, the hidden gems are next to you and Shipka is one of the best examples.
For instance, this last week we visited a few interesting places. We went to the Freedom Monument, to the Buzludzha one (also known as UFO, because of its shape) and to the Thracian Tombs. It was a four hours journey in which we could know something more about the history of this lovely town. Here I will talk about the two first monument I’ve mentioned it.
THE FREEDOM MONUMENT: LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT
The thing that I fell in love with the most was the Freedom Monument. Located at the top of San Nicolas Peak (1.300 m, more or less), this 31.5 m tall tower was built by the Bulgarians to show their gratitude to the Russian Army, who, with the aid of Bulgarians volunteers, helped them to liberate the country from the Ottoman control.
This battle lasted for more than a year and had some epic episodes. One of them is when the Bulgarians volunteers, having run out all this ammunition, started to throw rocks to the Ottoman army. If you go into the tower -which houses a museum- you’ll see a few flawless drawings of this stage of the war, as well as other historical stuffs such as original weapons, uniforms and -to sum up- useful information to understand how meaningful this battle was to the freedom of the Bulgarians.
Regarding this, I must reckon that, over the years, I have gotten bored of museums. I used to be that kind of person who loved spending his travels in museums, but I guess preferences change and nowadays I find it difficult to enjoy them. That’s why I want to point out that this visit is worth it. Furthermore, at the end of the visit, when you are at the top of the tower, you are rewarded with a stunning view of the Balkans mountains.
And if you are into hiking, there is a chance to reach this place from Shipka by walking. The trail starts at Shipka’s Church and take you smoothly through a pine forest (there isn’t slopes, barely). You only have to follow the green-white-green markers and you will reach the tower in less than a 1h 30 minutes. It’s impossible to get lost, as there are signals every 5 meters and the path is always quite obvious.
The Buzludzha Monument: Bulgaria’s communist past is shaped like a UFO
For sure there is a way to get by walking to the next point of our journey: the Buzludzha Monument. Before I go back to Spain, I’d look forward to doing it in sometime, even though it takes 7 hours go and back.
Speaking about the monument, it was built back in 1974 in order to commemorate the founding of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers’ Party. This building is even taller than the and is can be seen from any point in the town. It looks like a UFO made of stone and its design brings true communist era vibes. Actually, inside this place used to take place meetings of Bulgarian Communist Party and it was full of mosaics which depicting glorious episodes of the communist era.
However, after the fall of the communist regime and the subsequent emergence of democracy in Bulgaria, the monument lost its usefulness and was abandoned. Nowadays, the interior remains closed to prevent theft and further deterioration, with the hope that what is still standing can be used for future restoration.
At least, that is the mission of the Buzludzha Foundation, which has been advocating since 2015 for this concrete UFO giant to become a place where art, culture, and history coexist.