Tour de Normandy 2

After Rouen, a short train ride to La Havre and i found a friend! My Italian friend Tiziano, fellow traveler and my company/human gps unit for the rest of the trip. We spent Easter day walking La Havre, eating Nids, drinking a little apple juice in the park and then proceeded South. Ulitmate destination was Granville, then Mont St Michel. La Havre is a huge port town that takes care of the shipping for a good portion of the european union. There are many war memorials on the Normandy coast from the last world war. The most notable is in Bayeux outskirts. There are many buildings here that bear the marks of shrapnel damage in thier marble or foundation stones.
La Havre has one of the biggest squares in France, thanks to the extensive bombing and rebuilding the next 50 years afterwards. The Seine that runs through Paris and Rouen empties here in La Havre, or does it start here? Unsure, but the Seine on its connection with the atlantic/english channel, is spanned by the largest bridge in france. The Pont de Normandy. Only shorter than le tour eiffel by a few feet. It was thrilling to drive across and I can only assume that it took a pretty penny to design but it was worth every french franc. On the opposite side of the bridge is a quaint little town,village really, Honfluer. Worth visiting if you have the time. We didn't, but I've heard good things. After getting across the bridge we made our way to Caen, then further south to Avranches, after Avranche we met some italians that just so happened to be going to Granville and we rode with them to the top of Granville, looking at the harbor while the tide was out and the boats were resting on the sea floor.
high tide>
We couch surfed with a lovely lady and her sailor just above the bay here. We ate crab and spent two days with them in their apartment they were just getting ready to move out of. Talk about a kind heart. Granville was fresh and cool, full of sun and sea air. A perfect place for the in- between time, spring before the summer transition.

Tour de Normandy

William the Conquerer would be a little upset. If he knew that Normandy was now in the hands of the Franks, subject to Parisian rule. Completely understand why ol' Will. Turns out the Normands were a hard country to conquer in the 10th century . Visiting the capital city of Normandy, Rouen, I was able to visit some sights that I remember learning about in High School French class. It was the most nostalgic city I've never visited! First up in Rouen, Le Grand Horlage...which was built in 14th century and ran perfectly until 1928. It covers the street directly that leads you to the best places to visit, The Cathedral of Notre Dame (every city has a notre dame) built in the 12th century on 4th century foundations.
Monet painted this gothic cathedral many times in his famous studies of light. So Monet bunked here for quite a while and used the light in Normandy for the other worldly impressionistic masterpieces. The cathedral also has the Dukes of Normandy in thier burial repose best. I attended Easter vigil here and was quite moved by the lumiere processional and mass inside a darkened cathedral with only the candles of the other faithful guiding your way and listening to latin chants sung by a choir.
This is not only the city of Dukes and churches and famous painters but also of a saint. Jeanne. Jeanne D'Arc. Joan of Arc. It was here that she was burned at the stake for being a witch, heretic, there were lots of words being thrown around, mostly though she saved her country and helped reinstall the monarchy of France. Which at that time, was a good thing. The Normands of course were about the same as the English so once captured she was shown little mercy, held in a large turet which still stands today, given a brief trial and burned here. There is a beautiful, non-traditional church built at this site. So much of France has been destroyed and rebuilt during wars and invasions, that there is always a part of the old with the new. Joan's church has 14th century stained glass from a destroyed cathedral during the air raids of WWII. This church was only very recently built in 1970 and Joan has been publicized as a saint since the 1920s.

"O Jean sans sulpechure et sans portrait toi qui savais que le tombeau
des heros est le coeur des vivants"

Bulgaria

So after we have covered the calf and upper thigh of italy (you know it's shaped like a boot) we headed off to Sofia.... A very italian name for a city that has about the same amount of beauty you would expect from a lovely title.

София
Sofia
Capital of Bulgaria, highest capital city in Europe, sits at the foot of Mount Vitosha settled by the Thracians more than 500 years before Common era or as I like to say, before our savior Jesus Christ. In that amount of time the Turkish invasions and communist soviet era rule have been the most recent inhabitants of this part of Bulgaria. Yet the Bulgarians stay the same, continuing to be the the walking contradiction. Ancient monastary's and churches everywhere, while a third mall is being built with an IMAX already in a theatre. You see horse buggies still taking berbers or shepards, wood for stoves to thier homes and mercedes benz g-wagons clamor by on a yellow brick road, now pale golden, a century old gift from Viennese royalty as a wedding present to the last monarchy of Sofia. A few of the most beautiful buildings in Sofia are the Aleksander Nevsky Cathedral

The former royal palace, now the National Art Museum.

There are many neo-classical buildings within the city center. Most of these were built after the Ottoman rule, in other words as soon as they kicked out the Turkish monarchy and leaders, the Bulgarians were free to build as they pleased. They did so for about 30 years until the soviet era. The buildings that were built post 1930's reek of communistic facades, nothing inventive all just plain concrete drab and boring. The most of these type of buildings are housing and a few larger buildings housing national or governement offices. Although the National Assembly of Bulgaria is held in a great Viennese type building surronding the oldest church in the country, St. George. It dates back to the 4th century and has roman ruins exposed you can walk around on pretending you are emperor Justinian.
Sofia is a modern city with a great appeal to nature lovers as it has so many beautiful green parks and a forest surronds much of the city and seperates it from some of the different neighborhoods. My friend, Zach has lived in Bulgaria for over 3 years working for a company that aides foreign investors interested into expanding into the Bulgarian marketplace. We stayed with hime our whole time in Bulgaria and Sofia. He skis whenever he can, as Mt Vitosha and it's ski lifts are about 10 minutes from his front door. (nice) He was our tour guide along with his lovely lady and a friend who attended school in the states and now is back in Sofia.

The most suprising thing for me about Bulgaria was the food. OH! THE FOOD IS AMAZING! Imagine tons of different dishes all tasting like heaven and I think more than half of it is good for you. The drinks were scary first but delicious. We drank yogurt-milk, looks like watery milk, add a little salt and peppar and voila! the perfect company to what's coming next. RYKIA. Be warned, this is brandy made from grapes, figs, any other type of popular bulgarian fruit i'm geussing, and it is the smoothest liqour you could ever have. Delightfully inebriating. I honestly would go back for the brandy alone.

However, there is more to Bulgaria than Sofia, rykia and churches. There are monastaries and wine. Ha. After a few days in Sofia we took a car ride on the only road leading out of town (south towards greece) and visited the Rila Monastary on our way to Melnik near the greek border.

The Rila Monastary is tucked back into the Rila Mountains and is the home of Monks who began thier hermitage inspired by St. John of Rila who ascended into the mountains seeking spiritual release from the modern life of the 8th century. Thanks to its secluded nature it has been safe from the many Ottoman and other invasions in the last 1000 years.


The paintings on the inside of the monastery were done in the 1800's and are so vibrant and completely different than western religious paintings. The icons behing the two people ^ are depictions of saints and angels, jesus, mary, apostles, all for prayers and blessings while in the church.