Saturday and Sunday, May 16 and17
We woke up on Saturday in Sofia, Bulgaria (that was not a surprise as we had also gone to sleep there the prior night). After breakfast in the L'Opera Hotel, we set out to attend services in the Sofia Synagogue. It is the oldest and biggest in the Balkans, one of two functioning in Bulgaria and the third largest in Europe. This building dates back to 1909, but the congregation dates back to the early 16th century when the Ottomans were very tolerant in receiving Jews who were expelled from Spain and Portugal by the Inquisition.
It was locked when we arrived several minutes prior to the scheduled start of services. A policewoman came and opened the door, but a policeman angrily shouted "no, no" at us and pointed to the sign indicating that visitors were permitted only Mon-Fri. He ignored our protestations that we were there for services, not to visit. We finally were admitted only when an English-speaking congregant let us in.
The services were all in Hebrew. I recognized some passages and usually was able to follow along. No rabbi, the congregants took turns reading. The men and woman were separated by a barrier and curtain. When a woman talked, one of the congregants loudly shushed her to be quiet or banged the table. Karen thinks that was the talker's husband.
There were 6 male congregants present at the beginning, but like in the US, people trickled in throughout the service, and there were about a dozen men and 8 woman at the end. One was a visiting Israeli couple. The ages ranged fairly evenly from about 30 to old. The services lasted about 2 hours.
After the services we were invited to participate in lunch. Most of the people were very friendly and the 4 or 5 who spoke English conversed with us. I was told that since it was summer attendance was reduced and that normally they had twice as many attendees. A rabbi visited periodically and they occasionally had a bar mitzvah. Lots of intermarriages and no hassles from the current government. A Russian woman warned us not to buy stones in India, "they are all pretty, but fake," but recommended spices, silk and cotton goods. She warned that the mosquitoes are terrible and Indians cheat.
We then went out to view the Russian Army War memorial. It is dedicated to the Russian soldiers who helped to liberate Bulgaria during the late 19th century Russo Turkish war. However, it was not built until 1954, allegedly in an effort by the Bulgarian leadership to show solidarity with the Soviet Union after a quashed revolt against the communist rulers. In any event, it is huge!
In the same park, a health fair was being held. There was live music (Billy Joel's "I'm in a New York State of Mind" was sung) and dancing, as well as lots of booths with handouts. One young lady pressed a condom into my hands. I took it as a compliment.
We then took to the road for the anticipated 6 hour drive to the Turkish border. Our travails with Turkish customs were detailed in a prior post, as well as our struggles to get to our hotel in Istanbul and the great hotel reception when we finally got there.
The following day, when we finally got on the right road to get out of Istanbul, we encountered a lot of traffic crossing the bridge, but then, commenced a nondescript 8-hour drive to Samsun on the Black Sea coast.
We woke up on Saturday in Sofia, Bulgaria (that was not a surprise as we had also gone to sleep there the prior night). After breakfast in the L'Opera Hotel, we set out to attend services in the Sofia Synagogue. It is the oldest and biggest in the Balkans, one of two functioning in Bulgaria and the third largest in Europe. This building dates back to 1909, but the congregation dates back to the early 16th century when the Ottomans were very tolerant in receiving Jews who were expelled from Spain and Portugal by the Inquisition.
It was locked when we arrived several minutes prior to the scheduled start of services. A policewoman came and opened the door, but a policeman angrily shouted "no, no" at us and pointed to the sign indicating that visitors were permitted only Mon-Fri. He ignored our protestations that we were there for services, not to visit. We finally were admitted only when an English-speaking congregant let us in.
The services were all in Hebrew. I recognized some passages and usually was able to follow along. No rabbi, the congregants took turns reading. The men and woman were separated by a barrier and curtain. When a woman talked, one of the congregants loudly shushed her to be quiet or banged the table. Karen thinks that was the talker's husband.
There were 6 male congregants present at the beginning, but like in the US, people trickled in throughout the service, and there were about a dozen men and 8 woman at the end. One was a visiting Israeli couple. The ages ranged fairly evenly from about 30 to old. The services lasted about 2 hours.
After the services we were invited to participate in lunch. Most of the people were very friendly and the 4 or 5 who spoke English conversed with us. I was told that since it was summer attendance was reduced and that normally they had twice as many attendees. A rabbi visited periodically and they occasionally had a bar mitzvah. Lots of intermarriages and no hassles from the current government. A Russian woman warned us not to buy stones in India, "they are all pretty, but fake," but recommended spices, silk and cotton goods. She warned that the mosquitoes are terrible and Indians cheat.
We then went out to view the Russian Army War memorial. It is dedicated to the Russian soldiers who helped to liberate Bulgaria during the late 19th century Russo Turkish war. However, it was not built until 1954, allegedly in an effort by the Bulgarian leadership to show solidarity with the Soviet Union after a quashed revolt against the communist rulers. In any event, it is huge!
In the same park, a health fair was being held. There was live music (Billy Joel's "I'm in a New York State of Mind" was sung) and dancing, as well as lots of booths with handouts. One young lady pressed a condom into my hands. I took it as a compliment.
We then took to the road for the anticipated 6 hour drive to the Turkish border. Our travails with Turkish customs were detailed in a prior post, as well as our struggles to get to our hotel in Istanbul and the great hotel reception when we finally got there.
The following day, when we finally got on the right road to get out of Istanbul, we encountered a lot of traffic crossing the bridge, but then, commenced a nondescript 8-hour drive to Samsun on the Black Sea coast.
Perhaps the young lady in the park was propositioning you? It happened to Jim in a beauty salon in Vietnam where we were getting manicures and pedicures. I was sitting 8' away. The girl asked Jim if his wife still had sex with him.
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