Entries about mindya

Yesterday I mentioned seeing old ladies cutting willow branches on my walk from Arbanasi to Veliko Tarnovo; this morning I saw lots of people on the streets holding branches and twigs of willow. Today is the Bulgarian Orthodox Palm Sunday; a day when people take willow (in place of palm leaves) to church to be blessed. 'R' and I were walking to the fruit and vegetable market to buy some flowers for later when we saw all the people; once we got there we saw several temporary stalls selling willow branches, blossoming twigs I did not recognise and flowers, mostly daffodils. We bought some willow and daffodils and had a look round the rest of the market. Lots of salad vegetables are in season now, so most of the vegetable stalls were selling cucumbers, spring onions, radishes, tomatoes and lettuce.

Although today is Palm Sunday in Bulgaria, for the UK it's Easter Sunday. To celebrate this, 'R' and I went to Mindya to have lunch with one of our colleagues & her partner. We gave them the willow and daffodils we'd got from the market earlier. Lunch was amazing - all homemade, there were flatbreads eaten hot straight from the pan, hummous, tzaziki, grilled vegetables, fried halloumi and one or two other things I've forgotten. Delicious. After that, 'R' & I were surprised with an Easter egg hunt that had been set up in their garden! :-)

I left the hostel early and walked through near-empty streets to the main bus station. I left too early to get my free breakfast at the hostel, so I had a kashkavalka instead. I had to get a ticket to Veliko Tarnovo from a different bus company than usual, because the one I wanted would have left far too late, so I arrived at a different bus station that usual in VT.

I'd only been back in Veliko Tarnovo for an hour or so before I went out again, this time with a group of colleagues to the village of Mindya. We'd been invited to lunch by our colleague and her partner. They absolutely plied us with delicious food, and lots of chat, laughter and alcohol were had! We stayed until late evening; I had to leave a little earlier than the others because I had a Google video chat date with Dave.