There are magic places in the world. I don't know if they are enchanting for everybody, or it is an individual feeling. But I can assure you that Edirne, Necessebar, Venice, Salamanca and few others hold this charm for me. It's like a magnet - they "call" me to re-visit them, re-explore and re-discover them
This was my 3rd trip to Edirne. The previous ones didn't almost count - the first, with a group, whose goal was to buy cheap stuff and didn't care about museums, mosques, and culture. The second one - a brief stop on the way back from Istanbul.
It was spur of the moment adventure. I didn't find a companion for the trip (my husband was already back to Florida), it was part of a national holiday in Bulgaria and all my friends already had plans, so I took my backpack, my purse and went to experience 2 days of wonderful cultural overdose.
The most amazing thing was that everybody spoke Bulgarian there. In the begining, I tried English, French, Spanish, Russian (normal languages that you get around the world or in the close-by Istanbul). No way. Even in the hotel the receptionst's English was so rusty that I had to use "sign" languge. And suddenly, after so many hours of travel, tired and not even knowing in what language I was trying to ask for directions, I droped a Bulgarian word. Such a surprise - they undestood me. So, from then on, I spoke in my native language and didn't have problems at all.
I took a taxi to visit the health museum (see my pictures from there at http://www.flickr.com/photos/rossitza/sets/72157607443412496/)and the taxi driver (originally a Turkish guy from Bulgaria) showed me a lot of stuff beyond the normal tourist crowd sights. Then we talked history. He had his education in Bulgaria - a place which, because of 500 years Ottoman Domination - the history of Turkey is not taught. So, he showed me a lot of ruins of great buildings, towers, etc. that didn't have any explanation in English - what they were. When I asked him, he said that is the tower which hosts the head of a Sultan. Which one? Such and such. What is his story about the head? The taxi driver says "I don't know".
Hundreds of years being enemies with Turkey leads to this "information courtin". It didn't lead, at least for me, to a stone wall between the people in Turkey and myself. I made a lot of friends, made great pictures, wrote articles about the trip and eat tons of halva, sutliaj and turkish delight.
And then I understood - the magic was not only in the archaeological places, mosques, charming restaurants and hisotirc hotels. The charm was in the easy going, hard-working people who made me feel "at home" without completely demistifying there city.
The next time I will disvocer more hidden places and meet with more interesting people. See you later, Edirne:)
