The centuries-old neighborly love

I recently happened to revisit this region of Bulgaria that I've told you about before (the place I'm showing you is also located there, so today's photos will again be of this bridge, such a popular tourist attraction located in such special area).
I have not traveled all over Bulgaria, neither north nor south. I was born in the north, and this is in the south, so the astonishment is even greater. Because it is even more unfamiliar to me. And because I haven't traveled all over southern Bulgaria, I can't, and I don't claim, that this whole part feels this way. It's not felt. I can only say that about a certain part or certain points that probably connect on the map so that they end up forming a whole separate area. But given the fact that it is not openly talked about again, everything is left to my personal observations, research, feelings and views.

"The other Bulgaria", this is the term I allow myself to use here. Because this is Bulgaria, but not quite. It is felt, as I have already said, in a special way.
You travel its streets. And you may think they are very well done. Some of them. These intercity roads also contribute to the peculiar feeling that you are not in Bulgaria, where municipal streets are in a deplorable state and there are places where people cannot reach their houses without wrecking their cars. Or at best, the roads resemble an American wedding quilt - patch by patch, but in all different sizes and shapes, patched at different times.
Some villages or smaller towns may look very well maintained and clean too, cleaned sidewalks, building facades, street decorations. But then you see the people. And gradually you get the feeling that the inhabitants are quite poor people. Or at least those in the villages. Or maybe that's just how they look to you. Because you don't understand them. Because they have a different culture, traditions and religion, even a language that you are not completely familiar with, you are not an expert because you were not born with them.

Sometimes, when I travel in this region like this, I wonder if I will come across a person who will not be able to answer me in Bulgarian if I have a question to ask. Well, it hasn't happened so far. All the people there seem to speak Bulgarian too.
But still.
On the streets, on all the electric poles, even sometimes on the trees on the inter-village roads, there are posters of a single party - the one that supports and is supported by the ethnic Turks in Bulgaria.
I don't know if they hang there year-round to show belonging, because every time I've been in one of these special spots that probably form a whole area, I've seen them around. And there was never a poster of another party. Whether another party's posters are simply taken down silently and secretly, or simply no party dares to hang their posters there, I can't say.
But it is a fact that these regions belong to a single party that rules there, issues governing bodies from its list, and all mayors and governors have Turkish names.

I think I told you some time ago about one of these places, which seemed to me unusually tidy and clean, everywhere there were signs in Bulgarian and Turkish together, people on the streets were talking to each other or on the phone in Turkish, but when they saw an unknown foreign tourist, i.e. me, they immediately switched to Bulgarian. And that seemed extremely strange to me at the time. I think I told you also about the settlements with a mosque in the center of the settlement and a Christian church, if there is one, tucked away somewhere, even in the forest. About the settlements without Christian temples at all, because there is no need for them when the entire population is Muslim, etc.

There is another feature here. The country here has an extraordinary historical, cultural and natural heritage. For the most part, however, it has fallen into disrepair. A road was once built to some sites, but everything has become unmaintained because even tourist sites are not a priority of the state. But there are sites here too that are maintained, and such sites often turn out to be maintained with the assistance of the Turkish state.

Well, once in a comment here I mentioned about the property that Moscow has on Bulgarian territory - a gateway to Europe, illegally acquired, but secretly supported by all Bulgarian governments. There are some very big and incomprehensible for the common man, political games, which concern the country's relations with Turkey and its intervention on Bulgarian territory. I don't think the threat of annexation is on the agenda here, as it seems to be the threat to Russia, because Bulgaria for Turkey is also a gateway to Europe and many of its residents benefit and will always benefit from their ties with Bulgaria.
Still, the feeling of seeing and witnessing this, even just as a tourist, is very special.

And here we come to the final point of this post, in which I will share something quite disappointing as well, also disturbing, which is observed in perhaps all countries from a historical perspective. It seems that no country gets along with its neighbors and never has. Therefore, as in the past, as in the present, there is always the potential or real danger that a country will be taken over, little by little, or all at once, by a sweep, quietly and stealthily, or by a military strike, by some neighbor. And the evidence for this is available even just from the two military conflicts very close to us.
Enmities between us simply smoulder, unextinguished for years, decades, even centuries. Just because we're not in the Middle Ages anymore, not all countries just invade and conquer like they did in the past. Now there is politics, strategies, negotiations, concessions, deals, disadvantaged parties too, of course, but very often military conflict is quietly avoided, traded for something else, at the expense of something else.
And as I often like to say, aliens don't like us. Because they clearly see that we are hostile savages, ready for war at any moment.

Thank you for your time! Copyright:	@soulsdetour
	Soul's Detour is a project started by me years ago when I had a blog about historical and not so popular tourist destinations in Eastern Belgium, West Germany and Luxembourg. Nowadays, this blog no longer exists, but I'm still here - passionate about architecture, art and mysteries and eager to share my discoveries and point of view with you.

Personally, I am a sensitive soul with a strong sense of justice.
Traveling and photography are my greatest passions.
Sounds trivial to you?
No, it's not trivial. Because I still love to travel to not so famous destinations.🗺️
Of course, the current situation does not allow me to do this, but I still find a way to satisfy my hunger for knowledge, new places, beauty and art.
Sometimes you can find the most amazing things even in the backyard of your house.😊🧐🧭|