Have you heard of Chiprovtsi?

Let me assume that none of you has ever heard or been to Chiprovtsi. Well, I suppose some of the Bulgarians on Hive know the name of this small town. It is very popular with the manual production of beautiful colorful carpets that were internationally famous in the past when quality was a cult and preferred to quantity and of course, people liked these specific carpets with their colors and their specific woven. In the last decade or so, according to the words of the artisans I had the chance to speak to there, 99% of their production is exported, mainly to Western Europe and the USA. Creating one carpet takes many, many days and there aren't so many rich Bulgarians, unfortunately, who could afford such am expensive decoration for their homes.

But hey, first, few words about the town itself. It was established by the Thracians, so it is very old. It's location is in the Northwestern Bulgaria, on river Ogosta, at mountain Stara Planina. There were mines in the region for precious metals like silver, gold, lead, iron, copper. So during the middle ages there was metal industry developed here. Actually, the English version of the Wiki page is surprisingly very good and rich so here I am going to stop with the historic facts and if you want to know more, here's that info page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiprovtsi

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Now let me share with you few of my visual memories of the places we visited this day. I went there with few friends, all photography lovers, from the photo-club. So we were all thirsty for taking photos and experiencing more from the local culture and traditions.

Firstly, we visited few artisans and carpet shops in the town. Thankfully, we had some time to talk to the craftsmen and I had a chance to use my tripod and create few long-exposure pictures, hoping to underline the long time needed to produce one of those amazing carpets. Imagine putting those threads, one after one, sitting on that wooden bench, day after day... I am not sure I could do this. To be completely honest, I am certain I can not!

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As you can see, the shops are not full of items, as those produced are usually purchased shortly after that. That's totally understandable as each of them is unique. They don't come in volumes :)

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Chiprovtsi is a place where you could try delicious local variation of Banitsa served with home made white wine. Yes, I wouldn't expect that combination but it was perfect!

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While you wait for your warm meal, you could warm up near the fireplace...

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And enjoy the sacred magic of the burning wood:

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Chiprovtsi is a town where the stray dogs are friendly and would love to play with you:

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It is a town, so calm and stress-free, this was the only "graffiti" I was able to find that day:

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It is a town that tries to demonstrate its creativity in every possible way:

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Unfortunately, a town where the population constantly decreases:

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We saw many old people and they were all happy to talk to us and get in front of our cameras and inside our photographic frames ;)

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Check out the architecture of some of the houses, dated two-centuries ago:

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The people of Chiprovtsi don't care about politics much:

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Last but not least, there are plenty or religious and historical places around. Some are quite unknown and practically hidden, so to find them you have to ask your new friends from Chiprovtsi.

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(the inscription says: "Gushovski Monastery")

I hope by following my story you've enjoyed this place a bit, I liked a lot spending one day there, despite the cold weather and the strong winds. The new places I went to, the new people I met, the new meals I tasted, it was all worth it!


Stay strong, stay safe, stay free! :)


Copyright: Damian Hadjiyvanov, Light Captured


My photo site: https://hadjiyvanov.com/


For licensing my photos, please drop me a message on Discord: lightcaptured#2698

Thank you for all the support!

Have a great photo! :P


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Bang, I did it again... I just rehived your post!
Week 49 of my contest just started...you can now check the winners of the previous week!
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!LUV 1 for that fabulous shaggy dog photo.

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I've heard ;) It's the carpets.

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I knew you have! :)

!wine

!LUV

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Sorry, out of LUV tokens to be sent today. Try tomorrow. (5 LUV in your wallet allows you to freely give 3 per day)

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Hiya, @ybanezkim26 here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Top 3 in Daily Travel Digest #1156.

Your post has been manually curated by the @pinmapple team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider supporting other authors like yourself and us so we can keep the project going!

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Thanks so much, @ybanezkim26! Such a lovely feeling to see my travel post approved for the prestigious Top 3!
Have a wonderful week!

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You're welcome! You, too! Have an awesome week and keep us indulged with your travel and photography posts!

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Definitely looks like a cool place to visit so many little hidden gems like that in this world and it's places i love to go.

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It is, indeed :) Thank you for your appreciation ;)

!wine

!LUV

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!BEER
for you

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Wow @lightcaptured , thank you for such an excellent post, I can just imagine the love and hours of patience from those women who sit all day in front of those weaving
machines. Those carpets are beautiful and need to be cherished. Love your photographs.
Loved your post. Thank you for sharing.

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Thank you! I admired their patience and amazing work as well.
My pleasure sharing my experience and feelings about this lovely small place and its people.
Stay safe :)

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