Textile Hunters: Bulgaria

Bulgaria
21^st October 2014

After a very long day in the train, we arrived at night to see Veliko Tarnovo with its fairy lights on.  It was an apt introduction to this lovely city, once centre of the Bulgarian Empire. 

This magic was not lost in daylight as we walked medieval streets, explored historical monuments, learned about street art and took in an opera – as you do! 

My closest brush with textiles was admiring the many leather shoe & boot options available in town.  The locals are a very fashion conscious lot and clothes & accessory shops abound. 

A view over Medieval Veliko Tarnovo

Up early with coffee in hand, we caught a bus to Sofia.  Sadly, rain had set in, although we were able to complete a walking tour and explore a few grand museums, cathedrals and art galleries in this reserved but especially attractive city.  I finally found a lovely hand-embroidered table runner at a market stall to add to my textile collection.

Costumes at the Sofia Art Gallery

On our way to Gorno Draglishte we made a stop at the Rila Monastery.  What can I say but simply stunning and well worth the stop.  We had a local lunch of bean soup and monastery bread which was rather nicer than their names suggest. 

After days of experiencing big city life, it was wonderful to arrive in the village of Gorno Draglishte.  We stayed in a local guest house and were immediately immersed in traditional life.  Best of all, downstairs off our dining area, was the family’s repository of local crafts.  A large loom took centre stage and various samples of textile work were hung around a wall.  Somehow I missed a local shop where others bought a few handcrafts.

Loom & costumes at the ready...

Need to wash your quilts?  Perfect, I have just the very thing!

By now we were noticing the weather was certainly getting colder (& wetter!).  This was handy because Bankso is one of Bulgaria’s premier skiing resorts…and the snow certainly arrived with us. 

Luckily we had spent an afternoon at the bear sanctuary (rescued bears) while the roads were still passable (and the bears still awake!).  However it was such fun to frolic in mounds of that fresh powdery snow! 

Our hosts were especially kind and provided plenty of sustenance (chocolate éclairs, red wine, rakia) and a lovely blazing fire.  We were thoroughly spoilt!

Not especially fond of humans I imagine after some very rough treatment

We trained through snow covered forests to the delightful city of Plovdiv.  It was slightly warmer but still wet!  After a walking tour through the old town we were able to explore on our own.  I headed for galleries and museums to continue my textile discoveries.  Our tour was nearly over!  Thankfully, I managed to find a few antique shops and at one, discovered a locally made weaving.  

Ethnographic Museum Plovdiv

Links to Bulgarian textile information as follows:

The TextileBlog

BulgarianTraditional Clothes (Pinterest)

Handy Eye Magazine

(The tour we took was Intrepid’s Eastern Europe Explorer.  It was a general tour, not textile specific, but I certainly had the time and expertise of our various hosts to point me in that direction.  I will also confess to having done a little research prior to taking this trip so that it was not a wasted opportunity.  You will see from the links that Eastern Europe has a long history of folk art and textiles - at all levels of society.  It was wonderful to experience it and we highly recommend the tour, although the travelling style may not suit everyone.)

Textile Hunters: Romania

Romania
14^th October 2014

Our room in Maramures was decorated with Ramona's handiwork

If Eger was “small town”, then Maramures was positively rural.  And the textile trail was hotting up!  Our homestay host, Romana, had her house beautifully decorated in the traditional way with all manner of textiles.  We also had a day tour of the local area organised, fitting in visits to the Painted Cemetery, the Holocaust Museum, an ancient wooden church, a working farm that used water driven tools and a painted monastery.  The link to textiles became quite clear – making cloth and decorating textiles was once just part of life. 

The Black Wooden Church

Textiles inside the Black Church

Felt made with an antiquarian water-driven pounding machine

The Painted Cemetery

In the old town of Sighisoara, we first met up with Vlad the Impaler (aka Dracula).  Perched high on a hill (a good defensive position), this walled complex certainly retains something of the character of those dark old days.  Gloomy covered stairs reek of headless horsemen, whilst a maze of narrow, cobbled streets offer secret places to hide or be hidden.  Overhead, massive towers loom dramatically and a cemetery has just the right amount of unkempt greenery.    

Sighisoara's Town Square - site of some nasty goings-on in the old days!

We took rural to a new level in Viscri, where our host had restored a number of houses in this peaceful village. 

It was like a living museum and we very much appreciated friendly locals who treated us to living the good life.  The fortified church had a few rooms of costumes & textile folk crafts to browse through, so with a pair of locally made felt slippers, we were making connections at last.

Brasov became our base for a day tour of exquisite Peles Palace, medieval Rasnov Fortress and Dracula’s most famous, Bran Castle. 

We had a great day sticking our nose in to see how the rich and powerful lived during the various eras covered by each castle.  Brasov itself has a rich and most interesting history and we wandered for a few hours inside and out, of the old city walls. 

The time had come however to seek out an ethnographic museum and Brasov’s fit the bill especially well.

Looking soldierly in Brasov

Bran Castle...Vlad stayed here once

Beautiful costume in Bram Castle

We drove through beautiful autumn forests catching glimpses of snow as we made our way by bus and train to eventually arrive in Bucharest.  This is a stately and reserved city with vast monoliths built to commemorate the might of conservative communist leaders.  We explored the city, delighted by its many paradoxes and yet again managed to unearth a link to Vlad the Impaler, with foundations of his Princely Court in the city centre.  I found a few vague textile connections though didn’t have time to fully explore museums.  The weather was nice, the park attractive with row boats, black swans and old men playing board games.  So instead of pounding the pavement, we sat lake-side and took in the ambience over a local beer or two.

Again, a few more interesting links to explore Romanian textiles:

ThreadWritten Textiles

R John Howe

Romanian Ethnic Art (Pinterest)

Shop display looking rather enticing but closed! 

Textile Hunters: Hungary

Hungary
11^th October 2014

We shot through Hungary like cannon balls on a mission, stopping only briefly in Budapest where our tour was to start.  The city is not unlike Vienna, only darker and deeper, which makes it rather intriguing and certainly worth exploring.  Had we planned a longer stay (more than 2 days!) we could have covered a lot more ground and arranged a tour list from many “unusual” options including spa treatments or seats at the Opera.  Or done a myriad other equally interesting things...

Eger was our other landmark stop in Hungary.  It proved to be a fascinating small-town mix of ancient and modern cityscapes.  Here we touched base, albeit briefly, with a little local culture, down deep in a wine cave.  Our host, as effervescent as her wines, arranged for local musicians to serenade us.  We felt we were in a time capsule.

Having imbibed more than we should the night before, our short stay in Debrecen became one of “resting” in the town square under shady trees, going for short walks and finding a very modern shopping centre.  The local flower market was a mass of brilliant colour and sidewalk cafes positively buzzed.

Debrecen Station

There was so much to see and experience that textile hunting, unless obvious or nearby, did not feature in our discoveries.  Needless to say, Hungary has a long history of folk arts and so I’ve unearthed a few sites that offer a little overview of the arts we sadly missed.

Hungarian Folk Art (Pinterest)

Culture of Hungary (Wiki)

Street Art

A Common Stitch or Two

Vienna
6^th October 2014

We arrived in Vienna excited to begin further explorations of Europe and of course, visit friends.  Vienna can only be described as a picture-perfect postcard; hardly a surprise that it was once the centre of the universe for a wealthy, influential dynasty.  The Hapsburg Empire (1278 – 1804) ruled with dogged determination over much of Europe for six centuries.

Needless to say, there are grand palaces galore, art collections to die for, costumes & textiles that make your heart skip a beat and music most splendid.  In today’s world, the Viennese also seriously enjoy their coffee, cake, beer, wines and food.  

We felt right at home!

The lads were out for a day on the town!

Yes, that's silk wallpaper, folks...

As far as textiles go, we caught glimpses of exotic silk wallpapers, portraits of grand ladies bedecked in all manner of finery and lederhosen & dirndl (traditional regional dress) worn for pleasure as we walked the Ringstrasse.  The best showing we had though was Annette’s lovely work.  Who could argue!  (Sadly, skies were grey and lighting not the best to take these shots.  We’re learning heaps about European weather and chilly winters….)

Thanks for sharing your lovely quilts!

Best Clothes

Athens
5^th October 2014

Well, for me it's finally back with nose firmly to the grindstone and all!   

I've included this photo to show there was quite some variety in uniforms

We had a few days in Athens and luckily made it to Parliament House to witness the Sunday Changing of the Guard.  Despite the crowds, we managed to catch some of the review and see those spectacular costumes of the Presidential Guard.  Their uniforms or “Foustanela” derive from traditional Klepht costumes worn by resistance fighters during Ottoman times.  The pleats number 400, one for each year of Ottoman occupation. Needless to say, there’s much more to this uniform’s history and it’s well worth taking time to research it.

Athena guarding her domain

After the parade, I dashed off to Plaka to visit the National Folk Art Museum (dating from 1918!).  There again I came upon a wonderful collection of “modern” Greek costumes.  Each region has its own adaption of the basic garments and variations of colour and embroidery add to the mix.  It was also interesting to see a wonderful collection of ethnic jewellery and other folk items that enhance one’s (well, my rudimentary) knowledge of these beautiful garments.  Of course I realised that we were looking at “best” clothes, not those worn on a daily basis.  One lucky group was being given a very thorough guided tour by a Museum specialist – how fortunate were they!  If you're in this neighbourhood - a bit of a hike for some, this Patterns of Magnificence exhibition may be of interest to you.

All these costumes got me thinking about cultural influences and the costumes of ancient Greece.  The chiton, a typical form of Greek dress of those times, was so functional it was copied and adapted to suit by the Romans.  The chiton was a single length of fabric draped over and around the body, then fastened or pinned to hold its shape.  Of course, no textile remnants exist from this time so we only have artworks from the period for reference.