Batak - the Massacre 1876

We had a day off walking today and travelled by bus and train and bus to Batak. We had lunch by a beautiful lake, then visited the Museums (Historical and Ethnographical) and the church which was the site of the terrible massacre in 1876. There are resonances of other massacres in different wars.

The museums are excellent but you need a guide unless you can read Cyrillic script. Our guide created just the right atmosphere. In the old church are two enormous gold sarcophagi containing piles of skulls and bones from a few who perished. They make a powerful statement.

This mural is on one wall in the square. I wondered what the children skipping past make of it, or if they even notice it is there. Perhaps they are too young to think of these things.

Our picnic included a bean and potato salad. I'd been wondering when we would be eating beans since they are a staple of the Bulgarian diet. One of our party took me to one side and said very seriously that she wondered about the advisability of giving beans to a group who then had to travel for 2 hours in a minibus...............

Dinnner tonight was a BBQ cooked on the open fire inside the dining room. Lovely food.