The End of Summer?

August has been a hot month with temperatures finally hitting 30 - 35 degrees. The nights have been warm and any breeze was welcoming. However, the last two days the temperatures have dropped back dramatically to the mid twenties and for the first time in months the nights are starting to get chilly. I think we have seen the last of the hot temperatures and we will now gradually slide into autumn. As for us, we are still as busy as ever. We had a couple of weeks out when Oli came to stay, going to the coast for a few days a couple of times. In August the Black Sea was extremely busy but the sea temperature was lovely! On a a day away from the work we took a trip into the mountains to see Budluzha and the Shipka Pass monument.

Budludzha was incredible, situated high in the Stara Planina mountains it was like something out of a James Bond film and equally impressive inside despite the delapidated state it was falling into. Opened in 1981, it took 6000 people to build this amazing building. As we understand, Budludzha now belongs to the Communist Party but quite what they are going to do with it I am not sure. In fact it has now been sealed up to stop people from getting inside but with a bit of climbing, you can still get in though a small opening. As yet we have not had time to research this building but I think there is loads of stuff on the internet about it. A winter reading project I think.

Budludzha!

 The steep climb up to Budludzha

 The main entrance sealed up

Sneaking in

 The first thing that greets you as you walk up into the auditorium is the hammer and sickle hovering above your head

 The building is filled with glistening mosaics dedicated to communist leaders and Communist life. Unfortunately this chap was eradicated. He was either extremely unpopular or is hanging on someones lounge wall.

 Chris and Oli in the centre of the auditorium

 The decor felt almost church like and reminded us of stained glass windows depicting scenes of Communist life

Meanwhile, back on planet earth, in a new era, the surrounding mountain scenes were equally impressive

 The Shipka Pass

 The Shipka Monument

The scenes depicted the defeat of the Turks by the Russians and Bulgarians. This one shows the soldiers battling with the bitter conditions

Back at the house the winter wood is delivered and stacked

 Scaffolding going up for the outside insulation to be put on

 Work starting 

The finishing coat going on

Our lounge staring to come together with fireplace built complete with log store 

 The summer kitchen being started with the wall being opened up to house the wood oven

 The start of the oven being built

Our outside oven should take another week to complete. We will celebrate by having slow cooked lamb over charcoal 

Well thats about it for now, hopefully by the next blog we will have the floorboards down in the lounge/bedroom, our wood oven completed and the summer kitchen roof being worked on. In the meantime I return to the UK for 3 weeks so I will be equally excited to see what has happened whilst I have been away.