Part 2 – A day at Madara Rider and Pliska.

Read part 1 – Madara Rider

After the tiring walk around the Madara Rider we were hoping that we wouldn’t have to walk much. Especially our dog Ari who is a Golden retriever, walking around in the sun had sapped him and he nearly passed out in his space in the car.

Pliska is a very short ride away from Madara. Drive back to Kaspichan and look for boards to Pliska, cross the E70, pass the new town of Pliska and you will reach the ruins of the old town.

How to get there?

A car- The best possible option. If you have taken a train to Madara probably you will have to hire a cab to get to Pliska. There are private tour operators who organize a 8 hour one day tour from Varna to Madara , Pliska and Shumen region with an English guide and all tickets paid, but then you cannot pace your sightseeing and you are forced to move with the group. And believe me, after being on such tours I just gave up. If there is someone who is willing to customize it as per your liking I would say go for it.

There is a big parking space available right outside the entrance next to a small cafe.

What to wear?

Read part 1. We are still on the same one day trip :-).

Arriving at Pliska

It took us around 20 mins to reach Pilska from Madara Rider. Like I had mentioned before there is ample of parking place unless there are a lot of people visiting the place. In October on a weekend the lot was about 3/4th full. We bought the tickets and set out on yet another walk.

Time for a very brief History lesson.

Khan Asparukh entered the current modern day Bulgaria after crossing the Danube. When the khan and his warriors entered the south region the Byzantine emperor Constantine IV was not really happy about it and led an army to drive them away. The Byzantine attack ended up as a disaster and the defeat forced them to recognize the Bulgar state in 681 by signing a treaty.

Pliska was the first capital of the first Bulgarian Empire between 681 and 893 AD and was founded by Khan Asparukh. It was spread over 21.8 sq. kilometers. and was surrounded by earthen ramparts. Within the ramparts there was a region with stone fortification which had a palace and buildings belonging to the aristocracy. When you visit Pliska that is what you mainly get to see.

Though there is a lot to excavate, the base of the palace, the reservoir and the heathen basilicas base can be seen apart from the stone ramification. You can see archaeologists working in the area, a huge structure covered up where there are excavating. So probably in a few years time there will be a lot more to see.

The walk around

As you enter in, there is a stone walkway with trees on both sides taking you to the ruins. If you take the path to the right it will lead you to the Professor Rasho Rashev museum which displays the artifacts found in the region.

It leads you to the base of Khan Krums Palace and of the throne palace of Khan Omurtag built over its ruins. Reading the detailed history will help you understand this :-).

As you walk straight ahead crossing the ruins of Krums palace you will reach the Heathen temple which made way to the palace church as the people converted to Christianity.

Here to your right you will see a brick wall which encloses the citadel – the palace of the Bulgarian ruler and his family. The structure has ruins of a palace, a heathen temple, a palace church, reservoirs, storage areas a well and also an underground passage.

If you enter from gate 11 on the left you will see the reservoirs.

As you walk ahead you will see the remains of a heathen temple and a church. When we were there they had enclosed a section within the citadel area and excavation was on.

Up ahead you will see a passage of an underground manhole. Obviously it’s lower than the surroundings and it was really unfortunate to see people had thrown garbage in there. I come from India and its a common nuisance there as well, but it’s really disheartening to see people across the world not taking responsibility in maintaining cleanliness around their culture and heritage.

Once you exit through the gate on the right you will see a huge covered area which is being studied at this point. Hopefully in the near future we get to see what they unearth there.

Well people would argue that there’s not a lot to see, but standing there imagining this was the first capital of Bulgarian Empire…. The first rulers walked there… There were numerous wars fought in the region, is good enough reason to give you goosebumps.

We kept walking along the path till we reached the museum. Before the museum there is a replica of how a house (tent), during that era, would have looked like on the interiors. Looked pretty cozy, wouldn’t have minded having a glass of Rakia in there :-).

The museum itself is a great place with some amazing artifacts on display. The most interesting one was the pillar with an inscription mentioning Khan Omurtag and the most famous symbol for the kings “IYI”. If you haven’t heard about the Pliska rosette , do read about it. It is an interesting piece of history which has intrigued a lot of people.

The pillar Speaks about the Khan setting a camp near the river Ticha (Kamchiya) and built a bridge across it. Four pillars with a symbol of lion on top. It talks about may god give him power to fight the Byzantine emperor and help the Bulgarian people live in happiness and harmony for next 100 years.

Now that we had seen everything near there I was getting impatient, where is the structure that I really wanted to see? (full points to me for not doing thorough research). The Great Basilica is a short distance ahead from this complex. We got back to the entrance, jumped in the car and took off.

The Great Basilica

The great Basilica was the largest Christian Cathedral in Europe for over a 1000 years. Completed around 875 it had a cathedral, archbishops palace and a monastery over an area of 2920 sq.m.

The place is still being restored and probably every time you visit you will see a different stage of completion.

It’s an amazing place and during its peak period must have been a marvel in its own.

There is a small scale model of the Basilica in the museum which might give you an idea of its grandeur.

Having spent some time out there hunger pangs started kicking in. It had been quite an eventful morning with the climb at Madara, the bagpiper, the caves, the nymph spring and ending it with such a grand structure was quite apt.

We came back to the central parking area and paid the cafe a visit. I can say the the safest bet would be the kebapches and meatballs with a nice cold tarator. Ari our dog was hoping that I drop a meatball but was left disappointed.

Open timings

In winter (November to March): 8.30 am – 5.00 pm
In summer (April to October): 8.30 am – 7.00 pm

Admission

Adults: 4.00 Bulgarian Leva (BGN)
Students: 1.00 BGN
Persons with disabilities: 1.00 BGN
Use of cameras for still photography: 1.00 BGN
Use of video cameras: 2.00 BGN

Guided Tour

Bulgarian: 5.00 BGN
English and German: 10.00 BGN

Pet friendly?

They allowed my dog on a leash and informed us not to let him loose. I would recommend a muzzle as well if you have a big breed.

The lazy drive back to Varna was pretty uneventful but then we did plan on our next places to visit..:-)

Want us to check out a place near Varna or somewhere else in Bulgaria? Drop us an email with your suggestion of a place to visit and review.