Roman Ruins...

The town next to Belovo is called Golamo Belovo. A couple days ago, we were driven there by the curator of Belovo’s museum. The trip was less than five minutes. Once there, we were met by a local. He had grown up in Golamo Belovo and knew the trails we would need to find the roman ruins hidden in the mountains above the town. It was about an hour hike up the mountain up a fairly well kept dirt path.

As we were walking, the guide told us that the path dated back to roman times. The actual ruins are of a monastery and date back to 600 AD. Yeah, that’s right. 600 AD. Interestingly, there are no Japanese tourists waiting to point and shoot, there was no informational, glossy brochure. No fund raisers or staff of twelve to cater to the visitors. There are no visitors.

It has stood for fourteen hundred years; I guess it can take care of itself. They did attempt to reconstruct part of it, but it was a shotty job. I assume that there is just too many of these hidden ruins to take care of them all properly. A case where a countries wealth of history is not matched by wealth in the bank. I have to admit it makes the ‘historical’ section of Naperville seem a bit silly.

On our way back from the monastery, we bumped into an old Shepard. He was a friend of our trail guide. The man was born in 1918 and was sitting alone in the field watching his sheep. We were told that he sleeps each night outside, no matter the season. Amazing for anyone, let alone a man in his eighties. Nazis and Communists have come and gone in his tenure and I would guess he didn’t change a bit. I wanted to take a picture, but after seeing the monastery couldn’t bring myself to do it. Not everything belongs in the spotlight. The more I think about it, the more I like that there is an unappreciated monastery crumbling in the mountains of Bulgaria. And, that as the summer’s heat gives way to winter, and the years roll past, the old Shepard will still keep watch. Both existing, stories untold. I don’t know why taking a picture of him would change anything, but for some reason it just didn’t seem right.

~~Mark

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