Buzludzha
We've been talking of visiting this place for years, finally we nailed it, end of Feb 2016. You know, blue skies, pristine snow covered ground. Oh no, we got 30/40mph winds, thick cloud cover and just to add insult to injury, rumour that it had been sealed by the Bulgarian Police! The rumour turned out to be true, fortunately the day before our arrival a couple of disgruntled Russians decided they'd come way to far to be denied access. So we, in turn had access. We couldn't see anything, but we were in.
Standing in the center of this structure (even in zero visibility) is a true 'moment', it's vast, it's round, it's full of cloud...... I'm being shouted at by a disgruntled guy from Belgium who was trying to take a photo! We weren't alone, 3 other lunatics had braved the elements in an attempt to photograph this place. We shared a cigarette, swapped stories and sheltered from the elements for a while before, soaked to the bone they called it a day.
I've NEVER been that wet on dry land and my camera has certainly never been that wet, everything and everyone was sodden, how the images I managed to take came out I'll never know. I have more, I just need time to try and recover them.
There is much written about this amazing space on the internet, I suggest if you want a proper read then dont go to Wiki, head over to the Bohemian Blog, needless to say Darmon has done an amazing job. If you just want some bullet points....... The Monument sits 1441m above sea level. It was constructed in 1981 by the Bulgarian Communist Regime to commemorate liberation from the Turks (1878) and victory over the Nazis (1944). It's amazing.
Standing in the center of this structure (even in zero visibility) is a true 'moment', it's vast, it's round, it's full of cloud...... I'm being shouted at by a disgruntled guy from Belgium who was trying to take a photo! We weren't alone, 3 other lunatics had braved the elements in an attempt to photograph this place. We shared a cigarette, swapped stories and sheltered from the elements for a while before, soaked to the bone they called it a day.
I've NEVER been that wet on dry land and my camera has certainly never been that wet, everything and everyone was sodden, how the images I managed to take came out I'll never know. I have more, I just need time to try and recover them.
There is much written about this amazing space on the internet, I suggest if you want a proper read then dont go to Wiki, head over to the Bohemian Blog, needless to say Darmon has done an amazing job. If you just want some bullet points....... The Monument sits 1441m above sea level. It was constructed in 1981 by the Bulgarian Communist Regime to commemorate liberation from the Turks (1878) and victory over the Nazis (1944). It's amazing.