We flew to Varna from Sofia. Picking up a local guide and motorcoach, the group set off for sightseeing along the Black Sea coastline. In the Cold War era, Varna had the nickname in the West of the "Red Riviera". The city, on the Black Sea, was the site of many beach resorts visited by Eastern European vacationers who could not then travel to the West. A brief tour of Varna was included. Our visit to Bulgaria's Black Sea coast next led north to Balchik. The Balchik region had been transferred to Romania at the end of World War I and then transferred back to Bulgaria at the outset of World War II. Thus, Queen Marie of Romania built a coastal summer residence in Balchik in the 1920s. Balchik Palace and its adjoining Balchik Botanical Garden ... read more

Saturday was an all-day trip to Rila Monastery in the Rila Mountains. On the way was a stop a the town of Dupnitsa, then known as Stanke Dimitrov. The town had been renamed in 1949 for Stanke Dimitrov (1889-1944), an early Bulgarian Communist leader. Turkish tobacco had been introduced to Bulgaria during the period of Ottoman rule. (Tobacco had been introduced to Turkey by the Spanish, who imported it from the Americas. The Ottomans subsequently developed their own means of cultivation.) In 1975, Dupnitsa was the center of the Bulgarian tobacco growing industry. In the Cold War era, the Bulgarian tobacco industry was huge. Bulgaria was then the world's leading exporter of cigarettes and supplied the USSR and the Eastern Bloc countries with their tobacco products. Evidence of this major industry could be seen by the ... read more

From Bucharest, travel would by land through the Balkans all the way to Zagreb. The group's motorcoach crossed the Danube River over the long Friendship Bridge at Ruse, leaving Romania and entering Bulgaria. Thence on to Grabrovo via Vielke Tarnovo for overnight. Near Gabrovo is the Etar Architectural-Ethnographic Complex. This is an open-air museum of preserved folk structures, in the manner of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia or Seurasaari in Helsinki. The museum was begun in 1964, with a nucleus of historic structures on the site. These were augmented by relocated structures as well as reconstructions. Traditional Bulgarian crafts and folk industries are demonstrated. The tour bus traveled through the scenic Valley of Roses en route to Sofia. The Valley of Roses is known for its rose-rowing industry producing close to half of the world's rose oil. ... read more

Another Aeroflot flight, aboard a Tuploev 134, brought us from Moscow to Bucharest and the beginning of travels though the Eastern Bloc countries. I primarily recall walking in a pleasant park in Bucharest, though we did see the Curtea Veche (Old Court) and many of the historic churches of the city, including the Old Court Church and the Metropolitan Church. Both had been royal churches. We stayed at the Hotel Bucharest InterContinental, opened only in 1971 and the tallest structure in Bucharest by far. It was located across from the university and afforded a view all over the city.... read more

Peterhof is the extensive estate of palaces, gardens and spectacular fountains as imagined by Peter the Great. In the Soviet era it was called Petrodvorets. It is always a must see on a visit to St. Petersburg. Along with many of the former imperial estates and palaces surrounding Leningrad, it had been destroyed during World War II and the Siege of Leningrad. While many other historic properties, including the Catherine Palace, were still in a state of restoration in 1975, Petrodvorets had been restored within the 30 years since the war. Then as now, Petrodvorets is reached via hydrofoils skimming along the Gulf of Finland. Our visit to St. Petersburg also included a journey to the suburb of Pushkin, once known as Tsarskoye Selo. Tsarskoye Selo had been home to several opulent eighteenth century palaces during ... read more