Shipka

Last weekend the weather was cloudy and cold, I had an interesting sewing project and an engaging audio book to listen to and we decided to skip hiking and stay at home. So, instead of a hiking galore, I dug up a draft post, which I had composed months ago, but never finished and took the effort to finally complete it and post it.

One of the most interesting places we visited this summer was Shipka - a historical peak in the Balkans with a memorial at the place of one of the major battles for the liberation of the country from the Ottoman rule in 1877. We climbed the steps - 894 in total, walked around the grounds and viewed the inside of the memorial.

After climbing up to the top of the memorial, we went a bit around and had a short picnic on the grass with a view to the peak on the one side and the valley on the other.

On our way through the Shipka pass we stopped at the village of Shipka to view the commemorative church, which was built at the end of the 19th century in Moscovite style and was dedicated to the Russian, Ukrainian and Bulgarian soldiers that died for the liberation of Bulgaria in the Russo-Turkish War, 1877-78.