From Pamporovo, where there seems to be a new high rise or hotel complex being built at every turn of the road, we follow the road to Smolyan, visiting EVN personnel in the field (literally) on the way. M. tells us that every year, on this exact piece of land, a folk music festival is held which attracts thousands of people.
Driving into Smolyan, a town of about 35,000 people on the banks of the River Cherna, we see factories that look half moribund, a sight we are getting used to. It reminds me of areas of England where most of the traditional base of British industry, its factories and satellite economic and social organisations, was unable to survive the forces of globalisation acting on the employment market. |
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I mean here cheap semi-skilled and unskilled labour and the dismantling of trade union power. M says laconically about one large structure, ‘It used to have 3000 workers and produce blankets. Most of them got the sack. It’s still working, but nobody is sure about what it’s producing anymore…’ The town itself has some nice National Revival houses.
We visit the EVN regional headquarters, briefly check our mail and then look at the large Church of St. Vissarion which has recently been opened, funded by donations from Moslems as well as Christians. The planetarium across the street (another way to look at heaven) is open, though enveloped in a summer drowsiness, and, inside the building, a passing lady employee gives us permission to look around and tells us the church was opened with 100 bagpipers. |
