Today's Flickr photo with the most hits: votive statuette of Venus.
Archaeological Museum, Sofia.
A STORY
Georgi Gospodinov
INITIALLY STOLEN BUT THEN DONATED BY IVAN DOBCHEV IN A PUB IN NORMANDY, ABOUT HOW HIS GRANDFATHER IVAN, A CAVALRYMAN IN THREE WARS, WITH AN ORDER FOR MILITARY MERIT, IN HIS OLD AGE STRUGGLED TO GET ON HIS DONKEY, FURTIVELY, USING A STOOL HELD BY HIS WIFE, AND HOW ONE TIME THE DONKEY MOVED AND HE FELL OFF.
I was small and I started to laugh but my grandfather started to cry.
That’s the story.
Today's photo with the most hits: Sofia - Archaeological Museum, 14th CE icon
Today's Flickr photo with the most hits: the central dome of the Dzhumaya Mosque in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
Built in 1435 CE, the mosque has a three-aisled basilica layout, with nine domes and ornate decoration.
Today's photo with the most hits: this Resurrection fresco. Seen in the Archaeological Museum, Sofia.
I Wander Where I Wander
P Saarikoksi
I was thinking thoughts that fit me
walking in the forest, raindrops dropping on me from the trees
I found myself arriving here and there
and always, everywhere, I knew, was the right place for me.
Today’s photo with the most hits: this shot of the Church if the Holy Trinity, in Ryse, Bulgaria. The photo of the interior of the church tells a different story.
At the time of its construction, Bulgaria was an Ottoman province and no Christian church could have a profile higher than a mosque, so the Christians excavated and put 80% of the church below ground, to stupendous effect.
The photo today was taken in Sophia archaeological museum - and shows a pair of neolithic sickles with flint blades.
Today’s Flickr photo with the most hits is a revisitation: here again is the lovely and unassuming Banya Bashi mosque in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Today’s Flickr photo with the most hits - an interior shot of the Banya Bashi Mosque, Sofia, Bulgaria
Today’s Flickr photo with the most hits - the minbar of the Dhzumaya mosque, in Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Today’s Flickr photo with the most hits: Christ Pantocrator in the frescoed portico of the Rila Monastery.
Today’s Flickr photo with the most hits was taken in Plovdiv: the Dzhumaya Mosque
Today’s Flickr photo with the most hits - a vuluptuous nude, with a fit bum. It can be enjoyed in the National Gallery, Kwadrat 500, Sofia, Bulgaria.
A Tale of Honour
Hristo Smirnenski
It was an honour I never
have hoped for, to be sure!
The Devil invited me in
to try his best liqueur.
A candle lit his sharp profile.
Through smoke-rings in a haze,
With moist eyes Mephistopheles
upon me fixed his gaze.
His mien, though tinged with autumn grief,
was proud and cheerful too.
He cried: “In vino veritas” –
I shall be frank with you!
I can no longer bear the yoke
of cunning and deceit.
Here’s to your other-worldly warmth
and worldly woes we meet!
Long, long ago I came to earth
and as a joke, you see,
took worldly Truth to be my wife,
but she cuckolded me.
My honour to avenge I vowed.
In jealousy and pain,
I trampled human honour down
but mine I’ve not regained.
I sought in exploits to excel –
I died in many frays.
Though worthy causes I upheld,
no honours came my way.
Then in the street one day I propped
a sign I had prepared.
‘Here is a man without a scrap
of honour,’ it declared.
But, strangely, no one looked askance!
And why I never knew.
All men around me doffed their hats:
‘No honour? Good for you!’
A gentleman kissed me on sight:
‘Pal, you too?! Man alive!’
Two pretty ladies did invite:
‘Tomorrow tea at five!’
Amazing! Such attention rare
all did to me devote.
Kings, ministers, court ladies fair
fond letters to me wrote.
Behold me, rolling now in gold.
A man of place and pride!
A thief, a shameless rogue – I know –
but… honoured far and wide!
He paused, our glasses he refilled
and raised a toast with glee.
Then, blowing rings of smoke, he fixed
his bright green eyes on me.