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So, during this June I've seen the following bands and artists performing live:
Garbage (three times: in Amsterdam, Groningen and Plovdiv), New Order, Iggy Pop, Diturbed, Whitesnake, London After Midnight, Johnny Marr, Children Of Bodom, Amaranthe, Balthazar, Low, Morcheeba, James, Shame, Nakhane, Avatar, Moonspell, Lord Of The Lost, Bonfire, Royal Republic and some others.
Writing a post describing each and every of these concert experiences would be definitely too much for me, so I won't do it, of course.
And yes, I also traveled a lot, namely to Eindoven, Amsterdam, Groningen and now Plovdiv through Sofia.
And yes, I also won't lose my time describing this trip to Netherlands.
It was great, but I don't have much time for all this, unfortunately.
Though, it was great seeing at last Evoluon in Eindhoven, visiting Van Abbe Museum, spending a few days in Groningen, meeting the evening of the longest day in Noorderplantsoen, walking through magnificient Stadspark which looked like forest etc.
The Netherlands from my point of view is the best country in the world, and this time I had such a luck with weather that I had no need in neither umbrella nor long trousers which I brought there for some reason.
Yeah, a week in the Netherlands and not a drop of rain. Sun, sun and more sun. And heat.
And as it was the height of summer, I walked the whole days and when when I was coming back I had absolutely no energy to write anything in my journal.
So yeah, it was great, and beer in the Netherlands is also great, almost as great as German beer and it turned out quite cheap.
But now I'm in Plovdiv, so let me write something about this city.
It is not as bad really. In fact, if I was a 12-15 years boy, and I had to spend a week here, I would definitely say that it is the best city in the world.
But now, when I'm adult and I've seen a lot, I wouldn't say so.
And still it is a sweet cozy little provincial city with gaudy naive architecture, great hills and a certain Soviet feeling.
It is a very green city, and this distincts it a lot from Athens, those marble jungles.
A maze of little old crooked streets in the Old Town, "singing" fountains of the park, the remnants of fortress on the hill...
There are some ancient ruins, but they are pathetic and funny. "Odeon" is actually just four ancient columns, and even those columns are hidden from the public (I haven't figured out how to get there, everything seemed closed and I had to photograph them through the fence. Well, maybe it is a reconstruction going on).
"Stadium" is just a few rows of seats in the pit. Well, at least it is completely free, and everyone can go down there, sit on the ancient stones and make a selfie.
And the "Ancient Theater" was closed, because some local artist was going to perform there in the evening (it seems that they still give performances there, just like in Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens).
Well, at least there are parts of ancient columns and other structures scattered in unexpected places around the city.
As for the modern part of Plovdiv, it looks so alike with provincial southern towns in Ukraine... Unbelievable. This same feeling, this same tune, this same vibe.
If not the language, I wouldn't have guessed I'm not in Ukraine.
Although I haven't been in Ukraine since 2001 lol.
But still.
I felt like I'm back there. I have no nostalgy for those times, but I remembered the feeling.
It is certainly not Greece, not in the slightest.
Like in Greece, there are, certainly, too many stray cats in the streets, like in Greece, there are obituaries of people who passed away recently sticked to the trees or to the walls, like in Greece, there are even miniature roadside chapels here and there, but...
But still it all has nothing in common with Greece.
Too many red tiles with too little solar batteries on the roofs, too many Sovok.
Yeah, it seems Sovok hit Bulgaria pretty hard, and even now, thirty years later, is still can't recover properly.
Giant ugly "Alyosha" on the highest hill, t-shits with Putin (!!!) and "CCCP" (!!!!), hell, I even saw a children's book by Mayakovsy published in 1953 in the antique store.
Sovok, sovok everythere.
And these modern neigbourhoods are as ugly as you would expect.
And, by the way, Bulgaria was one of the Axis powers during WWII, they even occupied Northern Greece and killed thousands of Greeks, and now they have this "Alyosha"-"liberator"?
What the fuck?
Even one of their central streets is called "boulevard Ruski".
And many other smaller streets are also named after Russian or Soviet generals etc.
Absolutely disgusting!
I think all these streets should be renamed, and fucking "Alyosha" should be blow up!
Bulgaria! Wake up already!
Garbage (three times: in Amsterdam, Groningen and Plovdiv), New Order, Iggy Pop, Diturbed, Whitesnake, London After Midnight, Johnny Marr, Children Of Bodom, Amaranthe, Balthazar, Low, Morcheeba, James, Shame, Nakhane, Avatar, Moonspell, Lord Of The Lost, Bonfire, Royal Republic and some others.
Writing a post describing each and every of these concert experiences would be definitely too much for me, so I won't do it, of course.
And yes, I also traveled a lot, namely to Eindoven, Amsterdam, Groningen and now Plovdiv through Sofia.
And yes, I also won't lose my time describing this trip to Netherlands.
It was great, but I don't have much time for all this, unfortunately.
Though, it was great seeing at last Evoluon in Eindhoven, visiting Van Abbe Museum, spending a few days in Groningen, meeting the evening of the longest day in Noorderplantsoen, walking through magnificient Stadspark which looked like forest etc.
The Netherlands from my point of view is the best country in the world, and this time I had such a luck with weather that I had no need in neither umbrella nor long trousers which I brought there for some reason.
Yeah, a week in the Netherlands and not a drop of rain. Sun, sun and more sun. And heat.
And as it was the height of summer, I walked the whole days and when when I was coming back I had absolutely no energy to write anything in my journal.
So yeah, it was great, and beer in the Netherlands is also great, almost as great as German beer and it turned out quite cheap.
But now I'm in Plovdiv, so let me write something about this city.
It is not as bad really. In fact, if I was a 12-15 years boy, and I had to spend a week here, I would definitely say that it is the best city in the world.
But now, when I'm adult and I've seen a lot, I wouldn't say so.
And still it is a sweet cozy little provincial city with gaudy naive architecture, great hills and a certain Soviet feeling.
It is a very green city, and this distincts it a lot from Athens, those marble jungles.
A maze of little old crooked streets in the Old Town, "singing" fountains of the park, the remnants of fortress on the hill...
There are some ancient ruins, but they are pathetic and funny. "Odeon" is actually just four ancient columns, and even those columns are hidden from the public (I haven't figured out how to get there, everything seemed closed and I had to photograph them through the fence. Well, maybe it is a reconstruction going on).
"Stadium" is just a few rows of seats in the pit. Well, at least it is completely free, and everyone can go down there, sit on the ancient stones and make a selfie.
And the "Ancient Theater" was closed, because some local artist was going to perform there in the evening (it seems that they still give performances there, just like in Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens).
Well, at least there are parts of ancient columns and other structures scattered in unexpected places around the city.
As for the modern part of Plovdiv, it looks so alike with provincial southern towns in Ukraine... Unbelievable. This same feeling, this same tune, this same vibe.
If not the language, I wouldn't have guessed I'm not in Ukraine.
Although I haven't been in Ukraine since 2001 lol.
But still.
I felt like I'm back there. I have no nostalgy for those times, but I remembered the feeling.
It is certainly not Greece, not in the slightest.
Like in Greece, there are, certainly, too many stray cats in the streets, like in Greece, there are obituaries of people who passed away recently sticked to the trees or to the walls, like in Greece, there are even miniature roadside chapels here and there, but...
But still it all has nothing in common with Greece.
Too many red tiles with too little solar batteries on the roofs, too many Sovok.
Yeah, it seems Sovok hit Bulgaria pretty hard, and even now, thirty years later, is still can't recover properly.
Giant ugly "Alyosha" on the highest hill, t-shits with Putin (!!!) and "CCCP" (!!!!), hell, I even saw a children's book by Mayakovsy published in 1953 in the antique store.
Sovok, sovok everythere.
And these modern neigbourhoods are as ugly as you would expect.
And, by the way, Bulgaria was one of the Axis powers during WWII, they even occupied Northern Greece and killed thousands of Greeks, and now they have this "Alyosha"-"liberator"?
What the fuck?
Even one of their central streets is called "boulevard Ruski".
And many other smaller streets are also named after Russian or Soviet generals etc.
Absolutely disgusting!
I think all these streets should be renamed, and fucking "Alyosha" should be blow up!
Bulgaria! Wake up already!
