Do You Know Where You Live?

Yesterday was more than a little bit foggy, all of our daily jobs were finished and I had just finished reading my book. My mind started to contemplate what to write for the next blog, and hoping for inspiration I started looking on the internet. Out of idle curiosity I put the village name into the search bar, just to see what would come up. There were a couple of my own blog articles, and also some news items from a couple of years ago. It was in one of the news items that I came across a small statement from our Kmet. In it she said that she was pleased that foreigners had found this little village, but often wondered how we had come to discover it. We were fortunate, as it was our lovely estate agents who brought us out here when we were house hunting. Admitedly, the village is small and quite remote, hence the name for the blog, and it doesn't appear on every map. I can safely say that I only know of one road sign which actually points to the village. So I decided to do a bit more digging, and this is what I found.

The village itself is located in the Veliko Tarnovo region, and comes under the municipality of Gorna Oriahovitsa. It is up in the hills, but actually sits in a small valley. This is quite convenient as all too often by the time that weather has noticed that we are there it has bypassed us and just carries on. If we do get hit by the weather it most often stays above us until it has worn itself out. As an average, the village itself sits at a height of roughly 262 metres above sea level. Seeing as how we are surrounded by farmland, forests and lakes the air is always fresh and clean. Although during the winter it has been known for the village to be cut off, fortunately there is a doctor in the next village 5kms away in case of emergencies. By and large it is a peaceful village, and often the only things you hear are the occasional tractor puttering away in the fields, village dogs barking, or chickens clucking and scratching in the dirt. Sometimes due to the age of the people living here, their hearing might be going a bit, so if they are working in their gardens (most days in the Summer) then their radios might be turned up a bit louder. Houses here seem to have quite decent size gardens, so no-one lives on top of each other so nobody really gets disturbed by other people's musical tastes. Which is quite fortunate as I have a habit of playing some distinctly 'English' music, including various Punk groups.

As I previously mentioned we are very rural here, and you can see the percentage breakdown of how the village area is utilised. Most is taken up by fields and trackways, followed by woodland and trackways. One day I might even find out where allof these various tracks lead, I do know that once upon a time they were the main routes between the various villages, and tend to be more direct that the present day roads. It is a very pleasant place to be, and when the weather is good it is nice to take a slow wander to one of the dam lakes around the village. We have two main ones, Great Spring and Shtirkov.

One of the first  things that I noticed in the village, was that to my mind the houses don't look typically Bulgarian. I had often wondered why, and finally I might have found an answer. It would appear that once upon a time workers for the Governor of a neighbouring village, Varbovka, settled here. They were generically called Albanians , but could have come from anywhere in that general area as it was a larger country than it is now. They were not even the first settlers here as traces of both Thracian and Roman settlements have been discovered, as well as traces of a Roman road. It is not surprising as the land is so rich and fertile, and being in a hill top valley protected from a lot of the weather.

It wasn't until a decree made on the 23rd May 1934, that the village changed it's name to Paisii. As far as I am aware this is the only village in Bulgaria with this name. Prior to that it was known by the name of Arnautlii (Арнаутлии). These Albanian settlers built a small school and church, along with their houses. Even today that school is used for the Kmet's offices, as the school is no longer used as the children get bussed to neighbouring schools. At one time this village was quite a thriving little place, it had its own library. community centre and even a small cinema. Up until people started to get lured away by work in the towns and cities, there was a village population of 872. Sadly this has now dwindled down to about the 200 mark.

It would appear that at one time there was a military presence here as well. They took over the management of the school during the 1970s, by which time it was no longer a school. Maybe I am putting two and two together but perhaps it had something to do with the president's former hunting lodge, which we pass on the ridge road, or at least that is what we have been told that it was. Up in the woods I have found what appear to be tank berms, there is a short runway which is now used by the crop spraying aircraft, and in Strelets there is what appears to be a military style bunker. All very Cold War'ish.

No matter what the history of the village actually is, it is a pleasure living here. The air is clean, the peace and quiet can't be beaten, and the villagers are second to none. Everywhere you look you are surrounded by beautiful countryside, wildlife and birdlife abound. This really is a little slice of heaven, and I consider myself lucky to live here. It might be called Paisii, Paisiy, Arnautlii, Arnautli, Паисий or even Арнаутлии, I am just pleased to call it home. Hopefully I haven't bored anyone too much with my findings about this little hideaway.