It's Raining Corpses!

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  Shipka, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
Monday, August 8, 2011

Today we did a bit of village-hopping.  Our first stop on entering Shipka was to go to a Russian church.  I've seen Russian churches in pictures before, but never up close.  It was incredible; the outside was covered in gold and seemed like Aladdin would come flying out on his magic carpet at any moment (I know, I know, wrong culture, but it was just that magical).  The inside was covered in gorgeous and intricate murals.  Russia has historically acted as sort of a respected big brother to Bulgaria, using their powerful army to help Bulgarian rebel-fighters fend off the Ottoman empire, helping to free the Bulgarian people, as represented by the reverence shown to this Russian church, for example.
   

As further evidence of this, we then went to a historical hill-top monument.  I imagined the story that went along with this fortress: in droves, the Turks (formerly the Ottomans) ran up the hill leading to the fortress.  The Bulgarian frredom fighters fended them off with everything they had, but they were devistatingly outnumbered.  First they shot bullets at the enemy, but soon their bullets ran out, and the Turks kept coming in waves.  They then began to throw things, first their knives, then their empty guns, then stones or anything else they could get their hands on.  Running out of things to throw, they started throwing dead bodies at their enemy.  Horrified at being hit with these corpses, the Turks turned on their heels and the Bulgarians were able to hold their position until the Russian army arrived as reinforcement.  With this desperate final act, the Bulgarian rebels won their people's freedom and eventually won the war.

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