This past weekend while exploring north-western Bulgaria, we went to see a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hristo_Botev" target="_blank">Hristo Botev</a> monument. For anybody following along at home, it's site #17 in Bulgaria's 100 tourist sites booklet/passport.

On Saturday, it was foggy and the road was windy. Luckily the road wasn't too bad and there was basically no traffic.
<a title="Tree on the way down from the Hristo Botev monument by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8224013281/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8346/8224013281_7989678625_z.jpg" alt="Tree on the way down from the Hristo Botev monument" width="640" height="427" /></a>
<a title="Near the Hristo Botev monument by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8224013005/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8490/8224013005_5b6b17ee7e_z.jpg" alt="Near the Hristo Botev monument" width="640" height="427" /></a>
I have to say there was something magical about the whole thing. The landscape felt especially remote in this weather. Fog has a way of doing this. I think that by limiting your visual field you begin to see the world in much narrower snippets than you normally do.
<a title="The landscape near the Hristo Botev monument by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8225088348/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8489/8225088348_22f3a2f660_z.jpg" alt="The landscape near the Hristo Botev monument" width="640" height="427" /></a>
<a title="Hristo Botev monument in the fog by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8224020275/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8478/8224020275_ac5a538bda_z.jpg" alt="Hristo Botev monument in the fog" width="640" height="427" /></a>
In addition to feeling remote, landscape felt very dramatic with the fog. It also slowed down the driving. This was okay. It gave me plenty of time to admire the fall colors.
<a title="Steps up to the Hristo Botev monument by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8225092074/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8059/8225092074_da7465145c_z.jpg" alt="Steps up to the Hristo Botev monument" width="640" height="427" /></a>
<a title="Hristo Botev monument by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8225089022/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8206/8225089022_e2b652035d_z.jpg" alt="Hristo Botev monument" width="640" height="427" /></a>
<a title="Me at the Hristo Botev monument by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8224016843/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8346/8224016843_96eae53c8a_z.jpg" alt="Me at the Hristo Botev monument" width="640" height="427" /></a>
The monument is up a big flight of stairs and either side off the stairs is lined with pine trees. When we got there, we were the only visitors there and the whole time we were there we didn't another person.

At the top of the stairs there's a big cross and it over looks an incredible valley. The monument-cross was tall--really tall. Just look at A. next to the monument. It's also concrete colored but that doesn't mean anything. I don't really know what it's made out of.
<a title="Hristo Botev monument by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8225090268/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8067/8225090268_aa6829dbf6_z.jpg" alt="Hristo Botev monument" width="640" height="427" /></a>
<a title="A and the Hristo Botev monument by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8225089630/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8477/8225089630_8de790e1d5_z.jpg" alt="A and the Hristo Botev monument" width="640" height="427" /></a>
<a title="Hristo Botev monument by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8225090024/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8066/8225090024_0fe14b9462_z.jpg" alt="Hristo Botev monument" width="640" height="427" /></a>
We didn't stick around too long because it was cold and windy on the top of the hill but it was enough time to imagine what it must have been like to be  Hristo Botev--a poet and a Bulgarian revolutionary in 1876--and find yourself in a remote corner of Bulgaria fighting for your freedom from the Ottoman Empire.
<a title="late fall outside the Hristo Botev monument by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8225093698/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8348/8225093698_19a53dc5ba_z.jpg" alt="late fall outside the Hristo Botev monument" width="640" height="427" /></a>
<a title="IMG_9850 by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8224019651/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8347/8224019651_194cedf8a0_z.jpg" alt="IMG_9850" width="640" height="427" /></a>

Unfortunately, I wasn't super impressed with this site. Yes, Hristo Botev is a national hero but the monument isn't that easy to reach and it's simply a huge cross. It's not like you can stop by to visit it on your way somewhere else. You really have to make a commitment to visit this site and there's not much else there.

Maybe if I had a greater appreciation for Hristo Botev it would be different but compared to other sites I've been to as a part of the 100 Bulgarian tourist sites this one hardly compares. Sure it's culture and historical but there's not actually that much to see.

Anyhow it's not like I regret going or anything, it's just a <em>wow</em> site but I guess that's okay.