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Should You Visit Bulgaria? Bulgaria is the dark horse tourist destination of Europe. The wine and food are great and there are massive amounts of interesting history to be found scattered within its Balkan borders. Thracian temples, Greek and Roman ruins, waterfalls, and any number of other attractions await your curious eye. If you visit in summer, you might also see fields of sunflowers and the famous Bulgarian roses as you travel around the beautiful countryside. The people are the real draw, though. Not only are they interesting and bright, but many Bulgarians speak English better than Americans. They also have that dark and brutally honest Slavic sense of humor that especially resonates with people who pen blog posts on strange subjects. One of us visits Bulgaria at least once a year for work/fun and, to be frank, shudders with angsty pangs of fear and foreboding at the very thought of telling people about the wonders of Bulgaria. What if it becomes a hot new travel destination? What if its capital of Sofia becomes infested with rowdy English and American tourists? Oh, the horror… But, alas, some experiences are too good to keep to oneself.  Traditional Bulgarian food at a restaurant in Sofia. Sharena Sol For this first of what will be many posts on Bulgaria, we’ll focus on an interesting food item: sharena sol. Translated as “colorful salt” or “patterned salt”, it may look a bit drab at first sight. If you see it in a quaint wooden bowl at a traditional Bulgarian restaurant, you might not even think to try it – or even know how – unless you are dining with a clued in local. Appearances can be deceiving, though. First off, we should discuss the pronunciation. For about a year and a half we incorrectly pronounced it “shah-REENA soul.” Though this rolls off the tongue, it sounds more like the lead singer of a 2nd rate Motown band who may have opened up for The Temptations in 1964 than a world class ingredient. The proper Bulgarian pronunciation is closer to “shah-rah-nah SOL”.  This is the good stuff: sharena sol crafted by the magical hands of Baba Snezhana. So, what is sharena sol? In a nutshell, it is a very clever spice blend. The key ingredients include dried summer savory, paprika, fenugreek, thyme, and salt. These are just the barest of spicey beginnings, though. They will be the most prominent flavors in commercially available versions. However, in order to truly experience sharena sol, you shouldn’t purchase it from Lidl or Billa supermarkets. The true wonder of this ingredient comes when it is has been imbued with the spice secrets known only to Bulgarian babas (i.e., grandmothers). Though we can’t prove this, we are fairly certain that whenever a Bulgarian woman becomes a baba, she is automatically inducted into a society far more secret than the Illuminati or Skull & Bones. After a lengthy and harrowing initiation ritual, she then receives instruction in the arcane art of finding, preparing, and blending earthly ingredients into the celestial spice blend known to us mere mortals as sharena sol. We can only assume that the penalty for revealing these secrets to outsiders is immediate and painful death. This is the only explanation for why it is far easier to march 1000 cats in a straight line than it is to get a baba to reveal her spice recipe. We’ve heard rumors, of course. These were always spoken in furtive whispers and, of course, far away from the unnaturally sensitive ears of any babas. We eventually discovered that it’s possible that oregano, corn flour, honey garlic (a foraged Mediterranean herb), cumin, pepper, parsley, ground pumpkin seeds, and other ingredients could be a part of this baba sorcery. Sadly, we later learned that three young Bulgarian men died in the process of getting us this information. Their bravery will be honored. Always. Има голяма чест в смелата смърт. Tasting Notes: Sharena sol is a veritable taste explosion. Regardless of the blend, and whether it’s homemade or produced in a factory, summer savory is the dominant flavor. If you’ve never had it, savory is very savory. It’s almost like natural monosodium glutamate in the sense that it can perk up any similar flavors. In the commercial blends of sharena sol, you also clearly taste paprika and a good hit of fenugreek. The fenugreek funkiness lets you know you’re eating something more exotic than anything that can be found at your local McDonalds or Subway. The combination is far greater than the sum of its parts. The baba blends are the most powerful and flavorful. We’ve had the pleasure of trying two different batches of sharena sol from an unusually gifted Bulgarian spice sorceress by the name of Baba Snezhana. You could use only ¼ teaspoon of her paranormal blend sprinkled over an entire pizza and literally taste sharena sol in every bite. This is not an exaggeration; it’s easy to overdo it. Fortunately, the homemade versions have far less salt than commercial ones, so they’re healthier for you, too. Culinary Uses: You can use sharena sol to elevate just about any savory dish. Try it on fried eggs, potatoes, French fries, grilled dishes, or anything with a tomato-based sauce. It’s also a nice way to season vinaigrettes that will leave your guests envying your staggeringly creative culinary ability. This stuff is so good and versatile that it is smart to always keep a little container of sharena sol within reach while travelling. You never know when you may need to make bland travel food more exciting. However, the traditional way of using this spice blend may be the best. Therefore, then next time you bake a loaf of bread, try dipping a warm piece in sharena sol. The next morning, you could even sprinkle a pinch over some buttered toast for a tasty breakfast. Warnings: This may be obvious, but please don’t fall for the pretty layered versions of sharena sol sold in Bulgarian gift shops or at airports. Real babas never layer their spices, but always mix them together. The commercial versions are far superior to the tourist versions, too.  Some of the many brands of commercially available sharena sol. Conclusions: In conclusion, if you go to Bulgaria, please don’t ruin it. While you’re there, you should definitely make friends with a baba or someone who is lucky enough to have their own baba. Treat her kindly and ask her if she’ll let you sample some of her secret sharena sol. Just remember not to ask too many questions about what’s in it. After doing so, you may be tempted to take a baba home with you so you can benefit from her many talents. However, you should know that they don’t take kindly to baba-napping. They have a particular set of skills… skills they have acquired over a very long career… skills that make them a nightmare for would-be baba-nappers like you. Getting Sharena Sol If you can’t visit Bulgaria, you can find the commercially prepared sharena sol on amazon or other online outlets.  Fresh summer savory, probably the most important ingredient in sharena sol. Certain things creep people out. Mold is one of these. Our negative reactions to mold seem to be inborn, and at times, eminently reasonable. There’s just something about those discolored patches and strange hues that get to us… And, of course, we’ve all been hit with a wave of nausea upon discovering a festering bowl of moldy food lurking in a dark corner of the refrigerator. It’s scarier than that famous fridge scene from Ghostbusters… What do we do now? What else might have become secretly infected? Maybe we should just move instead of dealing with this funky putrescence? After all, no one wants to wind up in the news as a fatality of some silly-named microorganism. Who would envy having, “They were killed by aspergillus” as their epitaph?  Look at that lovely cheese… Yet in spite of this, many of us love cheese, and when you get right down to it, most cheese is just dried out milk that is moldy and salty. It’s a bit ghastly if you think about it but true nonetheless. Marketing people build up all sorts of fancy terms (e.g., affinage; umami) to mitigate this reality, but the stubborn truth remains. All this being the case, how could something as gross as mold become palatable, even appetizing? Well, we would argue that it takes openness on the part of the eater and skill on the part of the creator. Oh yeah, and it doesn’t hurt to be French.  Close up of the camembert. French cheese is an experience from the beautiful packaging to the deliciously moldy disks of goodness. There are so many good cheeses out there. Some are for the adventurous turophile (i.e., fancier of cheeses) such as the Stinking Bishop or Roquefort, whereas others (e.g., the English cheddar) share a broader appeal. The famous French Camembert sits somewhere in the middle. This soft, surface-ripened cow's milk cheese hails from northern France, most likely Normandy. It is similar in appearance to Brie cheese, which is a bit easier to find in most US and UK grocery stores. The taste of a good Camembert is more intense than Brie, though, and can hold up to more flavorful wines and other accompaniments. We like this cheese a lot. It is in this context that we unexpectedly ran across an amazing variation: Camembert affine au Calvados (i.e., Camembert refined with fine apple brandy). This is one lucky cheese. Most humans aren’t treated this well… After it undergoes a careful ripening under constant attention, the Camembert is lovingly bathed in local Calvados. After the cheese absorbs the complex flavors and aromas from the spirit, it is removed and gently coated in a tasteful layer of breadcrumbs. This not only adds a contrast of flavor and texture to the soft, unctuous cheese, but allows it to stand up to a good reheating without melting all over your pan. Those clever French people...  A Calvados tasting at our favorite cocktail bar in Brno, Czech Republic. It has the amazing name of “The Bar That Doesn’t Exist” (i.e., Bar, Který Neexistuje). Tasting Notes: On first pass, it smells like regular old Camembert, but some differences start to arise. There are hints of something fruity. You cheese heads will especially like the off-the-beaten-path flavor of this special creation, though. It is creamy and rich (i.e., a lot of milk fat), slightly sweet, and earthy with hints of apple, oak, and brandy. Its softness makes it easy to spread on fresh French baguette or Italian loaves. Apart from bread, we would recommend pairing it with a nice strong white wine (preferably oaked), Brut Champagne, or maybe a little glass of Calvados to tie everything together. It’s a great way to end a meal and start a dessert course. Conclusions: If you’re bored with the same old cheddar, Swiss, and Monterey Jack cheeses, pick this up the next time you’re on the continent. You won’t be disappointed. We might try to make our own domestic cheater version whenever we get a new bottle of Calvados and will let you know how it goes. We may just get a boozy but soggy cheese.  Before a New Year’s Eve meal in France with Champagne and Calvados Camembert. Eleven years before the United States’ first Independence Day, there were dark things afoot in southern France. Dark, wolfie things… Something was prowling the woods of the Gévaudan [1] and, unfortunately for the local peasants, this creature craved human flesh. Though details are sketchy, the first documented killing from this Beast was of a 14-years-old boy named Jeanne Boulet. Little Jeanne’s death was followed by so many more that the matter eventually received royal attention from King Louis XV. The final death tally remains unknown. Regardless, these killings were brutal and bloody, with the head and neck being the favorite targets of this Beast. But what was doing all this killing? Eyewitnesses reported a hulking, lupine figure ranging in size from a calf to a horse. Its features were confusingly described as being similar to local animals by some (e.g., having aspects of a wolf, greyhound) whereas others reported far more exotic features akin to those of an African hyena. What was indisputable, however, was the lethality of the Beast’s teeth and the mortal fear that gripped the community.
It is in this scary context that history is first introduced to Marie-Jeanne Vallet. All things considered, she was an unlikely figure to become famous. Only 19-years-old at the time of our tale, Marie-Jeanne came from humble beginnings. She was far from wealthy, royal, or influential. As was common in her time, she worked on her family’s farm, presumably harvesting wheat and caring for her family’s cows and other livestock. Living in a small, tightly knit community, bad news travels fast. She no doubt learned of the Beast’s threat from neighbors and family members. Being a prudent milk maid, she made herself a spear that she carried with her whenever she walked around the suddenly dangerous Gévaudan. One fine summer day – Sunday, August 11th, 1765, to be exact – Marie-Jeanne crossed a small wooden bridge with her little sister, Thérèse. It was only when they reached the other side that Marie-Jeanne noticed that they were not alone. The Beast was there. It noticed them, too. It was now circling them with obviously bad intentions. The creature attacked, lunging at young Marie-Jeanne. Acting out of fear and inborn instincts for self-preservation, she somehow managed to get her bayonet in front of her. Marie-Jeanne then set that homespun spear using all the strength she could muster from her 19-year-old frame and proceeded to plant it solidly in the Beast’s chest, letting its own momentum drive it further inward. Roaring in pain and spurting blood, the Beast stopped its attack and wisely decided to bugger off in pursuit of other and far easier maidenly meals. Unfortunately for the Gévaudan, though, the wound was not mortal. Hunting dogs were soon brought in to track the wounded beast, but quickly lost its trail. The killings continued for quite some time afterwards.  A lovely little church in Auvers, France. If you can find this, you can find the monument to Marie-Jeanne and the Beast. Much has been written of the Beast and the many theories of its origin and demise [2], but we are more interested in what happened to our pike-wielding heroine. Though she became famous as “the Maid of Gévaudan”, Marie-Jeanne soon fell on hard times. Just a few years after marrying a local innkeeper in 1772, she, her brothers, and several others were arrested. The charges of 1778 included theft and disruption of the local grain supply through threatening and attacking travelers. Some have claimed that these actions were due to hunger. Regardless, the theft resulted in her doing jail time at the Tower of Constance, almost 300 km from where she fought the Beast. Upon her release, she returned to her marital home. The sad tale does not end there, though. Her husband was killed in 1784 by Marie-Jeanne’s own brother. She herself died just three years later at the young age of 41. A sad end to what started out as a remarkable life. However, before you judge her, ask yourself if you could have so bravely defended yourself and your little sister from a ravening, bloodthirsty Beast who had killed many before? Could you have set that rickety DIY lance so firmly and resolutely, or would you have frozen in fear like a poor guinea pig and become the next victim? Therefore, wheat thief or not, we believe that the Maid of Gévaudan deserves our respect and maybe even a celebratory drink to remember her pluckily awesome actions on that hot summer’s day over 250 years ago.  The monument to 19-years-old Marie-Jeanne’s bravery. The Site The statue of Marie-Jeanne and the Beast was crafted by Philippe Kaeppelin and erected in 1995. It is impressive, especially as you take in the beautiful rural surroundings. There is a small dirt parking lot conveniently located right beside the site. A lovely little church is nearby, too. If you visit on a clear day, you will be able to literally see for miles in every direction. Even better, if you go off-season, you may have the entire site to yourself. However, this is not the actual place where she faced down the Beast. That is located nearer to the River Desges. Location Auvers Village, 43300 France Just get to the town and you’ll find it. Notes and Citations
[1] The modern-day departments of Lozère and parts of Haute-Loire. [2] For the full tale of the Beast of Gévaudan, see: Smith, Jay M. (2011). Monsters of the Gévaudan. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press Thompson, Richard H. (1991). Wolf-Hunting in France in the Reign of Louis XV: The Beast of the Gévaudan. Kings tend to be a sensitive lot. This could be due to their royal upbringing or the inevitable mild to severe narcissism that develops along their way to being ensconced in purple velvety kinghood. It may also arise from the simple fact that just about everyone who is not a king would love to be in their position no matter the cost to the king, his kingly life, or even the lives of his entire royal family. Power can be quite a drug. The hunger for power is a high risk/high reward venture, though, and can have consequences. As the wise Omar said in that hit 2000's show The Wire, “You come at the king, you best not miss.” Two Swedes learned this lesson the hard way on December 11th, 1317.  The beautiful Nyköping castle. Well worth a visit even if you’re not a student of history. Our macabre tale begins when a man with the very regal name of Birger Magnusson became King of Sweden in 1290. Only 10 years old at the time, his reign lasted until 1318. He had two similarly royal brothers: Eric Magnusson, the Duke of Södermanland and Valdemar Magnusson, the Duke of Finland. Both were covetous of their brother’s position. The three brothers’ relationship is a complex tale of politics, intrigue, and shifting alliances that could easily fill a book, not just a silly blog. Most important for our tale is that, in 1306, his two Ducal brothers staged a little coup. They captured King Birger and his wife and temporarily imprisoned both of them in the dungeons of Nyköping Castle. And you thought your siblings were horrible…  Nyköping castle grounds. Imagine what it must have looked like in the 14th century. The coup and subsequent shenanigans resulted in other royals intervening in order to quell this Swedish mischief. Namely, the Kings of both Denmark and Norway eventually settled the matter in 1310 by splitting Sweden between the three brothers. Birger remained “King”, but in name only. All was well again, or so it seemed. Seven years after the split, Birger invited both Eric and Valdemar to an early Christmas celebration with him and his wife at Nyköping Castle. This olive branch must have been unexpected, even shocking, but probably felt like a legitimate opportunity to reconcile the brothers’ long-fractured relationship. Therefore, both agreed to attend the party. If we know anything about Swedes, they can’t resist a good banquet, and are very skilled at them, especially around the holidays. We’ll do a post on Julbords (i.e., Christmas tables) at some point, but back to the tale. Nyköping Castle is not a huge place. Therefore, it probably did not seem suspicious that, when the dukes arrived at the castle, their retinues of troops were asked to lodge in the town of Nyköping and not in the castle with their Dukes. Can you see where this is going?  This is supposedly where the brothers starved to death... After the celebratory banquet, which lasted from the evening of the 10th until the early morning hours of the 11th, the two dukes were captured. King Birger had them placed in the same dungeon that formerly housed both him and his wife. Unlike his own time in the dungeon, this was never intended to be a temporary captivity. Legend has it that King Birger, in an overly dramatic yet still kingly move, threw the keys to the dungeon into the nearby Nyköping river. The king then cut off all their food, leaving his brothers to slowly starve to death over Christmas. Signed documents reveal that both of them were alive as of January 18th, so this must have been a long, torturous death for both of them. Birger’s plan didn’t lead to peace, though. He was ousted later that same year and driven into exile. He shuffled off his mortal coil quite far from Nyköping (i.e., Denmark) in 1320. One wonders if he felt any guilt – or even an occasional pang of regret – from such ill treatment of his kin. Perhaps he felt justified? We may never know. Regardless, as you’re eating your lovely Christmas dinner this year – even if it comes from a microwave – you might let your thoughts linger a moment on the memory of those two Dukes, Valdemar and Eric, whose brother allowed them to starve to death over the holidays. Your own family probably isn’t that bad, so this may make you feel at least a little thankful for what you have. Merry Christmas. Visiting As you can see, much of Nyköping castle is still standing today, and it makes for an extremely fun visit. We’ve been there twice, always in the winter, and the castle grounds are breathtakingly beautiful in snow. Only a 90-minute drive from Stockholm, it is a worthwhile day trip. You might also visit the local museum which has an excellent gift shop with reproductions of medieval glassware for sale. Save some time to wander around the town as well, especially by the river in the evening.  Isn’t Sweden lovely? We didn’t stage this shot. It’s in town just a short walk from the castle. |
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