EXARC Director Roeland Paardekooper paid a visit to Bulgaria, invited by one of our EXARC members there. This was a true road trip, from one side of the country to the other and back again!
We visited cities, museums and people of all kind of periods (Romans, Thracians, Medieval to mention just a few). An interesting place was for example the Ancient Ceramic Centre near Pavlikeni, a Roman site which was excavated in the 1970s and then turned into an experimental pottery lab. After a long period of sleep, the centre now is resurrected with help of a few very enthusiastic and able people. We also visited the Neolithic Village near Varna, the first archaeological open-air museum in Bulgaria. This site, as well as other sites including the Late Antique and Medieval Fortress Tuida, make much use of living history groups as well as freelance archaeotechnicians to present an attractive program. Although it is interesting for such people and museums to also look at what happens abroad (that is what EXARC is for), it is amazing to see what Bulgarian colleagues are presenting.