Plovdiv Roman Amphitheatre - Bulgaria
Visited with Adam X, slightly intoxicated, on a cold night in February 2015
History:
The Ancient theatre of Philippopolis. It is thought the theatre was constructed roughly around 100AD and was damaged around 443AD by Attila the Hun. The theater was only discovered in the early 1970's due to a landslide, this caused a major archaeological excavation and it was restored by the Bulgarian Conservation School. The theatre once seated 7000 people and the seats in the open spectators area are made from marble. It is thought that the theatre was once used for gladiatorial fights against animals, it is now used during the Summer months for plays and musical shows.
Our Visit:
At the beginning of February a group of brave explorers travelled to Bulgaria, we landed at Plovdiv airport and picked up our 'hire cars' from some dodgy looking blokes in a car park. We checked in to our super cheap hostel after a mad game of supermarket sweep to stock up on food and booze for the following few days. It was about half 11 at night when Adam X and I decided to go for a bit of a wander around the old town we'd just driven through. We found this Roman Amphitheatre lit up like a Christmas tree, clearly it was a major tourist attraction during the day.
Unfortunately it was night time, so we had to hop the fence instead! We spent a good 40 minutes in here, we were up above the first level of columns and I was taking the last shot at the bottom of this report when a security guard ran out on to the stage. It was hilarious, he was on his phone looking around frantically, he knew someone was around but had no idea who or where. I couldn't help but think of an audience shouting "They're behind you!" like a pantomime. Eventually he looked up and gave us the 'you shouldn't be here look'.. when he realised we were English, all he could say was "My job.." and he walked us out.
The lights made it quite difficult to photograph but here are my photos.
Our first glimpse of the theatre from the top of the seating area.
Looking out towards the seating area.
Columns.
A broken archway to one side of the stage.
The full moon piercing through the clouds.
Light trails in the city below, this shot was taken while the security guard was below us looking around.
Visited with Adam X, slightly intoxicated, on a cold night in February 2015
History:
The Ancient theatre of Philippopolis. It is thought the theatre was constructed roughly around 100AD and was damaged around 443AD by Attila the Hun. The theater was only discovered in the early 1970's due to a landslide, this caused a major archaeological excavation and it was restored by the Bulgarian Conservation School. The theatre once seated 7000 people and the seats in the open spectators area are made from marble. It is thought that the theatre was once used for gladiatorial fights against animals, it is now used during the Summer months for plays and musical shows.
Our Visit:
At the beginning of February a group of brave explorers travelled to Bulgaria, we landed at Plovdiv airport and picked up our 'hire cars' from some dodgy looking blokes in a car park. We checked in to our super cheap hostel after a mad game of supermarket sweep to stock up on food and booze for the following few days. It was about half 11 at night when Adam X and I decided to go for a bit of a wander around the old town we'd just driven through. We found this Roman Amphitheatre lit up like a Christmas tree, clearly it was a major tourist attraction during the day.
Unfortunately it was night time, so we had to hop the fence instead! We spent a good 40 minutes in here, we were up above the first level of columns and I was taking the last shot at the bottom of this report when a security guard ran out on to the stage. It was hilarious, he was on his phone looking around frantically, he knew someone was around but had no idea who or where. I couldn't help but think of an audience shouting "They're behind you!" like a pantomime. Eventually he looked up and gave us the 'you shouldn't be here look'.. when he realised we were English, all he could say was "My job.." and he walked us out.
The lights made it quite difficult to photograph but here are my photos.
Our first glimpse of the theatre from the top of the seating area.
Looking out towards the seating area.
Columns.
A broken archway to one side of the stage.
The full moon piercing through the clouds.
Light trails in the city below, this shot was taken while the security guard was below us looking around.
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