MEETING KONSTANTINOV ON CHERNI VRAH?

It's good news for those of us who struggle with reading Bulgarian when a complete English-language version of Bai Ganyo appears!  That happened last year when the University of Wisconsin Press issued Bai Ganyo:  Incredible Tales of a Modern Bulgarian, edited by Victor A. Friedman.  (See:  http://www.alibris.com/booksearch?keyword=aleko+konstantinov&mtype=B) I didn't have to read too far into the stories of Bai Ganyo's travels in Western Europe when I came across this passage:
  "I  know  some guys who've spent ten whole years...doing nothing at all but rotting in the smoke-filled room of the Cafe Panah [can anyone tell me where this was?!] with cards in their hands, and right in front of their noses blooms this lovely, this picturesque, urban garden...We sit in coffeehouses and sigh for Switzerland, but all we need is a little energy, and Switzerland, a Bulgarian Switzerland, is right before us--Mt. Vitosha, Rila, the Rhodopes...is there one local...who has ever climbed Vitosha?"  From "Bai Ganyo Returns from Europe," spoken by the character "Marcus Aurelius."
 I couldn't help recalling my very first post below, when I wrote how much Sofia, with Vitosha Park looming above it, reminded me of an Alpen village.  I savored the irony that my literary muse, Staslivitse, felt the same way.
 But it's appropriate to celebrate Konstantinov for another reason.  In August I joined hundreds of others in climbing up the Cherni Vrah.  It was the National Day of Tourism in Sofia, which, I learned, was initiated by our hero Konstantinov about 110 years ago.  This explains why there are two hotels in the park, the Aleko and the Staslivitse.  Climbers young and old (very young, very old) were joined by an athletic contingent who ran all the way up from NDK in a competive marathon!  My wife and I enjoyed socializing with the large crowd at the summit.  This included a couple of old-timers who said that had hiked over from a nearby chair-lift, and had departed from Sandanski the day before with a group of 50 souls.  It was one of these gents who filled me in on the Konstantinov connection.
 If you haven't climbed Cherni Vrah yet, Staslivitse is urging you to leave the smoke-filled room.  It's only a short drive away.