Location and neighbourhood

Tuesday 23 September 2008

neighbourhood - the area of a town that surrounds someone's home, or the people who live in this area...
(from Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

The location of the house

My house is located in a small and relatively calm residential district in the south part of Haskovo, Bulgaria. The name of the area in Bulgarian sounds likes “quarter Ovcharsky”, which means “Shepherds’ district”. Many our neighbour families live here from many decades. Actually some of them are living here from the beginning of the quarter.

Visit a link to Google map of Haskovo (my house is right in the centre of the picture)

According to my friend Ivan the latitude of my house is 41.926978815610575 and the longitude is 25.562632083892822.


The neighbourhood

The story began fairly 160 years ago, when few clans from the villages south of Haskovo moved and settled the town. They created a new quarter and because their main occupation was the shepherd’s trade and the farming, the name of that place naturally received the brand “Shepperds’ quarter”. The section lies between two small rivers, which cross Haskovo – the self-titled “Haskovska reka” [in Bulgarian: Хасковска река] and the river “Byal kladenec” [in Bulgarian: Бял кладенец]. There’s a short distance between the house and the city centre - about 15 minutes on foot.

The church "Saint George" is one of the most remarkable places in the neighbourhood. The old church was built up from the first settlers before 160 years. It was low-rise building without bell tower. Later, when Bulgaria became a free state, the people made a new church with tower and bell. I was baptized here.

Probably "St. George" is the most suitable name for the local tample. No, not because I bring the saint's name. As I said, the first residents of the district were farmers and shepherds and according to the Christian tradition St.Georgi is their protector.