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Since our family was well-off, we could afford to go on a holiday in Velingrad. [Editor’s note: a town in Northwest Rhodope Mountains. It is a popular spa center, home to the biggest Karst spring, Kleptuza.] We didn’t go to the seaside. Even these days I don’t like going to the seaside. We would spend about a month and a half in Velingrad. There we would rent a house, but we carried with us a lot of our belongings. That is why the preparation for the holiday took a long time. We sewed pillows and bed linen. We put everything in big bundles together with kitchen utensils. We traveled using a narrow gauge railway.
We had a lot of fun in Velingrad. We were often visited by friends of my parents and their children. We played until late at night on the street in front of the houses and during the day the adults went to the baths. I still have a lot of fond memories of those times. My mother cooked outside and the food tasted much more delicious. My father would come at the end of every week or every two weeks, because he was working. The visits to Velingrad stopped during the Holocaust. 1946 was the last time my parents, my brother and I went to Velingrad. Later, I went to Velingrad again, but this time with my husband and daughter.
We had a lot of fun in Velingrad. We were often visited by friends of my parents and their children. We played until late at night on the street in front of the houses and during the day the adults went to the baths. I still have a lot of fond memories of those times. My mother cooked outside and the food tasted much more delicious. My father would come at the end of every week or every two weeks, because he was working. The visits to Velingrad stopped during the Holocaust. 1946 was the last time my parents, my brother and I went to Velingrad. Later, I went to Velingrad again, but this time with my husband and daughter.
Period
Location
Velingrad
Bulgaria
Interview
Sarina Chelibakova