-Caveat Lector- Romania, Bulgaria compete for eclipse attention By Karin Popescu BUCHAREST, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Romania and Bulgaria, their economies reeling from post-communist turmoil, are vying for attention, and tourist dollars, as they find themselves in the path of next week's total solar eclipse. Both countries, among eastern Europe's poorest lurching towards a market economy, are promoting what they say are the best vantage points for the last eclipse of the millennium. But competition to attract amateur aficionados and avid scientists is stiff as the eclipse passes over western England's picturesque county of Cornwall, northern France, Bavaria and even more advanced ex-communist Hungary before it gets here. Preparations for August 11 have not been altogether smooth amid a glaring lack of accommodation and modern facilities. Nor have circumstances been kind, not least 11 weeks of war in Yugoslavia on the two countries' western border. ``The eclipse will be at its maximum in Romania,'' said Magda Stavinschi, manager of the Romanian Academy's astronomy institute. ``The country should have been prepared, by the same token, to the maximum. The eclipse could have served to take our country out of darkness.'' The eclipse will be total for two minutes and 23 minutes, casting into darkness a 112 km (70-mile) strip across Romania, including Bucharest, the only European capital in its path, at 2.06 p.m. (1106 GMT). It lasts one second less as it passes over northeastern Bulgaria's most popular Black Sea holiday area. DISGRUNTLED TOURISTS But slow privatisation has left Romania with only 160,000 rooms at 815 hotels and a tourism industry reduced to annual earnings of $60 million from the heyday of the 1970s when German and British tourists crowded Black Sea beaches. Stories abound of disgruntled tourists paying large sums of money for rooms with a single light bulb or rationed hot and even cold water. The road network is in a shambles, with the sole 100 km (62-mile) stretch of motorway west of Bucharest under repairs and dubbed the ``highway of death'' after a spate of accidents. The authorities have had to find alternative drawing cards. The most spectacular is an outdoor concert by tenor Luciano Pavarotti in the evening outside the vast marble palace built by executed communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Organisers say the 20,000 tickets priced at up to $200 are selling well in a country where average monthly wages are about half that sum. Ceausescu may provide a further posthumous attraction at a government auction from August 9-14 of cars, furs, clothing and other objects which belonged to him and his wife Elena. ``We cannot say that the eclipse will provide a windfall for Romanian tourism, but bringing foreigners to the event is likely to cover expenses,'' said Aurel Pavel, vice-president of the tourism employers' federation. A $1.5 million eclipse promotion campaign raised eyebrows, particularly one television spot made almost incomprehensible by obscure allusions to the Dracula legend and folk dancing. Attempts were made to lure tourists to some of Romania's most scenic areas in the eclipse's path, including the Retezat and Paring mountains in the southern Carpathians, billed as being ``2,500 metres closer to the sun.'' But they unravelled when floods washed out major roads in the remote area. Residents warned officials that any influx of visitors would have to make their way to hilltop areas on foot. Eclipse watchers have to settle for Rimnicu Vilcea, a largely colourless industrial town 350 km (200 miles) northwest of Bucharest known for its large Gypsy community. Officials have been overwhelmed by accommodation requests from 10,000 visitors. BULGARIA In Bulgaria, hoteliers say the area around the plush Black Sea resort of Albena offers better viewing conditions than Romania and are scrambling to offer 15,000 tourists a day trip to the best sites. All hotels have long been fully booked, with the largest one installing a giant telescope on its roof. Bulgaria's Defence Ministry has turned a big firing range into an observation platform and a rock concert is also planned. ``This is a unique opportunity for the tourist sector that should not be missed,'' Albena official Vesel Velev told Reuters. EXPLOITNG SCIENTIFIC OPPORTUNITIES Astronomers in both countries have tried to exploit the scientific opportunities offered by the eclipse -- but were sometimes thwarted by a lack of funds. Some 200 from a variety of countries will watch the eclipse at the Bucharest observatory, which dates from 1910, using also a solar radiotelescope. ``We had planned to acquire at least a one-metre (three feet) long telescope and build an observation station outside Bucharest,'' said Stavinschi, walking under scaffolding as major renovations proceed at the facility. ``But both plans failed over lack of funds. A one-metre telescope costs about $1 million. Bulgaria and the Czech Republic have two-metre telescopes.'' Viewers in Rimnicu Vilcea will have at their disposal two telescopes and two sets of field glasses at an observatory erected on the roof of a high school, thanks to money raised by town authorities. Stavincschi said astronomers, and laymen, will have the unusual opportunity to observe both solar eruptions and how nature reacts to the sun's unexpected disappearance in the middle of the day. ``The temperature will drop and a breeze will rise,'' she said. ``Birds and insects will go to sleep and night flowers will open. These things must not be missed.'' FRINGE BENEFITS Preparations for the eclipse have provided a number of lighter moments -- and some abuses. Romania's central bank has issued Europe's first plastic banknote with a face value of 2,000 lei (about 10 U.S. cents). That will cost souvenir hunters $2, as will a commemorative postage stamp bearing Pavarotti's likeness. The national post office has put on sale for the equivalent of a dollar glasses it says can be used to watch the entire eclipse safely for two hours and 40 minutes. But Romanian television reported that some postmen who stood to earn commissions were too zealous in promoting the glasses to elderly rural residents dependent on them for receiving their minuscule state pensions. ``What do I need these glasses for?'' one farmer told state television. ``I can't use them in the fields and they cost me a fortune.'' DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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