High Lights of Bulgaria

We leave Bulgaria for Turkey tomorrow morning (Monday) ... we have had a perfect time here. Steve and Tanya are packed and leave in a few hours.  Packing is so stressful ... how to fit so much into a limited space and weight. What to take ... what to leave behind, what did I forget. The pressure of getting to the airport on time to check in ... then wait .... slowly letting go of the stress and time pressure, settling into the next part of the journey ... whether it be going home or leaving to go somewhere exciting. It didn't help that we locked the keys to our room inside and it took nearly an hour to find a way to get in ... Steve's bag was in there as well.

Packing for us is much simpler on this trip ... we have our 38L and 40L packs ... we are travelling light and are semi packed all the time.  We posted another 3kgs back to NZ ... stuff we think we can do without ... getting even lighter. We find it quite easy and relaxing not to have to worry about how it is all going to fit ... when we are out and about and I see something I like I have to stop and think will it fit into my pack and generally the answer is no.

We have no idea what to expect with Turkey ... we have gathered information from people on places to see. We have a month there ... we fly into Istanbul for 3 maybe 4 days and then we are off. I am hoping our photography gets better ... I am looking on youtube for tips. I figured out why our camera screen is too dark in daylight ... I figured it out all by myself ... went into the menu and brightened the screen ... bingo now we can take photos in daylight and see what we are photographing.

I would like to finish with highlights from our time in Bulgaria

Rosi ... Tanya's daughter

Rosi has been our driver and teacher of Bulgarian history while we have been here. She has driven us everywhere! While driving Rosi has taken the opportunity to teach us about the history of Bulgaria ... she knows so much and like Tanya is passionate about Bulgaria, the countryside, politics and the future of this country that she loves. She has encouraged us to learn some Bulgarian and is very encouraging when we speak it. Bulgarian is not an easy language to learn ... I feel very uneducated when I am travelling through these European countries ... their history is so old and their architecture is so beautiful sometimes dating back thousands of years and many of the people speak more than one language ... I feel so embarrassed that I speak only English. We have really enjoyed Rosi ... she is good company, has a great sense of humour and has made us feel so welcome and has been so friendly. 

I am not sure if you have had any experience of driving outside of NZ ... each country is different and has their own system around traffic and driving. We have had some funny moments with Rosi that really need to be in print ... here are some of her sayings ... "What!" ... hand gestures in the air. "Idiot!" ... more hand gestures in the air. "Idiot! what you think you can do!" ... hand gestures again. We are now saying it for her ... we get a laugh out of it. We have really enjoyed meeting Rosi and spending time with her.

Rosi ... "Idiot"

 Pavlin ... Tanya's son

I hope I have spelt his name right. Pavlin lives in the US ... Las Vegas with his wife and 4 children. We have enjoyed getting to know him. Pavlin is a good photographer and has been helpful to us as amateurs ... he is fantastic with wood and has shown us photos of some of the work he has done, he is really good at restoring old pieces of furniture. He has been our guide as well and really helped us with our pronunciation of Bulgarian ... I sometimes find it hard to pick up, Pavlin's pronunciation has been easier for me to understand. We have enjoyed his company.

Steve & Tanya

We can't say thank you enough to Steve & Tanya ... they have gone all out to show us a good time and take us to some really beautiful and interesting parts of Bulgaria. They have been fantastic to us in every way. Thank you, thank you, thank you, if not for you we probably would not have come to Bulgaria. We love your homeland Tanya and really want to come back.

What we will remember ...

They have amazing veggie gardens here ... like I have never seen before.

The art in the old churches and monastery's are beautiful ... always look up!

The detail ... a simple gate to someone's house ... hundreds of years old ... never outdated!

A door ...

Picking wild berries to eat ... they grow everywhere!

So much history ...

The Black Sea ... the best beach we have been to ..

The towns ... housing

Teshivo ... our favourite place!

The Mountains

Food and fruit ... I will never be the same again ...

We really enjoyed church in sofia

Lastly

Fields of Sunflowers

Bought myself a treat ... weakness for earrings ... fits in my pack ... sent home.