Yes friends, from eight countries and three continents we gathered at a cozy place in Bulgaria to have a wonderful week in bowers heaven! We had fantastic time together and I thank you so much, friends that you came and joined us and made this time unforgettable!!!
I'm late with my post, my computer had to be fixed and I had no way to edit and upload the pics till now. You have an idea what a great time we had thanks to Jorik, Mark and Andrei and his wonderful kids. That's why I'll not talk too much but try to take you with many pictures at the places we were .
As you know Ken and Jon landed in Sofia a day earlier and at Friday we managed to visit a small town near Sofia - Koprivstica, which is famous with it's old style architecture. Here in this thread I posted some pics from there.
At the next day - Saturday - after the small adventure: loading three cars with luggage for five (Mark took some great photos
Our first stop was in Veliko Tarnovo - the old capital of Bulgaria, a pretty town placed on the hills upon the Yantra river. We went to see the old fortress from the 13 century, which walls hid the kings palaces from the hostile arrows.
Kathy, Marian and Ken entering the fortress (I'll tell the names always from left to right from now on)
Kosio, Marian and Ken
The church at the top of the hill was rebuild, we didn't find enough strength to climb there in the heat.
But we fearlessly walked at the edge of the walls (Mark, Jon, Kathy, Ken)
... to reach the Balduin Tower, where the Latin Emperor Balduin was kept locked in year 1205, after he lost the battle with the Bulgarian king Kaloyan.
Jon, Ken and Marian in the tower
Ken
Then we continued our trip to Varna. The landscape changed from mountain view to a still wheaten valley, surrounded by rocks.
There in these rocks is one interesting place with a bas-relief of a horse rider, killing a lion - the Madara horse rider, which dates from the 7th century. Btw, only few days ago it was announced that this monument was officially acknowledged as a symbol of Bulgaria.
Well some tired we reached the place and had a nice dinner there. Jorik was there already and Andrei and the kids arrived from Rumania in the evening, after a tiring 20 hours trip with the train. At the next morning we arranged the place where we worked in the following days and even managed to shoot some, though it was Sunday and some crowded there. Our Finnish friends arrived in the evening and at least we were happily all together!!!
