We slept in because of the late night World Cup game. We made a plan to see a 'stone forest' (more info below).
Ate at a place they call a Bulgarian BBQ. I was able to get this yummy cucumbers in yogurt salad (with dill) again. Everyone else ate kebops or sausage. After eating we walked a bit and spotted some young hedgehogs in a grassy spot on side of sidewalk. There was three of them. Can you believe that?!?! Our Bulgarian friends say they see them often...and we told them that none of us from the States had ever seen a wild one (Diana has never seen one ever). How cute!!!
Next we headed to a place called 'stone forest'. Its real name is Pobiti Kamani (Bulgarian: Побити камъни). It's a rock formation that is over 50 million years old. The most popular theory about the stones is that they were created when one layer of the earth interacted with the subsequent limestone layer. See this article for detail if you are interested:
http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2013/11/pobiti-kamani-bulgarias-ancient-stone-forest/
Along the way we saw some tiny turtles too. Niko's friends seemed to catch on that we are always noticing the animals (pictures of cats, feeding strays, fascinated with hedgehogs, etc) so they took us to a nearby farm that someone knew the owner. This farmer was super industrious. He kept chickens, bunnies, and grouse. He was growing a ton of vegetables including a full on tomato hot house. He made his own rakia (pretty common thing for the older men to do here). It started raining so we headed to picnic shelter the farmer had made. We drank his rakia which tasted like lighter fluid but we all appreciated the hospitality (kudos to Dave and Charley for drinking the part that Diana and I could not).
After checking out that super cool site we visited another - a CAKE shop. Yep...they has stores here that sell nothing but cake.
Wednesday June 18th
We (Charley, Diana, Dave, Amy) fly to Istanbul today so our only plans are to meet Niko's mom and head to the airport.
Niko's mom made us a delicious breakfast (she said everything she served was made in Bulgaria) and showed us some pictures of Niko as kid. We all commented how much Niko looked like his mom and dad. And how much hair he had compared to now. :-)
A short drive to the tiny Varna airport, goodbye hugs, and we were off to Istanbul. Our flight actual flew north and had one stop in Romania before we flew south again to Istanbul. Odd...but it was a super cheap fare.
Bulgaria was pretty amazing. Friendly people. A lot of history that while hard to wrap your mind around still seems to shape the scene today. Signs of political and economic struggles (just like everywhere else) but still they all keep on keeping on.
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