I stayed in the country for about 12 days. Not so much time, but enough to get a small taste of what the place is like. I came into the country via Turkiye, on a train destined for Bucharest (capital of Romania) I stopped in a small called "Veliko Tarnovo", a historical town. It was the capital of Bulgaria during medieval times, and is a known tourist spot for its architecture and beautiful river valley.
I stayed in a backpackers' hostel where I was surrounded by travelers on their way to Bucharest (capital of Romania), Sofia (capital of Bulgaria), and those wanting to get away from cities for a bit. I made friends with 2 dutch girls at the train station, and we all hitched back to the hostel, lugging our packs up the steep path. When we arrived and checked in at the front desk, the rain started to fall, and the 2 girls smiled at me in a way that made me feel like luck was following us around for a bit.
Originally, I only intended to stay for 3 days at the most, but 3 became 4, then 4 became 5. There was one day that really stood out in my memory. A couple of guys from the hostel and I took a trip to a monastery. It was a small place, its back to the cliffs that seem to fall into oblivion.
When I stepped inside, this is what I saw:
The paintings on the wall were of bodies stretched and taut, straining for something. Maybe freedom? The country was ruled by the Ottomans for nearly 500 years, and there was a mood of this feeling in the artwork. All the men were wiry and muscular, as if they had been living a life of hardship the whole time, but it only made them stronger.
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