Turnovo

On our way to Turnovo we visited Koprivshtitsa - a Bulgarian town with history. The buildings were unique, because they were colorful. We visited some museums of old houses that were important. We went to an old school that had a sand box the little children to write in and quills for the older students who helped teach them.

After that we went to the Russian church that was built because the Russian army helped free the Bulgarians from the Ottoman Empire. 

 

On our way to Turnovo we went to an important monument. On our way up there were about 1000 steps. The Bulgarians and Russian fought a battle with the Turks and won. There is a Bulgarian flag there. 

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In Turnovo we stayed in a nice hotel that was named Royal. The view was terrific. 

We walked around the old town and went in the ethnographic museum. In there it had all sorts of objects they would have in the old houses. They had special shaped breads for different occasions. 

Finally we climbed to the medieval fortress of Turnovo where Bulgarian kings used to live. We explored around the place and went into the church. The church had amazing pictures. 

P.S. Balancing on a street pole. 

Amalfi Coast

After the trip to Rome we drove to the Amalfi Coast. It was a windy road up, but we eventually made it to a parking lot high in the mountain. It was dark by the time we got there so I couldn't see what it looked like. There were many stairs in the little village until we got to our place. In the morning me and my mom woke up early and went to a mini market - the only one. We saw that the village Nocelle looked over the sea. It was a clear morning. We went up and down stairs to get to the tiny store to get Italian bread and cheese.

We went to Positano by bus. There they had great lemon chocolates, soaps and perfume. Once we got to the beach we went into the water. It was cold.

I met new friends in Nocelle. At the place we stayed there was a dog and a cat that constantly came. They were very friendly. Also one day when we were at the pizza place, that was built in a cave, there was an orange cat I named Chubs. Since that day he would come to our table and want lots of attention. 

During our last day we visited Amalfi town. We saw St. Andrew's church there and walked around the old city. I had my last big mozzarella pizza.

Rome

In October after Plovdiv we spent a week in Italy.  On our first day we went to Saint Peter's square and were surprised that there were so many people. We figured out that Pope Francis was there. He had a speech, although we could not understand, because he was speaking in Italian. 

The same day we went to the Angels' Bridge. On the bridge there were statues of angels. 

These are my favorite things about Rome. 

        The Piazza Navona fountain

        The Colosseum 

The Colosseum was massive and on the inside we could see the arena where gladiators fought and where the spectators sat. Prisoners of war were forced to fight sometimes to the death. Also if they won enough battles they could become citizens of Rome. 

        The Capitoline Museums of Rome

Me and dad went together. Inside we saw ancient statues. From the statue of Constantine there was only the head, foot and one hand left. We also saw Medusa's head, Poseidon - the God of Sea, and Mercury. 

I LOVED Rome and the tasty food there - pizza, pasta, and gelato. What was frustrating was all the walking, no car, and it was intensely hot. 

This is my second week in Plovdiv. This week we went to a lot of places. The first place is a fortress. It was built by one of Bulgarian kings in the 11th century. Close to it there was a monastery and other chapels in the mountain.

On that same day we went to Bachkovo monastery, which happens to be one of the oldest Orthodox monasteries in Europe. It had really old icons. There was also one sheep outside. It was there, because when it gets old it would be used as an offering.

On our way to the center, where we go somedays, we pass by an old stadium from the Roman times from 2nd century b.c. The arena was used for gladiator battles. The stadium was discovered on accident because they were digging up a road and found it. 

Yesterday we went to the Ethnographic museum. It had tools, furniture, clothes that they used to have in the 19th century. They also talked about the daughter of the man who owned the house who was engaged. It was raining and her and her fiancee hid under a tree, which got struck by lightning that killed them. 

After that we went to an art gallery with paintings by Zlatio Boiadjiev. His paintings are about animals, people and places. The one here looks like a village with many animals. 

We are currently in Plovdiv. We have walked around town and been to the Congregational church. On the first day we went to Sahat Tepe. There was a view of Plovdiv.

September 22nd was Bulgaria's Independence day. We were at a concert of traditional Bulgarian music, dancing, and songs. It was amazing, but I could feel the vibrations of the drums. It was a bad day, because it rained for awhile.

The dancers had traditional Bulgarian costumes. 

Two weeks ago we went to Rila monastery in Bulgaria, which was founded in the 10th century. It was really big and inside they had real gold and silver covering the chandeliers and some of the walls. It had lots of icons too.

Icons are pictures of people in the Bible and holy people of the church.

picture from: http://sevdelin.snimka.bg/mountain/sveti-ivan-rilski-pokrovitel-na-b-lgarskiya-narod.159908.3621427

We also went to a cave that John of Rila lived in, because he was a hermit. This was on a mountain and the cave was really dark and tight, but I managed to get through the hole. There was a pretty good view toward the lower mountains.

At the end of that week we went to a cave called the Devil's throat. On the way there the road was very narrow and were humongous cliffs. In the Devil's throat was a big waterfall, the biggest underground waterfall in the Balkans. Two divers exploring the waterfall somehow died. There were bats in the cave. Also climbing up took awhile, because there was two-hundred and eighty steps. At the top there was a good view down toward the cave.

This week me, my family, and the students went to Greece. The water there was very warm. We explored the island of Thassos. We went to Archangel Michael monastery. We met the sisters there. They gave us their blessings. Also while we were in Thassos I rode the scooter with my dad. He took me to a Greek village on the scooter. 

We rode a ferry twice on the way to Thassos and from Thassos to Kavala. On the last day at Kavala we went to a good spot to swim where you could jump off a rock that took a few seconds to hit the water. The water was pretty strong and it was super deep. The first time I jumped off the rock I felt weird, because it took awhile to get to the water. But I loved it!

After that we went to Jumbo, which is a big toy store in Greece. There I got a plastic sword and bow and arrows. Also in Thassos I got an awesome slingshot and learned how to shoot mostly rocks, but I nearly broke a window.