We were planning a trip around the Rila Mountains near Borovets to visit the monastery tucked in the mountains and the waiter at our dinner restaurant lives en route. He wanted to show us the waterfall near his back garden and we stopped by for coffee with his family and to see the falls in his village of Ovchartski before continuing on our way.
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| The stunning waterfalls at Ovchartski with our guide Petko |
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| Bell tower in Ovchartski |
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| We had coffee at Petko's house and his father gave us peaches and grapes we picked from the garden overlooking the village |
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| The view of Ovchartski from the house |
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| It is typical of many Bulgarian buildings not to plaster the brick walls and those that were plastered remain unpainted - no doubt due to the raves of the snow and cold climate, but it makes the villages look dark and grey |
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| The Rila Monastery |
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| I cheated and took a photo of a postcard as I didn't have my aeroplane there |
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| I was trying to stick to my water diet so Llewellyn had to be the official holiday drinker and I managed a few sips here and there |
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| On the way back from the Rila Mountains, just to show you the left-hand drive and driving on the wrong side of the road. We did it in America too, but you never quite get used to looking in the rear-view mirror (look right), finding the gears easily and going anti-clockwise around traffic circles. |
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| We pulled off to see a fortress on the way back and this was the starting point, followed by a steep slippery climb up - photo below |
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| We ended the day with some local (good) Bulgarian vino reasonably priced from the local supermarket |
