Astra Koprivshtitsa

A lot of Americans celebrated and had fun on this day but not me. I went to the central bus station on time to catch an early bus but somehow the cashier sold me a wrong ticket so I missed the bus, and then she refused to give me the refund. The first really unpleasant experience for this trip. And the day didn't get much better after this. I ended up catching a later bus to Bansko, but because of that I ...

... caretaker. After passing clear of sheep, we headed down to a lake near our house. Further down on lake we came to a small dam. Sashe took me on the dam, but because it has to do with Military reasons I was not allowed to take pictures. Back in the car we headed to a little village of Chiflik to visit Marija's friend Lile. Lile came home to her parent's house, so Marija wanted to visit with her while we were here. There I met Lile's mother Mare and her uncle stopped by ...

... where we stopped there were also small churches for people to visit. Passing by the city of Veles, we went forward to the city of Kochani. We stopped to look at the lake and eat breakfast at Gradche Dam. We had Piroshka for breakfast, at first it looked like an eggroll but much better tasting. After breakfast we headed to Berovo. We had to stop in the town to get the key of our house from the owner. We came to a dirt drive way but we couldn ...

... the artworks and the tall, compact Orthodox church when a tiny, ancient lady in black came and yelled at me about my shorts. I was forced to put a green robe around my waist- I thought I had left Istanbul 3 days ago! Oh well, I became so comfortable in the robe that I accidentally walked out in it. We hiked around for a bit and I munched on the most delicious Happy Donuts. Once we were back, we visited the synogogue (closed ...

... program and also a part of PAN parks. Because of it's large natural forests,high mountains landscape and crystal clear mountain lakes the park attracts a large number of visitors.The NP service made some interesting Eco and hiking trails like Botanic hiking trail,Trail of the spring flowers and Beli Iskar Eco trail, the one we visited. Beli Iskar trail follows the river of the same name for the 7,5 km and crosses it with 19 wooden ...

... so much the first night we all chose to go back the next night. Nicki persuaded us both nights to order some amazing foods. It was located in the old town which is where all the locals live. So, we had some great people watching as we leisurely ate our dinner. We even saw women out in the gutters washing some wool! Nicki's had great shopska salads and homemade fries! YUM. This was a definite highlight for us! If you come to Eastern Europe, you have to make it this area.

... It has been truly an amazing experience. We have so far gone into two bordering villages and run VBS type programs during the day and then a main service at night. Connections have been made and the people in the villages have really just loved us. Well, the next update will be a video update, until I get it done I will say good bye for now.

... this conference may touch this country and work in miraculous ways! As for the team that i mentioned before, there are now 4 more "staff" for this month. 3 from Michigan and 1 from Illinois. We have been having a lot of fun and also getting a lot of work done at the same time. What do we do? What we have been doing so far is: praying: for the ...

We hired the same driver to take us to Koprivshtitsa, which was the home to many of the central figures in the April Uprising for Bulgarian Independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1876.While the uprising was quashed, it led to the eventual independence in 1879. Cute little village with preserved houses of the patriots, but I wouldn't make a special trip.

... in Bansko, I went for dinner with two of the others. Tried the cold yogurt and cucumber soup that is on every menu, it wasn't bad but wasn't near as good as the cold soup that was in Latvia! Also had a shish or shish kebab to the rest of us, yummy stuff. Came back to the hotel and chilled on the patio for a couple beers again before heading in for an early night before the dreaded 6am start tomorrow.