The Archives of Traveling and Nesting in Bulgaria

I am having some excellent respite time house/pet sitting. Here in Bulgaria many aspects are noticeable from the former Soviet era. There are still many old Soviet cars on the streets, along with old buildings, and statues still stand. Bulgaria having an influence from the Russians and Ottomans comprises of an interesting mix with excellent [...]

Currently, the house-sitting is working out excellent. The puppy dog and I have cultivated a friendly relationship; I find interesting the psychology depths of the puppy dog The doggie is getting a workout each day that provides doggie naps throughout the day. My cooking talent has changed for the better. A combination of the wood [...]

Meet Robbie the puppy doggie. Beautiful if you ask me. He is sitting tall and contemplating why the cats in the neighborhood refuse to play with him. The couple of the house will be back around the 27/28th, so I will be here for a few more days, which is OK, I did allow a [...]

The one eyed cat that I feed is a mother of two cute little kittens in the above picture. A subject I have meant to write about is in regards to the alternative health care industry, referring to massage, and any type of modality that works with the body, including energy work; however, I am [...]

Some major developments have taken place here in Bulgaria, I will be nesting for a least a year, possibly longer. Boris and his mother offered me to live at his fathers house that has been vacant for the last five years in a town 50 kilometers east of Plovdiv. We are going to see the [...]

Yesterday, a friend of Boris’ drove us out to view the house which is 175 kilometers from Sofia. We first stopped in Plovdiv to meet Boris’ lawyer friend. I will be heading to Plovdiv tomorrow by train to complete the paper work for the company. Then I will open a bank account with an Italian [...]

I arrived at the house to care for the parrot and the dog. We coulden’t find the password for the wireless Interent for my computer, but I can the home owners computer for the Internet. I should be posting soon.

One week of house sitting completed with the Orange Wing Parrot and the large Bulgaria sheep dog. Another week an a half of house sitting and then I decided to visit Romania for a few days, then head back to Sofia and get another three month visa. The first time a non-EU resident applies for [...]

I bought a car from the couple I house sat for in May. We took care of the paper work on Friday, all I need to do is get it registered within two weeks. The car is a French made Peugeot that runs diesel getting excellent gas mileage, a great running car. Plus I will [...]

I just arrived in Hisar, Boris’ family town, his brother lives here, and the flat is where they grew up. Yesterday I drove up to the northern border to get a new three month visa, and then stayed one more night at the house sitting place. Today drove to Hisar across the highest mountain pass [...]

The last two days I have been working on the house in Belya Reka. Yesterday, Boris had the day off and we moved everything out of the winter house. The winter room with an attached shower room will be my main dwelling area. I will also have a nice outdoor patio area; I will be [...]

The last two days have been very productive. Boris’s mom came out the village, we had to figure out the water and she paid the tax for the next couple of years on the house, I am holding on to the receipts. One thing in Bulgaria, concerning the car, the company, and whatever else, the [...]

A quick outing today. Zhivko and I went to inquire about the car registration, I guess I need a Bulgarian ID before changing it into my name. So on Monday we will head to Plovdiv, and the lawyer will have ready the paper work for the company and the paper work for the ID. It [...]

Here are some pictures of the house. The winter dwelling place with the running water and shower room is the white building with the window, which is detached from the summer house. The last week I have been slowly working out at the house within the summer heat. Jivko will head out with me on [...]

I bought this 3D map of Bulgaria.Staying here in Bulgaria there are many aspects I prefer than in my home country. The easy going, relaxed atmosphere is related with non-enforced laws. Jivko asked me if he could drink some beer in the car while driving to the house— I asked it is legal? He said [...]

The last few days we accomplished much out at the house. We hired a friend that works with plaster. He plastered, smoothed, and painted the walls of the winter house. We also got the poles for the shade awning into the ground. Getting the walls complete was a lot of help and very affordable, it [...]

I should be posting soon, I am on one of the final phases at the house.

I have been working hard accomplishing the task of getting ready for the winter out at the house. This last week I accomplished the pluming in the shower room, the project was kind of difficult; however, the shower completed and I completed the pluming myself without being able to speak the language. The neighbor hooked [...]

From the picture you can observe the awning finished, it turned out OK, this next spring I will reinforce it, however until November it should be a solid structure against the wind. The awning measures somewhat large, at 5.5 by 4 meters. In addition, today it rained and the water drained off of the awning [...]

Saturday, Sonya’s dad installed the tile in the shower room and entryway; a major help, plus they are selling me a wood stove at a great price. In addition, they are helping me get DSL into the house, possibly through the grandparent’s house across the street since they have a phone. Sonya’s family is very [...]

Mitsy’s favorite outside sleeping spot.After a couple of weeks from being finished with the winter nest except for some small tasks, I cannot help from writing about my realistic view of Bulgaria. I did advert to before that Bulgaria is an easy going country. Indeed, there are laws and rules, but there is no comparison [...]

I have inquired about the DSL on several occasions, and it looks as though it is a lost cause. The only company in the country “BTC” (American owned) that provides DSL seems to be changing their system, so even my neighbor that has an installed phone cannot receive a new service currently. I have investigated [...]

I have been reading a variety of travel blogs since I departed America almost two years ago. There is information about a majority of locations that travelers blog about. However, there are few bloggers, compared to the norm, who will write about the cultural aspects of the country. Within the characteristics of a country, positive [...]

I am back at the winter nest in Bulgaria. After ten days, it is much colder and I did fire-up the wood burning stove. I can say that this stove will be extremely efficient, and burning coal is the ultimate; coal burns hotter and much slower than wood. My cat is extremely jubilant concerning my [...]

Leaving for a time to a country that expresses a different character, belief system, energy, and mind-set, and then returning to Bulgaria is providing an introspective outlook. The atmosphere of the winter’s nest is private and mostly quite. It would make all the difference if the house were one kilometer out of the village. However, [...]

Since I returned from my short excursion from Turkey, I have been easing into a positive daily routine. I am determined to maintain a positive daily routine; bad habits are easy to acquire and once a habit becomes a rut, changing can be challenging among the similar geographic location. However, this is not the case [...]

The other day the children from the school presented a performance of the culture of Bulgaria. Here are a few pictures. The cultural aspects of Bulgaria goes back to folklore. The style of dress and music is always the predominant feature. The family I am good friends with, their youngest daughter of the family preformed [...]

Here is the wood burning stove, I have plenty of buckets that prevents from going out in the cold and fetching more wood or coal. Last Thursday I accomplished getting my car registered in Plovdiv, a painless process with all the correct documents in-hand. Also, I paid the insurance, which is very cheap, about $100 [...]

The month of November in Bulgaria this year has been unseasonably warm; somedays reaching 70*F/22*C. The last couple of weeks I have been taking random pictures of the village for the reader to get a good idea of the village life in Bulgaria. On Saturday my neighbors butchered up a cow and a big pig. [...]

The city of L.A.From the viewers eye the village life here in Bulgaria may not look inviting, however there are many positives along with the negatives. The pictures posted may look quite different from what you regularly view. Indeed, most westerns may view several countries as dirty. Some streets here in the village are lined [...]

Steve is Lost just landed in LA after traveling five years continuously. This is his first impression of viewing LA: And 18 hours after leaving my Bangkok home I arrived back in the good old USA. I do have to add though, flying out of Bangkok’s new International Airport and flying into LAX (Los Angeles [...]

An analogous outlook upon animals and pets is slightly standardized within the former Ottoman Empire. Spending quality time in each country allows the educational process to distinguish the deeper dynamics of the cultural mind-set. After two years into traveling/nesting I have less of an interest to travel fast. The mind-set and perception of animals are [...]

This is a common site around many small villages and especially in the mountains in Bulgaria. I captured this picture while I was sitting in my car at the library on Skype. This Gypsy lady made a couple of trips down the street hauling large bags on her back. There are some Bulgarians of the [...]

Today is the first snow here in Bulgaria. In the Bulgarian language snow is pronounced “Sa’nack, kind of like “snack” but with the emphasis in the “nack”. When I first heard the word I though they were taking about having a snack. I love the snow, I think it provides a beautiful atmosphere, but not [...]

I am mostly at the end of organizing this template except for new gadgets on the side bar and possibly in the footer. I am going to go with this new arrangement for the next year with the new domain and the template, at that time I will decided to stay with Blogger or move [...]

From the countries that I have traveled, from Egypt to Turkey, the Levant, Greece and Bulgaria, one common phrase that is predominant among different cultures is “crazy”. Several occasions while visiting a local individual would refer to someone else that they are “crazy”. I never knew the english term “crazy” is an utmost popular phrase [...]

The above picture is Peter, my immediate neighbor across the street. He is one of the nicest neighbors I have experienced. Referring to my culture there is not many exemplary neighbors that surface except for a mature gay couple that I lived next to in Aptos in the Santa Cruz area. A couple of thirty [...]

Well, I finally took the giant leap and made it past the learning curve for WordPress, it took awhile, the two blogging platforms are completely different. Not only am I understanding WordPress, I am using the Thesis theme, and I can say I am very pleased. I have been working hard at figuring this stuff [...]

The subject of the weather seems to always crop up into a conversation, within some situations it may be the only subject people talk about. Consciousness in itself views everything as beautiful. The personal view will depend on our level of consciousness. The village went a little nuts with the fireworks over New Years. The [...]

On Friday I drove to Sofia to upgrade my Mac with more memory including a run to the Serbian Border for a new Bulgarian visa. Extremely hassle free as long as you have the green card for the auto insurance. Interesting enough, neither side asked for my drivers license. So, I am set until April [...]

Winter has set-in, it took awhile, November and December were unseasonably warm. It snowed two weeks receiving a few inches and it decided to stick around it is very cold. I never new that Bulgaria got this cold, even so, it is not as cold as the upper mid-west in America. The cold weather can [...]

The snow is coming down quite heavy these last two days. The snow we had prior melted and now fresh new white semi-wet snow landed. I have always liked snow days, just based on a change of lifestyle from the summer. This is my neighbor, he let me use his big homemade shovel. He is [...]

Well, we got slammed with snow, what a head rush. The last time I remember snow like this is before I moved from Minneapolis in 1994. The last day in October 1993 Minneapolis received over thirty inches of snow, and one month later another twenty five inches. Here in Bulgaria the snow level is close [...]

So all the snow you see in the bottom pictures has melted and the sun is out. That means I accomplished washing some laundry and there is at least three meters more water in the well. It is very nice to get such warm breaks from the cold weather. I can say that winter is [...]

So a little slow going with this blog lately, I have been very busy on my other sites and new blog. My websites will be all set up by the time I leave Bulgaria so I can just research and blog. If a person has an interest of what really is going on according to [...]

Old man winter is behind us here in Bulgaria. The last few days have been pleasantly warm, and I am starting some needed spring clean up. I ate my last Pomegranate in February and now dreaming of October. It is a toss up, because October/November brings the winter, but also the harvest of the lushes [...]

So Mitko’s cat, my friend in the neighboring town had three cute little kittens. His family and I took an outing over by the mountain in the south and visited a very old monastery and a castle that was a stronghold for the passage into the valley. I will post some of the pictures soon. [...]

There are many blogs that I have discontinued reading, only because I am busy with more important subjects, and some blogs just are not adventurous or provide the depth that I enjoy reading. Possibly, my travel blog has been boring for many, but I am not trying to create a large crowd. Yet, there are [...]

I visited Sofia for a couple days this last week. I got added pages in my passport at the US embassy and stay at the Hostel Sofia because Boris was out of town. The above picture is the Russian Style Ploshad Aleksander Nevksi Church located in the center of Sofia. I met a wonderful Spanish [...]

So there is a slight change in events, and this is one example to remain in the moment and avoid futurist expectations. Since the collective consciousness fails at remaining the in the moment it is extremely easy to get caught up in futuristic thoughts. So if I take the car I would have to return [...]

So everything is getting taken care of like clock work. We transferred the company in Boris’ name; the car, the internet contract, and my cell phone sim-card goes with, it worked out great. Tomorrow I will say goodbye to Mitko and his family, and also Maria, my female friend that live in the neighboring town. [...]

I decided to nest in Bulgaria for the summer. My flight was canceled from Berlin that connects in Prague to Skopje. So I decided to jump on a train to Prague, visit for a day, and then catch the flight to Skopje. Visiting Prague for a day was plenty of time after visiting many cities [...]

Currently, I am residing in a small town called Hisar (Hisarya) in Bulgaria until the end of August. Hisar is truly a beautiful area located on the southern folds of Sredna Gora Mountain of the Balkan Mountains. Continue Reading More @ Cycling Nomad

Looking for a new place to travel to this summer? If you love exploring new lands and prefer to vacation in places that haven’t yet been tainted by the human hand, I recommend Bulgaria. Here are the top 4 reasons why Bulgaria makes for the perfect vacation spot: Gorgeous landscapes – Not yet a top [...]