Arriving in Lozenets & Fazanovo

My brother picked me up from the bus stop in Lozenets, after a wild night of clubbing, and drove me home where he passed out. This would have been my first sleep in a bed in over 24 hours. But, with my excitement to finally be back in Bulgaria, I couldnt even blink in fear of missing something.

From Lozenets we went off on the about 20 minute drive through the fields, forests, and lastly mountains to my favorite village in the world, Fazanovo. The road to there is absolutely amazing, and is known for its "dirty turns", as one of the locas has posted on one of the curves where he crashed a couple of years ago. The road itself is lined with trees and you cannot see a thing beyone the treeline. It's so tiny that when there is another car on the road one has to pull over to the side in order to pass, which is somewhat scary as with the crazy twists and turns its almost impossible to ever see if theres a car coming.

Its around halway into the trip to Fazanovo that you start to smell the forest. You smell green, life, some smoke...as its during this time that they burn the fields after they've picked the crop.

The road is like driving in a tunnel up until you reach the river, which unfortunately since there hasn't been any rain for a while is all dried up, from there you are swirving up the mountain on which Fazanovo is sittuated. After a few bumps, holes, hills and turns, you finally get the first glimpse of red roofs and the heart at that point cannot be controlled. A flush of pure excitement, love, passion, and a little saddness (as I dont get enough chances to visit) overcome me.

We were greeted by Menelai/Jaco/Tebelai/Nemelai (a very confused little dog with many names), who is a mix between a Jackal and a dog and roams free in the village, but has made my grandmothers house his home.

From there my brother passed out and I went on a mission!

After greeting my poor sleepy grandmother who jumped out in her pigamas and ran around the yard I grabbed my camera and decided to take a walk before I went to sleep. At this time it was around 6:30 in the morning and the sun was rising. There was such calmness, such silence....except for the regular farm sounds of roosters, dogs, crickets, donkeys, and mainly...one of my favorite birds in Bulgaria, liastovichki. They fly by the hundreds overhead and line all of the phonelines. They make the most interesting sounds as they speed around the sky.

The walk around Fazanovo was great and extremely peaceful, and I just couldnt get enough of the beautiful views, the mist, and sounds. There were so many different sounds, but at the same time it was absolutely silent, as I walked I heard each step that I took on the rocky road.

It was as if my hearing was doubled. I heard absolutely every movement of the rocks under my feet, and when the wind picked up the grass sounded like music.

Finally I made it back to the house and crashe don the bed next to my mom without even changing. In jsut 3 hours we woke up and were on our way to the beach in Kiten.

Before leaving for Kiten, Chechi (my grandmother, she doesnt like being called grandmother though), showed me a surprise she had for me. She took me to the ruined spare bedroom out back (it doesnt have a roof, jsut a door and a window :-) ) and opened the door. There was an interesting setup of grasses, and bowls. After lifting one of the pieces of wood she pulled out a tiny little baby hedgehog. "This is Bori" she said with a childlike smile.

We found him on the road one day when coming home from Lozenets. He was too young to eat, the mother was probably killed by a passing car. So her and Mitko took him in and fed him milk and now he is eating hard food, vegetables and various meats they have left over. I have hundreds of pictures of this little guy, absolutely adorable. Fits in the palm of your hand. :-) After enjoying the little guy for a while we headed out to explore the coast.

One thing about Bulgarian beaches, very important! I just learned that the law has changed and all beaches are public. No one can tell you that you have to pay to lay on the sand, even if there are a bunch of umbrellas. As long as you dont go under one of their umbrellas or lay on the chairs you dont have to pay a pennie! No matter what they tell you!

Needless to say, I wasnt too happy with the beaches considering you barely see any sand, because its extremely packed.

The water is amazing though! As my luggage was lost I had to buy a new swimsuite which I wasnt too happy with so I didnt go in the water, to top it all off I just wasnt fully recovered from the long trip.

Kiten has a couple of great streets...which basically makes up the town/village. There are really really tiny streets lined with many stores and shops to buy food from. They have a little fair with rides and lots of really fun things to look at. The streets are completely packed! Everywhere you look theres people. From all over the world. Full of so much life. Though the service still isnt up to the USA standards, its 100 times better than in Sofia. And they treat you as a customer, not an annoying fly. We shopped around and headed home.

After we sat and munched out for a while we started to get ready for our next step! Drink and dance! My brother took me to what is now my absolute favorite club.

If you've been to Bulgaria, its not possible that you didnt hear about it. Everyone knows it, and they should. Its such an incredible set-up. Its a club in the cliffs on the Black Sea in Kiten. The club is pretty big, with a sandy dance floor which makes for a great workout after a couple of beers. The dance floor ends in the water, and they have two little tables with umbrellas and chairs right in the water. I have numerous picture which will be coming later on, as I didnt have the camera this time around.

One thing that is really important in order to get great service is tipping. In Bulgaria they are not used to tipping, or receiving tips. So when you give a tip on your first drink, they look at you straight in the eye from that point on. Before you even think of getting the drink, its already ready for you.

We had an issue with getting the attention of the bartender, up until my brother left him a tip, and told him that if he wants more he needs to change his attitude. haha. From that point on he assisted us really well. And we went to him the rest of the night.

After dancing for a couple of hours, and the morning rays started coming out, we decided to had home. By the time we reached the house in Fazanovo it was approximately 7 am. And yet another night that I didnt spend in a bed.