Going east

The last few days have been less focused on music (although actually Tzvetanka is teaching us songs in the car on the road. Some of those potholes really help with Thracian ornamentation!), and more on sightseeing and "experiencing" Bulgaria. Here's a summary, more or less in order -- if I go into great detail you'll never read the end of this blog!

• Evening in Koprivshtitsa: Beautiful village with scented Linden trees everywhere! Bulgarian village streets (aside from the main road) are the roughest cobble stone ever and clearly not meant for driving; the ideal car would be a small SUV (which is pretty much what we drive), and even so, it's adventurous.
• Shipka church and monument: A bit of history of the Russo-Turkish war that liberated Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire rule, and a fantastic view of the north and south of the country
• Castle ruins in Veliko Turnovo: The biggest ever? Not in height, but in square footage! Sadly we didn't see the evening illumination.
• A stop in Kotel, where Ivan and Tzvetanka (and Dunava singer Tedy) went to the Philip Kutev folklore music high school. I wish I could have gone to a school like that...! 
• Horseback riding in in the hills around Zheravna, another idyllic village south of Kotel. Amazing view from the top of the hills, again! Bulgarian landscape can't be beat. Alyssa provided for a bit of excitement by falling off her horse at the top and dislocating her shoulder, but luckily one of the ladies (a singer from Danish Balkan choir Usmivka) gently popped it back into place, and we all rode off the mountain together. 

And tonight we are in Burgas! In a moment we'll head out to Tzetze & Ivan's anniversary party -- 31 years! A perfect excuse for more singing and dancing and eating late into the night!