Sometimes the place where you are and the place where you’d like to be aren’t so far away from each other. Sometimes everything you need to do is to stop whining where you are in the present, to raise your head and notice that what you want is one reach apart – and it is waiting for you to take the initiative and search for it.
That’s what happened last Saturday, when I, Gabi ( my sister) and Ivaylo, headed for another amazing place – the pond of Pchelina and the chapel St. Joan Letni. We don’t always have time to visit places that are at the other end of the country, but there is always a new, different and mystical place, which is somewhere close to where we live.
The Pond of Pchelina is no great way from Sofia, so if you’d like to have an adventure during the weekend, this is your destination.
Usually, Ivaylo and I, decide at the last moment where we will go. We wake up in the morning and while we are having breakfast, he asks me: “Where are we going today?”My first answer is always: “I don’t know.”A little bit later he already has a suggestion or I’ve found some interesting place in my favorite travelers blogs.
The first idea was to go straight to the chapel. As you know we are not tourists, but travelers and that is why we often step away from the well known path. This time we didn’t make an exception. From Pernik, we headed to Lobosh and we turned out to be at the other end of the pond ( not where the chapel was). The place really reminded me of a county from the movies. Huge meadows, grazing cows and in the distance you could see a couple houses hugging each other.
The paths to the houses were one of these narrow and long paths, that curve upside the hill and then suddenly take a turn down on a steep hill. It creates the feeling, as you are at a special place and you’ve traveled a couple days, so you can arrive in the county where you are meant to deliver an important telegram. By traveling, the path reveals a splendid view, which reveals the beauty of the pond.
On the way, we passed through “The Ranch of don Marmota”. I suppose that it is really exciting to say that you live in the ranch of don Marmota. We took a break and we walked through the country side. We didn’t skip doing a couple pistol squats on the bar and on the way back we did some walking lunges uphill.
Then we headed to the chapel. For that goal, we were supposed to travel with the car, through the villages around us and head straight to Radomir. On the GPS we saw that we pass by the village of Izvor. Gabi and I have a village with the same name and it is close to Breznik ( a town near Radmoir). We haven’t been there for the past 15 years. We have a house, which keeps, probably it hardly fits, the pile of memories from our childhood. Actually, when I think of my childhood, I think about this house and the huge meadow with flowers, right in front of it. Ivaylo asked us if we want to go to Izvor and find the house. Gabi and I agreed immediately. But we didn’t think even for a second that Izvor next to Breznik and Izvor next to Radmoir could be two different places.
Thus, we arrived in Izvor. When we got there, Gabi immediately said: “The center is exactly as it used to be. Nothing has changed.”Then we remembered how we used to eat candies from the shop at the corner. We asked Ivaylo to turn right on a stony path, which was supposed to take us to the house. Everything looked familiar until the moment, when the path took us to a place that looked strange and different. We had an information that in the village there is about 20 people. We saw a grandma and we stopped to ask her for the house of Slavka ( a neighbor, which was supposed to be the key orientation in order to find the house). I insist on saying that Slavka is alive. The old lady, who seemed to be at least 90 years old, looked at us kind of perplexed and said that Slavka is dead. We kept on insisting that she is alive and that we want to find her house. You should have seen the look of that lady. She seemed so confused and I think that she spent the whole afternoon wondering if Slavka is alive or not.
We kept on searching and we saw a couple more people. We stopped to ask them for the river and the big meadow. They also seemed perplexed and they claimed that there isn’t a river and that we are probably talking about the canal. Gabi and I, insisted that the river is just below the meadow and after neither they agreed they have a river, nor we that we mean the canal we continued the expedition. There we go! More people! How lucky we were – we had an information that in the village there were not more than 20 people and we have already talked to more than half of them.
We stopped to ask another woman with the hope that she will know where Slavka’s house was. We once again insisted that Slavka is alive and that the river is below the meadow. The woman looked at us and said: “Wait a minute. Are you talking about Izvor next to Breznik or next to Radomir?”
That’s how it turned out that we are in the wrong village; that the center hasn’t changed because it has never looked this way and that we have never eaten candies from that shop.
After we almost convinced, as it turned out the populous inhabitants of the village, that Slavka is alive and that they have a river, a meadow and that we come to search for our roots, we were ready to head to the chapel.
We headed to Potzarnentzi village- the village at the side of the pond, where the chapel was. We stopped… in the middle of nowhere and we left the car there. We walked through one of these paths, that curve through the meadows. You know what I am talking about, don’t you? The dried, cracked soil and uneven terrain. I adore these paths. They teleport me somewhere in the past, they help me return in memories I love and memories I welcome in my present, so they can remind me of the carefree childhood, full of meaning and self -realization.
On the way we passed by a couple houses. The place is exceptional, because it is really peaceful. There aren’t a lot of people and you feel as if you are surrounded just by nature and its greatness.
When we passed by the houses, there was a path that was surrounded by “walls”of autumn trees. Everything was goldenly orange. I felt as if I was in a fairy tale. I was walking on top of the leaves that the autumn has picked. Autumn has laid down a carpet of colorful leaves – wet lips which were gently kissing the soil under our feet. Words were walking in front of us and our thoughts were holding hands.
Walking, in front of us revealed a splendid view – vast space, a lot of nature, abundance of grazing cows and in the distance you could see the chapel. It seemed kind of mystical. The weather was cold. Every time when it is colder and darker outside, nature really stands out. As if the colors get more intense and you can see every dark spice and shade. As if nature, through darkness and cold, draws its outlines and it seems more alive, more mystical.
The sight took your breath away. Cliffs, where you could sit all day and look in the horizon and feel how the wind is gently touching your shoulders. You could e alone, but not feel lonely. To be nowhere and to feel exactly where you need to be. These places are always a great place for… pistol squats and handstands!
We took a lot of pictures, some sprints uphill and some handstands and it was time to go back home.
That’s how another great adventure was saved in our memory.
Where did you go this week? Share your adventures with me!
