Five hundred-plus kilometres from Izmir brought me to the Bulgarian border. As the sun rose I saw just how dramatically the landscape changed. Blue sunny skies with green and yellow foliage were now replaced by a grey landscape with barren trees.
The sight of greyness might have been depressing, but soon I was feeling the joy of meeting up with some friends and randomly turning up at an important religious ceremony, with a chance to shoot the patriarch of the Bulgarian Orthodox church. This life on the road… might not be for everyone, but i love it.
My journey through Turkey finally came to an end. I loved Turkey. It’s one of the most beautiful countries I’ve been to. Unfortunately my farewell was not a very pleasant one. I’ve had some stretch of bad luck on this trip related to my car. I hope that’s all over now.
Main thing is – Landrover’s fixed. Who cares if it doesn’t have back seats because the guy who promised to turn it into a camper turned out to be the most incompetent carpenter on the planet. I’ll convert it into a camper in Bulgaria… fingers crossed.
It was great to be photographing again. When you haven’t been shooting, nor really been in the mood to shoot for a couple of weeks, it doesn’t even matter what you photograph once you get back into it. I was glad to be going through the process again. The excitement of finding yourself in a new place that’s visually stimulating is quite special.
The excitement of the people in the town called Elin Pelin was also rather high. Religion is a big thing in Bulgaria, especially around this time of year. It’s not often that the boss of the church visits your humble town, so, it seemed that the entire population flocked towards the church to get a blessing.
I’ve got some travel plans for the very near future. After some time with the family, a new adventure begins.
