My dAd is a jolly, jolly man.
<a title="dAd and beer by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/10042012434/"><img alt="dAd and beer" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5346/10042012434_f7905c3bfe_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" /></a>
But for many years, he was hesitant about visiting Bulgaria--not because he was uninterested in Bulgaria or afraid or something like that. Mostly he was hesitant because he doesn't really like to travel. He's a tall man and the seats in airplanes seem to be getting smaller and smaller.

Poor guy.

Luckily this didn't prevent him from visiting.

In fact even before he climbed on the plane, he brushed up on some Bulgarian. His three big words: Beer (бира), Cheers (Наздраве) and Goodbye (Довиждане).

Needless to say, everyone loved him. And he loved Rila. <em>A lot</em>.<!--more-->
<a title="Wandering Rila by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/10042087666/"><img alt="Wandering Rila" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7409/10042087666_49c73e82e9_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" /></a>
It turns out he's a village and a beer guy. He likes small towns and had a great time poking around Rila.
He also loves taking photos. This series of beer photos was taken by him. He kept saying: the light, the light.
<a title="Me and beer by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/10042013504/"><img alt="Me and beer" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3707/10042013504_d983ef8ebb_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" /></a>
<a title="Charlotte and beer by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/10042017004/"><img alt="Charlotte and beer" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5330/10042017004_e0c605f891_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" /></a>
<a title="Enjoying beerIMG_2596 by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/10042074756/"><img alt="Enjoying beerIMG_2596" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2888/10042074756_14c10b9119_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" /></a>

After we went to Rila Monastery, we found the hotel/guest house, checked in and then went to explore. And by explore, I really mean we went for a beer and took plenty of photos. Then we went for another beer and some french fries with cheese and took some more photos.

<a title="The beers by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/10042085706/"><img alt="The beers" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5544/10042085706_bc2ff3a78b_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" /></a>
<a title="Charlotte enjoys a beer by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/10042024614/"><img alt="Charlotte enjoys a beer" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3812/10042024614_25a9be8c1f_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" /></a>
We stayed in the town of Rila so that the next day we could go to the Rila Seven Lakes. Rila is <em>very</em> small. You could see the whole town from our hotel window but my dAd had a great time.

He loved the ramshackle feel of the town.
<a title="Roof tops of Rila by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/10042090696/"><img alt="Roof tops of Rila" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3754/10042090696_90c56286c7_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" /></a>
<a title="Roof tops of Rila by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/10042093716/"><img alt="Roof tops of Rila" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7454/10042093716_0f898a0c06_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" /></a>
<a title="Me and a horse by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/10042078786/"><img alt="Me and a horse" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2854/10042078786_be0e76105b_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" /></a>

After a couple of beers and some french fries, my dAd got himself into a little trouble. Don't worry. It was the good kind of trouble.

He stopped to buy some sheep bells.

<a title="dAd shopping for bells by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/10042036165/"><img class="alignnone" alt="dAd shopping for bells" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5445/10042036165_ab6f47f90a_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" /></a>
<a title="Bell shopping by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/10042132503/"><img class="alignnone" alt="Bell shopping" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7414/10042132503_0e99c1ee3d_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" /></a>
Oh and the men at this shop loved him. They rang the display of bells. My dAd rang it. Then my dAd <a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/2012/01/29/pernik-and-the-surva-festival/" target="_blank">ended up wearing a large bell around his neck kukeri style</a>. He was a really good sport and also danced for a minute wearing the bell. I captured it in a few quick photos.
<a title="dAd dances with bells by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/10041991544/"><img class="alignleft" alt="dAd dances with bells" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3690/10041991544_6fcaaac384_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" /></a><a title="dAd dances with bells by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/10042028865/"><img class="alignnone" alt="dAd dances with bells" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3667/10042028865_43a5748b42_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" /></a>
<a title="dAd wearing a bell by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/10042047086/"><img class="alignleft" alt="dAd wearing a bell" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2848/10042047086_25cf7e5e06_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" /></a>

<a style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;" title="dAd wearing a bell by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/10041993214/"><img class="alignleft" alt="dAd wearing a bell" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7399/10041993214_2ce8703ae5_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" /></a>
<a title="Shop dAd bought bells in by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/10042023305/"><img alt="Shop dAd bought bells in" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3722/10042023305_7b85f1b3a9_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" /></a>
My dAd was really interested in the shop. I guess you could say that it was a hardware store. It was small and crowded--right up my dAd's alley.  So we took some more photos and bought some bells.

The next day when we were leaving town, my dAd spotted his new friends. They waved at each other on the way out of town.
<a title="dAd buys bells by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/10042095866/"><img alt="dAd buys bells" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2824/10042095866_7cb7b8b213_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" /></a>
<a title="dAd buys bells by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/10041976364/"><img alt="dAd buys bells" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7445/10041976364_29e05b0a08_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" /></a>
So that was that. We drank beer, took photos, bought bells and enjoyed the day. It was great fun.