Farewell to Moristotle & Co.

By Valeria Idakieva

When I was talking to Geoffrey Dean about my experience on the European route El Camino and he said “Why don’t you write something about it for my father’s blog? It doesn’t have to be something long and complicated and if you don’t want to do that, we can make it as an interview, you would only answer some questions,” I didn’t know “Adventures from Bulgaria” would become part of the great adventure called Moristotle & Co. But now that I know, I also know I will miss it. I will miss every bit of it – sharing the experience which made me live it once again, the encouraging words from other members, their colorful stories, the considerate, never tired, and always understanding Moristotle who not only looked through my eyes to make my texts sound better, but supported and encouraged me as an editor and a dear friend. I will be forever thankful for everything, Morris. You made my life more meaningful.

Copyright © 2023 by Valeria Idakieva

Adventures from Bulgaria: The Most Unanswered Question

A Requiem 

for My Nephew

By Valeria Idakieva

A month after my 33-old nephew took his own life, when the rivers of grief and tears that had flooded us shrank a bit, I decided to take my mother out, change the view from four white walls, and breathe some fresh air.

Adventures from Bulgaria: Gifts of Spring

By Valeria Idakieva

At the height of Summer, as the heat waves were roasting most of the greenery around us, I was reminiscing about the exquisite flowers, tender colours, and superb views that Spring was gifting us with in the higher mountains, where the heralds of Spring were following on the heels of the withdrawing snow and frost,

Highways and Byways: When It All Came Falling Down

By Maik Strosahl

I am no philosopher, but I do enjoy a good think.
    I recently enjoyed a post by Valeria Idakieva where she shared her distain for winter along with her autumn photos and a quote from the philosopher Albert Camus: “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.” I too, as I have mentioned before, resist winter.
    The quote led me to chase after information on Albert Camus, who was associated with the philosophy of Absurdism. He believed that life does not have any meaning, or if it does, mankind is incapable of understanding what it is. Yet, in spite of having no meaning, he could not justify suicide as a solution, rather he felt it was our responsibility to rebel against whatever oppressed the human condition, and in this attempt to resist, we must strike a balance between the evil of the world and the evil that many revolts also devolve into, so as not to contribute to any additional suffering on the part of those around us.
    In my own rebellion, my creative endeavors keep me moving forward, even when it all comes falling down. In this piece, I also found a place to use a phrase I mentioned to Moristotle a couple of months ago, one that I think would be a good title for a future chapbook of poetry: “Hobnobbing with the Philosophers.” We shall see how the future unfolds.

In the midst of Winter, I found there was,
within me, an invincible summer.             —Albert Camus

Fiction: Excerpts from Nate’s New Age

By Michael Hanson

Nate is a 28-year-old skydiving instructor at Psycho Sky Sports. Having recently quit a bartending job in an effort to rein in his own drug/alcohol dependency, he decides to travel to Europe for a solo hiking adventure.
    These excerpts were selected from that particular story line of the many that make up Nate’s tale.

For over a thousand years people have made the journey across Spain’s northernmost margin, on El Camino de Santiago. Though started by Christians (who made the march to the burial place of St. James in Santiago de Compostela as a kind of penance for their sins), the hike has become a popular pilgrimage for people from all walks of life, making the trek for their own personal reasons.

Adventures from Bulgaria: Autumn Memories

By Valeria Idakieva

A lot of people had been waiting for the winter, not only to go skiing, but also to enjoy the mountains covered in snow – white, clean, serene…. Undoubtedly they are beautiful, especially when the sun rays make the snow sparkle and the blue sky seems bluer than ever.

Adventures from Bulgaria: The Peony Mountain

By Valeria Idakieva

As time goes by, and the mind and the body, driven by curiosity, have wandered off to faraway places, the mind starts longing for familiar sights and feelings from the past, and the body has no other choice but to follow it. As years passed by, memories from my childhood started popping up more and more often and my mind started longing for the scents, colors, and sights of the mountain near which I was born. And I couldn’t help following my mind to the fragrant meadows of my childhood.

Adventures from Bulgaria: Belasitsa and the 3 Dogs

Detail from 12th photo

By Valeria Idakieva

Stuck at home in the middle of coronavirus lockdown, I am following the current social debate about going out of your home. While reading comments like “So, you can take your dog for a walk, but you can’t take your child for a walk!,” a memory of three dogs that followed me on one of my hiking adventures occupied my mind and made me go back two years and look through the pictures I made during that adventure. I am not going to take a side in the debate whether it is right to take your dog but not your child out; I think there should be a way to take both of them for a walk, even in quarantine time.

Adventures from Bulgaria: Summer in the Mountains – Days 14 - 16

Detail from 18th photo

Destiny’s lessons in disguise

By Valeria Idakieva

[Sequel to “Days 12 & 13,” published on December 24, 2018.]

When I woke up on the morning of the 14th day of my trek along the E8 European long-distance path, I felt happy because I remembered going to bed the day before and praying to the God of the E8 path to remove the pain in my kidneys and let me complete the trek, and now I felt only a slight pain.

Adventures from Bulgaria: Summer in the Mountains – Days 12 & 13

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On under clear, blue skies

By Valeria Idakieva

[Sequel to “Days 10 & 11,” published on July 30.]



The morning after another wonderful day in the Rhodope Mountains woke me up with a clear, blue sky and gentle, soft sunshine streaming through the window. I had the usual morning cup of coffee and hit the road, filling my head with pleasant memories and my lungs with fresh air. The mountain was revealing a softer beauty now – some houses of a nearby village perching on a hill, stacks of hay, rounded slopes, trees.

Adventures from Bulgaria: Summer in the Mountains – Days 10 & 11

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Imagination and reality

By Valeria Idakieva

[Sequel to “Days 8 & 9,” published on July 3.]

After the lazy day I had spent in Pamporovo, the clear blue sky and the fresh air the next morning urged me to continue at full speed. The grass was glistening with the morning dew, the forest was awakening with the vibrant song of myriads of bugs and birds. Every single creature was worshiping life and giving its share to the harmony that reigned over the forest.

Adventures from Bulgaria: Summer in the Mountains – Days 8 & 9

[Click to enlarge]

Backwards to Pamporovo

By Valeria Idakieva

[Sequel to “Days 6 & 7,” published on April 7.]

I woke up early in the morning on the back seat of the jeep where I had spent the night and started getting ready quietly so as not to wake up the kind people who shared their food, good spirits, and time with me. Later, when they did wake up, we had some coffee and then it was time for me to continue through lush meadows and pine forests.

Adventures from Bulgaria: Summer in the Mountains – Days 6 & 7

Under the scorching sun

By Valeria Idakieva

[Sequel to “Days 4 & 5,” published on March 2.]

When I got up early in the morning and started walking, the sun was still hiding behind the grand ridges surrounding the gorge of the river I was following, and the fresh, cool air was sharpening my senses.

Adventures from Bulgaria: Summer in the Mountains – Days 4 & 5

Forest and Water

By Valeria Idakieva

[Sequel to “Days 2 & 3,” published on February 12.]

I woke up early in the morning to find out that the village was wrapped in thick, white fog, but I knew that when I went higher it would vanish. Climbing up the steep forest hill early in the morning was not to my liking, but I quickly reached the neighborhood where I had entered the village the previous day.

Adventures from Bulgaria: Summer in the Mountains – Days 2 & 3

Leaving Rila

By Valeria Idakieva

[Sequel to “Day 1,” published on January 24.]

After a cup of coffee, I left the lodge in the morning and met the first strangers for the day.

Adventures from Bulgaria: Summer in the Mountains – Day 1

Eastward  from Borovets

By Valeria Idakieva

At the beginning of January 2017, I started thinking about doing the Bulgarian part of the European long distance path called E8^*. In Bulgaria the route starts in the Rila Mountains and crosses the Rhodope Mountains, reaching the Turkish border. As usual, my preparation consisted of obtaining information and waiting for August when I could run away to the mountains. Finally August came and I was soon getting my backpack ready for the summer adventure. I could not make it light enough, but it was not the first time I’ve had this problem, and I knew I was going to get used to its weight anyway. I got on the bus and headed for Borovets – a ski resort in the Rila Mountains where my route started. The next day rose a bright blue morning with fresh, cool air, and I eagerly followed the path, which weaves along a beautiful river.

Adventures from Bulgaria: Questions without answers

Adventures from Bulgaria: Questions without answers

By Valeria Idakieva

In the beginning of April, after I had lost a friend in February, and my friend Dimitrinka, who had joined my adventures in the Rila Mountain (“In the Rila Mountains with a 70+”), suffered a stroke in March and was struggling for her life in hospital, I felt I was stifling in the city.

Приключения от България: в Рила планина с 70+

Чрез Валерия Идакиева

Винаги съм мислил за планините като мястото, където се чувствам свободен от всички притеснения на всекидневния живот. Сърцето ми скача от радост в цялата красота и спокойствие, което изпълва душата ми. Ето защо аз обикновено прекарват малкото свободно време, имам в планините.
    Аз също имам голямо уважение към хората, които са били в планината много. Такъв е моят приятел Димитринка който е опасана българските планини за повече от 30 години. Преди започване на дълги разстояния пътека, аз обикновено посещават й да говори за това и тежи раницата. При един случай, когато щях да ходя на екскурзия по протежение на дългата писта в българските планини - около 720 км - тя ме посъветва да вземе малка бутилка ром, защото е добре да има някакъв алкохол в планините.

Adventures from Bulgaria: In the Rila Mountains with a 70+

By Valeria Idakieva

I have always thought of the mountains as the place where I feel free of all the worries of everyday life. My heart leaps with joy at all the beauty and serenity that fills my soul. That is why I usually spend the little free time I have in the mountains.
    I also have great respect for people who have been in the mountains a lot. Such is my friend Dimitrinka who has crisscrossed Bulgarian mountains for more than 30 years. Before starting a long-distance trail, I usually visit her to talk about it and weigh my backpack. On one occasion when I was going to hike along the longest trail in the Bulgarian mountains – about 720 km – she advised me to take a small bottle of rum because it was good to have some alcohol in the mountains.

Adventures from Bulgaria: El Camino de Santiago, Part VII (final)

Still further!

By Valeria Idakieva

[Part VI, “Santiago on the horizon,” was published on July 27.]

Santiago de Compostela is a grand city. Last night I had time only to have a shower and dinner, but now it was time to see some of the city’s splendor. The pilgrims’ mass would be at noon, as it was every day in the Cathedral of Santiago, so I had the whole morning to wander through streets that manifested the strength and beauty of more than a thousand years of history. Only a few minor tasks awaited my attention, such as buying a train ticket to Madrid and printing out a confirmation letter from a hostel in Madrid where I had booked a bed, but these were not going to spoil my walk of pleasure.