I look up and I see the mountains. Fog dances in the valley as a shepherd takes his flock of sheep out to pasture. A cow bell can be heard as the morning mist lifts. I see the red-tiled roofs of houses and barns; some of them seem about to collapse. This is Gela, a village in the Rhodope Mountains of southern Bulgaria. And I view it in an enlarged photograph that hangs on the wall above my desk as I write.
The scenic view of Gela was captured by Maya Karkalicheva, a Bulgarian mountain photographer. Her photos have frequently brought back memories of my visit to Gela in 2015.
Following my return from a two-year stay in Bulgaria in 2011, I wrote almost exclusively about the country. My Bulgarian adventures led to the publication of my two novels and a collection of short stories that will one day soon, I hope, be published.
Although my fiction is no longer set in Bulgaria, I still take pleasure in looking up and seeing the green mountainsides of the Rhodopes. Gela village, the warm hospitality of its residents, the tasty local cuisine, and the crisp morning air - all of these continue to inspire me as I write.
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