[This post is part of a 10-day driving itinerary for Sofia, Melnik, Plovdiv, and Veliko Taranovo.] Days 1-3 | Sofia Days 4-5 | Melnik DAY 6 | THE NARROW GAUGE TRAIN TO PLOVDIV En route to Plovdiv, you’ll have the chance to see the beauty of the southwestern mountainous region of Bulgaria, traveling at first … Continue reading
[This post is part of a 10-day driving itinerary for Sofia, Melnik, Plovdiv, and Veliko Taranovo.] DAYS 1-3 | SOFIA DAY 4 | RILA MONASTERY TO MELNIK A must-see on the way to Melnik is the largest and most famous Eastern Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria, founded in the early 10th century, by St. Ivan. Rila … Continue reading
[This post is part one of a 10-day driving itinerary that includes Sofia, Melnik, Plovdiv, and Veliko Taranovo, which each have their own post.] I’d never visited Bulgaria, which is usually reason enough for me to go somewhere. Before meeting my Global Builders Team in Cluj, Romania in mid-April, I decided to give myself ten … Continue reading
For the second time, I lead a team to the fabulous city of Cluj, to partner with The Fuller Center Cluj to help build affordable housing the in bucolic Jucu-de-Sus. My first trip to Romania, and first build with the Fuller Center there, was in 2023. I loved it so much, I decided to return … Continue reading
continued from CROATIA | 4 Friends in Rovinj & Beyond DAY 10 | Škocjan Caves, Slovenia We left Rovinj, Croatia crossing the border to Slovenia to visit the otherworldly Škocjan Caves. Both Croatia and Slovenia are part of the Schengen Area making driving between them easy. Countries that make up the Schengen Area have officially … Continue reading
Croatia, inspired backdrop for the award-winning Game of Thrones series, much like the fantasy television drama, is (almost) too good to be true. Every vista, worthy of a photograph. Welcoming people, rich culture, and natural beauty abound. Add to that the ease with which visitors can move throughout the county and region, and you have … Continue reading
Once again, leading a Global Builders team with The Fuller Center for Housing, took me overseas, this time to Bolivia. I live near sea level, so landing straight away at an elevation over 13,000 feet at La Paz’s El Alto Airport was an adjustment to say the least. Bolivia is not an easy destination for … Continue reading
Hoping a flight from Amsterdam to Cluj-Napoca on LOT through Warsaw, I continued to make my way east, the furthest east I’d ever been on the European continent. I had no idea what to expect, only what I’d read and heard from others visiting Romania’s second largest city, the unofficial capital of the Dracula-famed Transylvania. … Continue reading
Taking advantage of a cheaper flight from the east coast of the USA to get me across the pond, I opted to spend two jampacked days in Amsterdam on my way to Cluj, Romania to meet my volunteer team to build houses with the Fuller Center Romania. Plus, it helped me begin to get over … Continue reading
After finishing another successful volunteer house build with The Fuller Center for Housing, I was fortunate to extend my stay in Peru. If you plan to visit Machu Picchu while in Peru, most likely your jumping off point will be one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the Western Hemisphere and the former capital … Continue reading
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