“The village of Alekovo is located in Central North Bulgaria, seven kilometers away from the International road I3 and about 30 kilometers from Svishtov and the Danube River. Quiet and peaceful, with population of under 1,000 people, it spreads between the folds of the Danube Plain. The soil is extremely generous which is why most of the local people work in the agriculture and the views are simply glorious – green, rolling fields all around. The village’s old name was “Arkchar” which translated from Turkish means “white soil”. After Bulgaria’s liberation from the Ottomans the village was named after one of the greatest Bulgarian writers, Aleko Konstantinov. Alekovo has an ancient history and evidence of a Roman settlement there was found in the late XIXth century. There is also evidence of an old Thracian village”. That is what the Estate Agent blurb told us about our prospective new location.
We bought the core property in 2010 – on the internet – unseen – and didn’t get to Alekovo ourselves until July 2012, when we were able to see and appreciate the beauty of the country, the kindness of the people (especially in our village) and the wonderful location in which we had bought our house.
Despite the many challenges ahead, our visit in July 2012 confirmed for us that this place (Alekovo) is where we are meant to eventually be, and that our decision to move there was a good one. Through our blog posts we really hope to be able to share many aspects of our “Great Bulgarian Adventure”, in particular:
- Renovation of the property, not so much from the technical point of view (neither of us are very techie in that area)
- Preparation of the land and (hopefully) so we can use it effectively using organic methods and preferably permaculture design – and it ain’t gonna happen over night!
- The animals (and their byproducts and offspring and traumas and challenges)
- As well as (hopefully) lots of “ordinary” things that go on in Alekovo; not just to show others about living in BG, but to celebrate the life and people of our village.
Random pictures from the village
Alekovo - Алеково 