By R.J (10th Grade)

During the summer of 2023, my family and our friends’ families all left the Bulgarian capital of Sofia and drove to the north-east of the country. There we stopped in a small town called Cherven, where we vacationed for a few days. All of us stayed in a house that we rented there and spent the days playing games and swimming in the pool. One the second or third morning there, most of my family and some of the others got up a bit early and walked up the road to get to the top of the nearby cliffs. On the way up we were either followed or led (depending on who you ask) by a small dog, which we quickly named Bufford. At the very top were the extensive ruins of a medieval Bulgarian fortress that went from the very edge of the cliff to quite some ways back. In its heyday, it had apparently been very important for the 2nd Bulgarian Empire, but now it was completely abandoned. In the ruins were multiple old churches, as well as a few graves that would have likely preferred us not trampling all around them. After we had realized that we had seen all there was to see, we quickly headed down the road, accompanied by Bufford, in order to get back to our idle lollygagging.