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Picture this - it's a hot June morning and you find yourself in a small, nearly abandoned Bulgarian village, full of lush greenery, in search of a trail towards an amazing view. You've seen the pictures and it's gorgeous.You found a trail description, and it sounds straightforward. But when you get there, the trail is nowhere to be found! You follow the instructions, only to end up on a hill with no path and knee high grass.After wandering around for a good half hour, you decide to walk back, defeated. On the way down from the hill you pass by one of the many abandoned houses.Only there is a lady outside this one. Luckily she strikes up a conversation with you. Even more luckily - she know where the trail starts and she walks you back up to show you the way. Eureka! We made the hike up. It was tough - steep and covered in grass and flowers, some with thorns on them, under the blistering mid-day heat, it proved to be quite the challenge. But as every hiker hopes, the reward was well worth it. After an hour of painful uphill climbing where all you look at is your feet, the trail suddenly becomes flat and you can finally look up. Before you is the most nirvana like view of rolling green hills and small mountains, all bursting with the colors of Spring, going into summer. We rested and took in the views for about an hour and headed down. Once we got back we approached the same house where we met our savior lady and, low and behold, she was in the garden again. - So, how was the view up there? - she shouted at as. - Amazing. Our legs are all scratched but it was so worth it! - I shouted back - Well, I told you not many people venture out this far. You must be very tired? - Yeah, the heat really got to us. - Come on then, come in. I'll fix you up some elder flower lemonade. I make the syrup myself. - said the lady, now close enough that neither of us needed to shout. Long story short, we accepted the invite and sat in her garden. Whilst she was preparing the lemonade her husband joined us at the table and we stroke a conversation. It turns out that they, now in their 60s, had quite the life. He was a mining engineer and so they lived all around the world but they spent the most time abroad in Mongolia - some 20 odd years. Our lady savior joined and they told us all about the life there, how they still go back to visit old friends and how happy they are that people still come in search for the trek up this beautiful view. The sun was going down and I realized it's time to go. We thanked them for everything and started getting up. Still she did not let us go without a farewell gift - a present brought all the way from Mongolia. It was a holly bell that people receive as a good luck charm from friends and family. Imagine that. A holy charm from the other side of the world, somehow ends up in your hands on a hot summer afternoon, when you almost didn't make it to one of the best views you have ever seen. Life is just beautiful like that. :)