This week on BEEN THERE, 14-year-old Zoey from California tells us about life in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria is a great place. It has a beautiful sea, wonderful mountains, tiny villages, big cities and a lot of places to go.

The mountains of Bulgaria are wonderful!! I love to go hiking in them. The tallest one is right next to the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia. It is called Chernee Vruh (which means Black Mountain) and at the top there are HUGE rocks. I climbed the biggest one and it reminded me of climbing a cliff! At the top there is also a restaurant. It's about 5 miles up the mountain and 5 miles down. Also, there are a lot of restaurants in the middle of the mountain. I visit my grandfather in the mountains.

He lives in a small village called Krustavich (It was named for a Bulgarian hero or something.) It is an old village with no school and very few shops but most people just grow their own food. Almost everyone has a horse or a donkey to ride when they go to get water from the waterfall. A lot of people have chickens and roosters for eggs. And some people have cows or goats for milk. Others buy milk from the market. It is very different from the big cities.

Bulgaria is a very interesting place. I hope you visit it someday.

– Zoey, 14, CA (aka Zoey_B_Girl)