Yesterday after we left the English camp we met up with two members of the team that live in Plovdiv, Gary and Tammy Elliot. We visited their flat, went to lunch, then toured Plovdiv. It was absolutely gorgeous! We saw the new and old city from ground level to the top of buildings and hills. We saw a BUNCH of ancient ruins from roman times including the an old hippodrome, colosseum, and an ancient theater. There was also a ton of places where you can see there have been ancient ruins under the city that were covered up during communist times. We also saw a square where 37 Christians were killed back in 304 BC because they were Christian. The roads here are all cobblestone and hard to walk on. I included a pic of me in the ancient theater, one of me in the garb like they wore pre communism, and a pic of me with a guy that supposedly gives you good luck when you rub his nose lol there are also lots of cats in Plovdiv. They call them "Plovdiv cats". I saw a few of the kittens sleeping in the shade of the hot day. I also took a picture of signs showing how far away we are from different countries. I found out we were 8600 km from America.
The rest of the pictures are pics of the city from different areas and heights and also pics of ancient buildings that are being restored, or have already been restored. The way they do things here, is in order to preserve the ancient ruins, they build and restore around the ancient stone. It's really neat! Plus we got to see more orthodox churches. Very beautiful but you couldn't take pictures inside.
One church I got to see the inside of though is Gary's evangelical church that they attend. They also have what's called Sunshine House. That's a children's kindergarten that they started here at the church. It's currently full with a waiting list, which is fantastic! There are a few pics of that as well.
