A home is not a mere transient shelter: its essence lies in its permanence, in its capacity for accretion and solidification, in its quality of representing, in all its details, the personalities of the people who live in it.

And paradise it is, for those who enjoy the adventures of early morning trips to buy bread, or lugging bottles of water down from the better equipped house up the hill. This small piece of utopia is not only the home of this adventurous Bulgarian, all of his relations and nine cats ­ it's also a nature. It's called Iankowo and is frequented by passing hikers en route to Varna.

For many who live in colder or more crowded climes, the idea of owning property in Bulgariagetaway might exist only as a dream, with the concept of making such property a personal residence completely unfathomable.