And we started early Sunday morning, at 3 AM. Me, Mü and Dido. Three friends and one car. 5 something hours later we were at Borovets. Fog, drizzling, nasty weather. Considering rain has been with us for all our trip until now… we started thinking: Do we really want to go in the mud of the Musala pathway. I got the idea of asking the lift people how the weather was ‘up there’. They told that it’s cold, but it’s clear, however very unstable. So…. why not – pay 10 leva each for a ski-lift ticket and be driven quickly up. This saved us 3 hours of muddy uphill. When we dropped and Yastrebets (2369 m), the weather was like that:

The first 30-40 minutes until Musala hut were great – no rain, almost no wind. Just before the hut it started raining very little. We stopped for some rest, some warm soup. And decided to continue, even though the rain continued. Rain, fog, wind, for the next 1 1/2 hours. Just before we got to the “Ledeno ezero” shelter (or hut now) it stopped raining and the weather cleared a little bit.

The hut was completely empty, excluding the host and the woman that helps her. The many tourists and groups we met already were somewhere down the mountain. Understandable – after all the ski-lift doesn’t work on Monday and Tuesday, and they didn’t want to go all the way down Musala pathway (steep downhill). It was very cold, even for Musala, even for beginning of July. This year the “summer” up there is coming a little bit late. So we got a very small room (usually used for special guests only ) with a heater. The bad news is that it’s with two beds only, but we’ll make it somehow. The rest of the day was pretty much eat, sleep a bit, eat some more, sleep some more. And this until 6 AM the other day. Oh, great sun, sneaking from the small window of our room.

I had to jump and try to wake the others – of course, we have so many things ahead of us for the day. But our joy didn’t go for longer – clouds, fog, chill wind again got around the high mountain.

Still, it was doable. And we started up. Just to make it 5 minutes before Musala peak. A steep, frozen uphill with a lot of snow still remaining. This is where me and Mü headed down and Dido stormed up the summit. When we got down I called him – he made it safe, took a pic and is heading down now.

Some rest, packing quickly and we had to head down to Borovets. Our car was waiting there for us.

But not before one last picture with the shelter as background:

And we got to the resort just in time for a perfect weather down the mountain – no fog, no rain, just great. Unfortunately our muscles were already sore, so…. enough mountain trip, instead we’ll transfer that to our ‘auto-tourism’, in which we are already so good…. but for this – later.

And of course a link to the small Google Picasa album (click on the photo below:

Sozopol (Созопол) which lies about 20-30 km south of Burgas is a nice city, situated on a peninsula just where Strandzha mountain starts. The ancient name of Sozopol was Apolonia Pontika. It’s the oldest city on the Bulgarian seaside – about 3-4 millennium B.C. The old city of Sozopol has many houses from 18-19th century saved, making it a beautiful sight, combined with seaside.

After Sozopol, it was time to visit its seaside rival – Nesebar (Несебър) or Mesembria, as it was known in the ancient times. Nesebar is one of the Bulgarian UNESCO objects – the whole old city is under the ‘World Heritage’ protection. There are many churches from 5-6 Century on, that are greatly preserved, and of course – a lot of houses from 18-19th century. The city walls are partially preserved too – with all their fortifications and towers… I think this might be the thing, why Nesebar is called “Dubrovnik of Bulgaria”.

After that it was time for what we couldn’t visit the day before – the Devil’s throat cave. Legends say that here Orpheus dropped to the kingdom of the death to save his beloved Eurydice. Outside it looks like nothing special, until you go in – there are I think about 15 waterfalls, the biggest of which is 42 meters. The roar of them is scary. You have to climb to get out of the cave, to the natural entrance of it, where the water goes inside. Many people have been trying to throw objects in it, even live animals in ancient times – none of which have been found. Near the entrance there’s a memorial plate to the two divers, which entered the cave to search for its exit in the 70s – again, they did not exit.

The village we visited a month ago with Andre and Clara – Shiroka lyka (Широка лъка) was a must this time too. A small old village, one of the centers of bagpipe music in Bulgaria. There we even saw a bus of students from Ruse on a 5 day trip around Bulgaria. Such tourism is important for young people, I think – they need to know their country at least.

Something we missed the last time was the natural phenomena Wonder bridges (Chudnite mostove, Чудните мостове). A great place, high in the Rodopi mountains, huge piece of art by nature. These are the leftovers of a big ancient cave, in which there has been a river flowing. With time parts of the cave walls thinned and broke, and this formed the Wonder bridges that we know nowadays.

In the afternoon another stop of our trip around Bulgaria was Bachkovo monastery (Бачковски манастир). It was founded in 11th century by two Georgian brothers. During the years it has been robbed and ruined many times by the Osman armies. In present it’s the second biggest monastery complex in Bulgaria, after the Rila monastery.

Last stop in this long day was Asenova fortress (Asenova krepost, Асенова крепост). It has been a fortress even in Thracian times, then it has been used by Byzantines, for security in the Aegean region. It has been even conquered by the crusaders of the 4th Crusade. It has been called after the Bulgarian king Ivan Asen II, who does a lot of repairs and fortifications of it. Ruined and conquered by the Osman armies in 1410.

After the long day we had, we found a beautiful hotel in the center of Nova Zagora city.

After a nice breakfast we were ready to go to the Rojen monastery. Once again. A great place. This one is much better than the Rilski monastery to go to. If you are not a regular tourist and need something a little bit different for your trip – go there. The views to the mountains are stunning

The next goal for Monday was Kovachevica. But before that we have to cross a mountain pass. Winding roads, sometimes you think that nothing is protecting you from the abyss, that starts just where the asphalt ends. Here and there you can see workers on the road – at least this is a good sign. And one and a half hours later we are in Kovachevica (Ковачевица). It’s one of the most beautiful Bulgarian villages with houses from 18-19 century, exclusively made out of stone – even the roofs. Small cobbled streets can be seen all around the village – most of them I think are not even accessible with a normal car. We even took a small hike to the end of the village. Then a good lunch there – the best fried potatoes we had on our trip.

The day was already going to its end, so we had to find a place to sleep. Since the cave Dyavolsko gyrlo (Дяволско гърло, Devil’s throat) was our next goes – why not sleep in Trigrad. One of the legends says the name of the village comes from the Thracian “Tri ibrie” (Three cities, Три града). It’s famous for the cave, I mentioned above, the Yagodinska cave, the Trigrad gorge (second longest in Bulgaria – 3 km) and the Buinovo gorge (the longest in Bulgaria – 6 km I think). It’s a bit scary the first time you go there – Extremely narrow road…. and then you see a sign “One lane road with opposite direction traffic”. Well, this makes you think and drive as slow as possible.

Anyways, to Trigrad – we found a nice family hotel, called “Triibria” (by the name of the city in Thracian). Very polite owner, nice rooms – what more do you need to have a good rest. In the morning we understood that they had a good cook too – we ordered some breakfast, which was delicious. This made us a bit sorry we didn’t stay for dinner there. Well…. next time.

So, this must be it. The third day already of our trip. I’ll continue with the next day soon.

Sunday, early morning in Dragalevtsi, Sofia. Only one crazy person is walking around, looking at the houses, going to a 24/7 store to buy a newspaper and Pepsi. Yeah, that’s me – I like to wake up in the mornings

A little bit after that the group is ready and we all go to Boyana church (Боянска църква) – one of the Bulgarian UNESCO World Heritage objects. The orthodox church is famous for the paintings (frescos or whatever they are called) from 13th century – absolutely preserved. A bad fact is that you can only enter for 10 minutes and no more than 8 people at a time – after all it’s relatively small church. The park around the church, however is absolutely great. Many trees, paths, some preserved gravestones. Next to the church is the grave of Queen Eleonora – the wife of the Bulgarian king Ferdinand I.

Around 10AM we are already on the road E79 south of Sofia. Our direction – Rilski monastery. Well, not exactly. First we had to attack the first gas station that had something like a bakery

Rilski monastery welcomes us with a crowd….literally. Hundreds of people have decided to use this beautiful day for going to the Biggest Bulgarian monastery – built in the 10th century, another UNESCO World Heritage object. The interesting facts – from the original monastery only the defending tower has been preserved (just behind the dome of the main church on the picture below). The monastery itself has been burned many times – the last one in 1833.

Somewhere in the afternoon already we continue to Melnik. We are not in a hurry like last time – we have reservation in Melnik, we can take our time. So we decide why not go to Rupite, in Petrich, again. It’s a special, lovely place for me – kind of recharges me. Both the nature there, the views, everything makes you just better. The place is famous for the Bulgarian foreseer Vanga (Баба Ванга) who lived there all her life – in a small house, helping people with her visions. The phenomena Vanga, by the way, is specifically admired in Russia. Many books have been published about her there. Next to the house there’s a thermal spring, nearby you can see the hill of an ex-volcano – Kozhuh planina (Kozhuh mountain).

As we arrived in Melnik and registered in the hotel, we had some more time. So a walk around this cute small town will be a great thing before dinner. Melnik is the smallest Bulgarian town with just 208 registered settlers. Known for the great wine, the sand pyramids there, the warm weather Melnik has been a favorite of mine for a while.

Hmmm…. I think this pretty much sums all for the second day. Or general overall description I am not that good at it. But I’ll try to continue with the third day tomorrow.

Well, let’s see – 6 day autotrip with about 2000 km. around Bulgaria

The route was something like that

1. Day 1 – Ruse, Sofia, Rila monastery, Sandanski (where we slept because Melnik was fully reserved for the night)
2. Day 2 – Sandanski, Petrich (Rupite), Samuilova fortress, Melnik, Rozhen monastery, Pazardzhik (where we slept in an awful hotel, named with the great name Elbrus)
3. Day 3 – Pazardzhik, via a small curvy road with some dams, Trigrad gorge and the two caves nearby (Yagodinska cave, Dyavolsko gyrlo cave), Shiroka lyka (where we almost got to see the  traditional Bulgarian kukeri festival – something like westerners Helloween ), Bachkovo monastery
4. Day 4 – Bachkovo monastery, Asenova fortress (which was closed due to the snowstorm that started previous night), Plovdiv (the old city and the Amphitheater), Panagyurishte (where we initially intended to sleep, but didn’t find appealing), Strelcha (where we stumbled on a Thracian tomb and took a look at), Koprivshtitsa
5. Day 5 – Koprivshtitsa, Klisura, Sopot, Karlovo, Kalofer, Koprivshtitsa – all revival Bulgarian cities. And we decided to stay in Koprivshtitsa because the hotel we were staying was so great, and the city itself is lovely.
6. Day 6 (Final) – Koprivshtitsa, Kazanlyk (where we saw the Unesco thracian tomb), The ‘Hainboaz’ mountain pass (due to Shipka pass being closed from sliding trucks and snow), Veliko Tyrnovo, Ruse

In other words – 6 great days with all kinds of weather, but mostly funny. I’ll allow myself to post a link to the Picasa Web Galleries again…. ~HERE~

Edit: I’m uploading a map of the trip:

Basically we will repeat the 2009 Rodopi trip and 2009 again South Bulgaria-Greece trip partly – visiting Rila monastery, Melnik pyramids, Rozhen monastery, Plovdiv the old city, Asenova fortress, Bachkovo monastery, Trigrad gorge, Dyavolsko gyrlo cave, Yagodinska cave.

Of course with some slight addition – after all the will be a whole six day trip around Bulgaria – not 3 or 4 day as before. We are planning to see Koprivshtitza, Tyrnovo, Shipka, Gabrovo, Tryavna again.

I just hope the weather will be OK – the spring is not exactly visible in this part of the world It’s still minus something, extremely cold, and some great north wind is expected, according to the forecast

Well – whatever it is…. I’m sure we’ll have fun. The old Audi is ready, my fellow travelers are ready, the map is drawn, the trip outlines are put. What’s left – well, a couple hours more.

Приятен път (or Nice travel) to wish it in Bulgarian

Friends – please use the contact page. Write your questions, I’d try to help everyone. So far I’ve helped tourists from Belgium, USA, Romania, Ukraine, Turkey with ideas, contacts, etc.  I know that information in English or any other language except Bulgarian  is a bit hard to find sometimes. And I’ll do whatever I can to make your vacation, travel, hike around Bulgaria better settled.

So – if you need information on Bulgaria, Bulgarian mountains, travelling in Bulgaria, hiking around, or just information on the country itself: feel free to use the Contact page, or drop me a few lines at alex (_AT_) technobeast.net (the spaces, underscores, AT and brackets should be substituted with the @ sign, I hope you know that)

Good luck

Alex

~HERE~