A trip into the Rhodope mountain region

We left Kazanlŭk at about ten o’clock the next morning and began our journey to Glavatartsi. The trip was short and we arrived there in time for lunch. Upon arriving in Glavatartsi, I was astounded by the beauty of this small town located along this massive dam. We made our way to the Trifon Zarezan Family Hotel, where we would be spending two nights. It may sound cheesy to describe a view as “picturesque”, but, the view from the hotel was just that. The balcony of the hotel overlooked this large expanse of water, with mountains all around it. It felt like a photo you would see on a postcard or as a desktop screensaver.

Once we had unpacked the car, we walked through the town in search of a restaurant to go and get lunch. It was a beautiful, hot summers’ day. The sky was a light, crystal blue. As we walked, I noticed how quiet the town was. It felt like we were the only ones there as we made our way down this steep hill. I noticed many small houses along the road, but they all seemed empty or just very quiet. There was hardly any human sounds to be heard around, just the noise of our shoes crunching on the loose stones along the road and the sound of the birds chirping. Once we found a restaurant, I realised were all the people were. It seemed as if the whole town was there, it was so packed. We eventually got a table outside on the deck. We had a magnificent view of the dam with the forest-covered mountains framing it while we indulged in some delicious food. The rest of the day we spent relaxing by the pool, it was just too hot to do anything else.  I still had not become accustomed to the heat and humidity in Bulgaria.

The following day there was cloud cover, which was a relief because my body finally felt as though it wasn’t about to spontaneously combust from overheating. After a lovely breakfast, we made our way into the Rhodope mountain region, to Perperikon. The Rhodope mountain region has been inhabited by a variety of different cultures and civilizations, ranging from the Thracians, Greeks, and Romans to the Ottoman Turks. Perperikon is the ruins of an ancient sacred Thracian sanctuary. It was believed to have been inhabited since 5000 BC. The ruins are sometimes also referred to as the Machu Picchu of Bulgaria. We hiked up this long, paved pathway leading up to a set cracked and worn stone stairs. Once we reached the top of these stairs, we found ourselves in and amongst these massive rock structures, which we assumed used to be part of the palace. Some of the structural elements of the sanctuary were still in one piece. We maneuvered our way through the large rock structures and we found ourselves in this one specific area which would have been a throne room of sorts. There was a carved-out throne within this enormous rock structure which had a stunning view of the mountains below. It felt as though we were on top of the world, with no sign of any other human civilisations around, just completely surrounded by mountains with forest stretching out below us. We made our way to this massive stone fortress, that was half dilapidated and being held up by other wooden structures.

I was thankful for the cloud cover that day, making the hike a little bit less taxing. We sat for quite a while, in awe of the mountains and forest that stretched out for kilometers before us. Seeing the ruins and wandering through them makes you curious about what it would have looked like when people inhabited it.

After our exploration amongst the ruins, we were on our way to find some lunch.  The place we went to for lunch was a boat that had been turned into a restaurant. We sat out on the deck at the bottom of the boat, where we could see the fish right next to us in these where we indulged in some delightful food. I had chicken breast on top of pineapple slices, with melted cheese on top and I can honestly say that it tasted like pizza. To this day, that is one of my favourite dishes that I had in Bulgaria.

Once we were back at the hotel, approaching dusk there was a massive storm. The rain came down violently. But once it cleared we saw the most breath-taking sunset I have ever seen. The clouds had just begun to clear from the storm and the sky was a deep purple and blue. It is moments like that where you just end up falling in love with nature.

Our next destination… Plovdiv!