New entry and it's again about mountains... but not only about mountains. There will be more this time.
We decided with some friends of mine to do a remake of last year's trip at the same time of the year (the beginning of May is good because there are two national holidays + a weekend + the "bridge" days in between = 6 days off). We headed once again to the Eastern Rhodopes with the hope of finding spring there. I dare to say we were lucky enough and had very nice weather! You gotta be positive and shit will happen as you wish...
The first day we left Sofia very early and headed to Bezvodno, a very small village in the middle of nowhere. The plan was to get there and climb the highest peak of the Eastern Rhodopes - Chilyaka. Mission accomplished!
After Bezvodno we headed to the Kardzhali dam and the hut Borovitsa. The "keeper of the hut" wasn't very polite and we decided to sleep nearby. We had dinner near a nice Turkish fountain on the road with a perfect view of the dam. Since it was too early and it had stopped raining we went for a walk...
Day 2: we went to Monyak near Kardzhali and had a long walk nearby. No pics of the fortress as we forgot the camera in the car. Go and check it out for yourself, it's worth it!
We went to Ardino in the afternoon and went for a cake since it was raining. Lucky as we were, it stopped raining when we finished our cakes and we headed for the Devil's bridge. We opted to leave the car in the beginning of the new road and walked more than 5 kms till we reached the bridge.
Day 3 started with a 1h30 run early in the morning. Just because we can do it! We then went to Tatul, tried to find a "stone forest" without success and then visited Harman Kaya. We slept once again near a fountain on the road between Krumovgrad and Ivaylovgrad.
On day 4 we had lots of planned activities. First we went to the village of Gugutka and visited the nearby fortress. It was a nice walk...
We then headed to Ivaylovgrad and visited villa Armira as well as a Roman/Medieval bridge and Lyutitsa fortress. Good weather, nice company and it was time for dinner! I'm posting just a few pics because of privacy reasons (too many faces in the other ones).
To avoid the traffic jams that you can usually get stuck in after everybody is going back to Sofia after a long weekend, we decided to head back to the capital in the evening of day 5. We just took it easy and went to the village of Studen Kladenets. We easily spent almost two hours walking around the azbest wells. Later we went to the few houses that are forming Boynik. That was a great finish of the trip. Next time we are going back to the Eastern Rhodopes with our bikes!
Hopefully when I get richer I'll travel more abroad and will post pics of other beautiful countries. For now I managed to survive with a total of 40 euros for this trip... Take it easy and come visit me/Bulgaria :)
We decided with some friends of mine to do a remake of last year's trip at the same time of the year (the beginning of May is good because there are two national holidays + a weekend + the "bridge" days in between = 6 days off). We headed once again to the Eastern Rhodopes with the hope of finding spring there. I dare to say we were lucky enough and had very nice weather! You gotta be positive and shit will happen as you wish...
The first day we left Sofia very early and headed to Bezvodno, a very small village in the middle of nowhere. The plan was to get there and climb the highest peak of the Eastern Rhodopes - Chilyaka. Mission accomplished!
After Bezvodno we headed to the Kardzhali dam and the hut Borovitsa. The "keeper of the hut" wasn't very polite and we decided to sleep nearby. We had dinner near a nice Turkish fountain on the road with a perfect view of the dam. Since it was too early and it had stopped raining we went for a walk...
Day 2: we went to Monyak near Kardzhali and had a long walk nearby. No pics of the fortress as we forgot the camera in the car. Go and check it out for yourself, it's worth it!
We went to Ardino in the afternoon and went for a cake since it was raining. Lucky as we were, it stopped raining when we finished our cakes and we headed for the Devil's bridge. We opted to leave the car in the beginning of the new road and walked more than 5 kms till we reached the bridge.
Day 3 started with a 1h30 run early in the morning. Just because we can do it! We then went to Tatul, tried to find a "stone forest" without success and then visited Harman Kaya. We slept once again near a fountain on the road between Krumovgrad and Ivaylovgrad.
On day 4 we had lots of planned activities. First we went to the village of Gugutka and visited the nearby fortress. It was a nice walk...
We then headed to Ivaylovgrad and visited villa Armira as well as a Roman/Medieval bridge and Lyutitsa fortress. Good weather, nice company and it was time for dinner! I'm posting just a few pics because of privacy reasons (too many faces in the other ones).
To avoid the traffic jams that you can usually get stuck in after everybody is going back to Sofia after a long weekend, we decided to head back to the capital in the evening of day 5. We just took it easy and went to the village of Studen Kladenets. We easily spent almost two hours walking around the azbest wells. Later we went to the few houses that are forming Boynik. That was a great finish of the trip. Next time we are going back to the Eastern Rhodopes with our bikes!
Hopefully when I get richer I'll travel more abroad and will post pics of other beautiful countries. For now I managed to survive with a total of 40 euros for this trip... Take it easy and come visit me/Bulgaria :)
