Bulgaria, Europe and Middle East, Trip Reviews

Southern Bulgaria. Beautiful and bargain friendly.

29/01/2014 by .
plovdiv house

There’s a lot of “awesome” about these days. Handbags, vegetable fritters, sneakers all seem to earn the label.  So  when Bulgaria recently served me two slices of genuine ‘awesome’, I  thought it was worth documenting.

I’ve come to the country’s Rhodope mountain region in southern Bulgaria.  The country’s Black Sea resorts are already known to many British travellers but these  wild mountain regions are rarely visited by non-Bulgarians.

On the first day we head for a bridge in the mountains 30 kilometres from the ski town of  Chepelare . The bridge is described in our tourist literature as “wonderful.” Valery, our Bulgarian guide,  isn’t happy with this title.  “No, no, not wonderful,” he frowns, searching for the word in his vast English vocabulary.   I was ready to be disgruntled. After the  bumpy ride on mountain roads and a subsequent clamber down a rocky, steep path of high steps, uneven flagstones and big potholes, this  bloomin’ bridge had better be wonderful. “Wonder!” declares Valery, suddenly inspired. “The translation is the ‘Wonder Bridge.’”wonder bridge

A few seconds later, we round a bend in the path and  well, there  it was: both wonderful and a wonder. This immense natural stone bridge, formed from marble caves which at one point collapsed after having been delved by the river for thousands of years is, yes, awesome. I haven’t been quite so astonished by what nature can get up to, all by itself and with no help from us, since the Grand Canyon. Like other spectacular sights in Bulgaria, the Wonder Bridge is relatively uncelebrated and unannounced on the barely-existent tourist circuit. There’s just a cosy wooden hut serving as a cafe at the top of the path.

More “awesome” comes in the form of two vast caves that are reached by another meandering ride through autumn forests, a dramatic gorge and alongside mountain streams, many of which are spanned by  ancient stone bridges that date from Roman times.Yagodina Cave

Yagodina Cave is a vast 8 kilometre labyrinth of tunnels lined with  stalactites, stalagmites of all sizes and some extraordinary shapes, including rippling curtains and  giant bear claws, in glistening, moist, white stone. Small bats hang in crevices, colossal rock formations weighing several tons loom overhead. Bulgarians come to the bigger caves for wedding parties.

A drive through the fierce, perpendicular walls of rock that line the Trigrad gorge takes us to the nearby Devil’s Throat – another cave that Valery tells us is the site of the Orpheus legend. This is the mouth of Hades into which he descended in search of his beloved Eurydice. I’m baffled. What was Orpheus doing in Bulgaria? But my geography is at fault. The Greek border is just a few miles away, and within minutes of stepping inside the Devil’s Throat it is easy to see why the ancients would have thought that it led to Hades. Where the Yagodina Cave is a long, mysterious, serpentine  walk through the heart of a mountain, the Devil’s Throat is a true “hall of the mountain king’ – a vast space so high that the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia would fit easily insidestone bridge

We pass through Pamporovo – a ski resort that is like a ghost town in these autumn weeks while it holds its breath  waiting for the snow to fall. The town has been custom-built for the ski trade. What it lacks in quaint charm, it gains in convenience.   Regular bus service from Plovdiv airport makes it an easily accessible and very cheap ski resort with ample green runs so probably more adapted to less hard-core skiers. There are numerous hotels – some quite luxurious like the Hotel Orlovetz  which, thanks to the exchange rate, offers double rooms, breakfast dinner and ski pass for £55 per person per day. The Orlovetz has a spotless spa, small indoor pool, steam room and sauna. I get a full body massage for just £30 for an hour. A few miles beyond Pamporovo, we’re back in traditional Bulgaria in the  town of Shiroka Laka, a lovely old town, cupped in a gentle valley and famed for its traditional two-storyed Rhodope houses, with their overhanging upper floor, that line the river. Once again, I discover bargain Bulgaria in the form of the luxurious Hotel  Shiroka Laka  just walking distance above the centre of town and with vast, thickly carpeted rooms and views onto the valley.  Suites average £50 a night.

Getting to Plovdiv:

Ryanair has 3 flights a week to Plovdiv from London, Stansted. The city itself is worth a visit.  It lays claim to the title of oldest city in Europe and like Tallinn in Estonia and Bergamo in Italy, has a very quaint and ancient old upper town with some fascinating Ottoman houses perched high above the busy modern city.

A Bulgarian guide who can drive is a great asset should you want to venture out into these wilder areas. Valery, our excellent guide, charges around €50 a day plus any expenses: http://guidesbg.com/viewmember.php?id=105

Main image : (c) Janette Griffiths.

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