Rocking scenery

Trip Start Apr 17, 2010

Trip End Aug 24, 2010

Loading Map

Map your own trip!

Map Options

Show trip route

Hide lines

Where I stayed

Drakite Guesthouse

(Belogradchik hotels)

Flag of Bulgaria Belogradchik, Vidin, Bulgaria
Sunday, July 4, 2010

To get from Skopje to Belogradchik was a bit of an odyssey, as we had to take an early morning bus to get to Sofia in Bulgaria, where we had a stop-over for about an hour and a half before carrying on by train towards Oreshets. The journey up north was quite spectacular, as the train was going through the picturesque Iskar gorge, at the same time however we sat next to an older Bulgarian, who told us all about Bulgaria, unfortunately that got a bit tiring with time, as our Bulgarian is basically non-existent. However that did not really bother him for the 3 h it took to Montana, where he finally got off the train (what a relief!)

Arriving some time in the evening in Oreshets, we had to catch a taxi in order to get over the mountain to nearby Belogradchik, where we headed for Drakite guest house that was mentioned in our guide. Unfortunately nobody seemed home. Amy rang the number on the door, and got through to Angel, the owner, who was out of town til the next day, but fortunately for us had his parents in town, who arrived a few minutes later opening up for us, taking us to the supermarket in the car and allowing us to cook our spaghetti in Angel's apartment (as he wasn't in anyways!;-)). The mum was overly friendly and dragged us to the top floor to show us the evening mist lying over the countryside with the sunset in the background. Just awesome!

The next day we made our way to the tourist information after a late start to the day. There a hyperactive teenager explained to us our hiking options to see some of the interesting rock formations around town. We decided however to have another good look outside the office on the map, before we set off on the orange-marked path, which was a 9 km-round-trip, ending up almost taking the suggested 6 hours, not only due to savouring the nice vistas, but also spending substantial time on finding marks, especially on the second half of the hike, near the end leading up the fortress. We made it eventually, and it was a very nice walk with lots of big rocks to look at and climb up, the impressive Lepanica double cave, and of course the Belogradchik fortress at the end, which is build onto a big rocky hill. Due to our slow advancement through bushes and up steep rocks searching for the next marks, we ended up in front of the locked doors of the fortress, which was quite a shame, as what we saw from the outside and the peek through the gates looked truly impressive. We treated ourselves with a big portion of Raffy ice cream nearby to compensate for the disappointment.

After a short rest back at the apartment, we went out again to find a nice little pizzeria, where we enjoyed some 'typical' Bulgarian cuisine, together with a cold, but deserved beer!