After spending quite a few days exploring southern Bulgaria we decided to head north on an extended trip to see the famed rock monasteries near Ruse and then follow the Danube east to the far northern tip of the Bulgarian coast line. We’d booked into a lovely little guest house near Ivanovo, with its own small outdoor pool and little bar. After arriving and settling in and walking the two dogs who were travelling with us, we headed off to find Cherven Fortress.

Cherven Fortress was built in the 6th century for the Roman Emperor Justinian but the hill top has been used by various civilisations since Thracian times. It was a strong hold of the Second Bulgarian Empireduring the 12th and 14th century. It developed into a fortified city on the top of a rocky outcrop on the bend of the Cherni Lom with the outer part of the city expanding at the base of the hill. The city became a centre for crafts with iron works, gold-smithing and arts. The site was conquered by the Ottoman empire in 1388 and declined in importance after that.

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Instead of heading back home via the same route, we decided to turn towards Dospat and go and explore Dospat Lake and Batak Lake. We were up fairly early and left Trigrad around 9am, hoping to find somewhere for a quick breakfast stop but we did not find anything and so carried on, back the way we had come but instead of continuing north to Devin, we headed west across the mountains to the town of Dospat. There were a lot of road works going on in the town, but we managed to find a small cafe serving freshly baked sweet buns and get a coffee. The town as an impressive Mosque and its inhabitants are mainly Pomak, or Bulgarian Muslims, descendants of the native Bulgarians that were forced to convert to Islam during the Ottoman rule.

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Our next trip was also down towards southern Bulgaria to test out the spa waters of Devin, a town famed for its bottled mineral water and spa hotels.

The drive took us around 4 hours and followed the winding road along the side of Vacha dam, where there are a number of house boats built on the lake. The reservoir is part of a large hydro-electric operation involving 3 other lakes, 6 dams and 4 power stations. Construction began in 1964 and took over 10 years to finish. It was completed in 1975 and is the tallest dam in Bulgaria with the water stretching back over 20 kilometres. The scenery along the drive is stunning as the road climbs up and then down towards Devin.

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After leaving the nature reserve at Madzharovo, we journeyed back towards Perperikon, turning south at the village of Chiflik and heading to the large town of Kardzahli, situated close to the Greek border. The town itself was fairly drab, although we did not have much time to really explore it and simply drove through and out towards the reservoir and. We had booked a room at the Triton Zairean hotel, in the small “resort” of Glavatartsi. On arrival we were very pleasantly surprised to find we were given a whole holiday cottage with its own little garden. We took a walk down to the edge of the lake and have to say, it is certainly not a place we were tempted to swim in, despite the temperatures being close to forty degrees. The water was green and slimey and the edge was just mud flats.

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Following our visit to Perperikon, we continued on to the town of Madzharovo, where we had booked a room for the night at the Nature Reserve guest house so we could visit the Madzharovo Vulture Reserve.

It was around a 2 hour drive through the countryside, through sleepy, almost deserted villages until we entered the gorge and sheer rock faces that surround Madzharovo. We wound down to the river Arda and just on the other side of the bridge is the conservation centre, which also doubles as a small hotel with a handful of rooms and a small restaurant. It was late afternoon by the time we arrived so having settled into our room, we decided to have a bit of late lunch and then see if we could spot any vultures. The rooms were fairly basic but more than adequate for a night, of a little on the hot side as there was no air conditioning. The food in the restaurant was good and plentiful. The actual visitors centre was not open and did not seem to have much in it.

After our meal we decided to head up the road to one of the vulture watching tables and see if we could spot any of the famed Griffon and Egyptian Vultures.

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I had been saying for ages I would take Pete to visit Perperikon and so back in July we organised a trip to take in the sights around the Kardzhali region, including Perperikon.

Its about a a 2 hour trip from our village and the road leads past the Stone Mushrooms just after the village of Beli Plast. Just on the edge of the road and easy to miss if you are not looking out for them, the Stone Mushrooms stand around two and half metres tall and are the result of underwater volcanic activity and then subsequent erosion from the weather, once exposed. These rock formations sit on an old lake bed and cover around 3 acres, but the main formations are right on the edge of a road and its a good, quick stop off on the way to Perperikon. You only need a few minutes to walk around and take a few pictures. There is no entry fee and parking (limited) is just on the edge of the road. More

I first read about the abandoned communist railway tunnel on a forum, which directed me to an older blog post, describing the tunnel. We had a rough idea where it was and as we own an apartment close to Kosharitsa (for sale by the way), we decided to try and find it when we were next in the area. We set off up a track behind Kosharitsa village, parked the car and headed up the hill, following an over-grown track. However, after half an hour or so of trekking and our only sighting being a tortoise, we came to the conclusion we were going in the wrong direction. So it was back down to the car, back to the main road and just a little further along towards the edge of the village we spotted another track. We drove along here a little way and pulled up close to two large concrete structures and what we later realised were supports for a train line never built. More

We have driven down the whole south coast a couple of times before and visited the various resorts and beaches from Sunny Beach right down to the Turkish border. There is a great beach just north of Pomorie where the mud flats are and you can go and immerse yourself in the dark, smelly mud pits, roll in the sand, bake a while in the sun and then wash off in the sea. Burgas itself as some great stretches of beaches and just south of Burgas is a lovely little place called Kraymorie, with great traditional Bulgarian restaurants and a nice beach with really shallow water.

The further south you get, the less foreign tourists you tend to get and the less developed it becomes. More