A trip to the Strandzha Mountains Region in Bulgaria

On a recent trip to Bulgaria, our family decided to take some time and visit one of the places which has been “off-the-beaten track” for quite some time. We visited the Strandzha mountains region and specifically the village of Brashlian. It is located about 10km from the town of Malko Tqrnovo very near the border with Turkey in the South East corner of Bulgaria.
The village has about 50 inhabitants (based on what the locals told me) and has been an architectural reserve since 1982. Of course I think, very little has happened since that time except for may be the last 2-3 years when the locals have decided to drop agriculture (based again on what they told me) and focused on Village Tourism — i.e. meet tour groups from the near-by (about 2 hours based on where you are coming from) Black Sea coast resorts and show them around the old school (dating from the 19th Century — before liberation from the Ottoman Empire) and the old houses. In some cases they even host the tours for an overnight stay (some of the houses were denoted with plates which star - i.e. one star or two star accommodations ).

Long story short, the place is very interesting. If you are into traditional old style Bulgarian architecture this is one of the places to see it…..

Take a look at the photos….and have a good trip!

Visit to Etara - an Ethnographic Museum in the open - a working museum of arts and crafts from 18th-19th century Bulgaria

I am finally getting to the point of putting together a posting about one of the interesting architectural, cultural, and historic sites in Bulgaria — the open air museum ETARA. My family and I visited the location during our trip to Bulgaria earlier in August of 2007. The museum is located about 8 km (about 5miles) south of the town of Gabrovo. The location is essential in the northern slopes of the Balkan range near by the Shipka mountain pass.

The village demonstrates traditional Bulgarian artisan crafts and the tools and workshops used in the last couple of centuries in the Gabrovo region of the country. Some of the workshops’ tools are powered by water - essentially the old artisans diverted water from the near by rivers and powered tools like

• sharpening stones
• mill stones
• old style washing machines (for carpets, blankets, etc)
• wood working milling machines
• even a machine for weaving

The museum also demonstrates several styles of Bulgarian architecture as well as unique stone plate covered roofs. Also you can observe a roof implemented from half tree trunks interlocked by carving the middle of the trunks

Here are some images from the museum — you can see the houses and workshops / village streets, as well as the famous Clock Tower of the village (most bigger Bulgarian villages and towns of the 18th, 19th century had those clock towers in the village center/square):

At Old Village Etara in Bulgaria

While at the museum you can also purchase some actual crafts done by the local artisans — things like jewelry (my mother in law purchased a nice silver ring), rugs (kilim style), wood carvings, paintings, and of course some local delicacies.

Near by the entrance of the museum you can stop for lunch in the local hotel restaurant. The food is very good - featuring traditional Bulgarian dishes and of course excellent beer.

Our visit to Veliko Tqrnovo (Велико Търново)

Well, following our stay at the Black Sea coast (we liked the Kempinski hotel :-) no joking….it is a nice place), we decided to take the Northern Bulgaria route to get back to Kazanlak (on the South side of the Balkan range). That meant we were going to travel from Zlatni Piasqci –> Varna –> Shumen –> Veliko Tqrnovo –> to Gabrovo –> cross the Balkan range via the Shipka mountain pass, and arrive in Kazanlak. On this trip our main objective was to stop in the town of Veliko Tqrnovo.
Why stop there — well take a look at these photos and you will see the reason — it is a beautiful and historic place:

The town which used to be the capital of the 2nd Bulgarian Kingdom is located on several large hills on both sides of the river Iantra (река Янтра). The 2nd Bulgarian Kingdom lasted between 1185 and the end of the 14th century at which time the Ottoman Empire conquered Bulgaria. One of the key places to visit while in Veliko Tqrnovo is the restored fortress on the Tzarevetz hill.

(me at the gate of the Tzarevetz fortress)
Some directions of getting to Tzarevetz — we approached Veliko Tqrnovo from Shumen. As you enter in the city look for signs (in brown color — denoting a national park) for Tzarevetz. There will be plenty of those. Eventually you will pass through the new town and enter the older part of Veliko Tqrnovo. This is the more interesting part anyway, but the streets are quite narrow, so if you are driving pay attention to oncoming traffic. In some cases you will have to move to the side (behind parked on the street cars) and wait for the oncoming traffic to pass. Sounds tedious, but this is part of the fun :-)

Once you get to the parking lot right in-front of the Tzarevetz fortress entrance you could visit a small restaurant located right in-front of you if your right hand shoulder is pointing at the entrance of the fortress. I cannot remember the name of the restaurant, but you won’t miss it — the parking lot is tiny. The fee for parking by the way should be in the range of 2 leva for 3 hours.

The fortress museum is open daily till 7pm. It is an interesting place to visit and also a place where you could do some serious hiking up and down the trail along the fortress walls or climbing the hill to the church on top of if. Here are some more photos from the town:

View towards the old town from Tzarevetz;

Varna, Golden Sands, Kranevo area of the Black Sea Coast - useful information

If you are planning a trip to the North part of the Black Sea coast chances are you will be visiting the Golden Sands area. My family and I just spent several days in the area and wanted to give you some input on:

* Ways to get to the area (via Car)

* Places to Eat (and which to avoid)

* Hotel info

We embarked on our journey to Varna and Golden Sands from the area of the Valley of Roses (the city of Kazanlak). We started driving towards Burgas - our plan was to travel via Nessebar (we had planned to meet someone briefly in Nessebar). Along the road, once you approach the town of Karnobat you will get on a nice new divided highway. As you travel along you need to pay attention for the signs for Varna, Sunny Beach. That exit will be about 20 miles after you get on the . We missed the exit and had to turn around and travel about 15 miles before we can find an exit to turn back towards Burgas.

Once you exit you will travel for about 3 miles on a small road, and eventually you will see signs for Sunny Beach. This is a small road as well (in not very good repair) but it will save you tons of time (if you end up going to Burgas and then heading North to Ravda and Sunny beach it won’t be the end of the world but you will have a lot more traffic congestion)

After Nessebar and Sunny Beach the highway starts going through the Balkans — you need to cross the mountains on your way to Varna and Golden Sands. You should plan on one and a half hours at least from Sunny beach to Varna.

We had reserved room in the Kempinski hotel in the Golden Sands resourt. Here is a map to its location

The hotel is one of the three Kempinski locations in Bulgaria. Last year we stayed in the Kempinski in Bansko (here is a link to my blog entry from last year). We were very happy with the hotel last year so, why not :-) , we decided to be guests of the chain again…..

The hotel is very nice, the grounds are beautiful, just one word of caution, the included breakfast (included in the room rate) is not that great. Turns out all rooms have the breakfast included. As a result it is relatively generic one — eggs, hams, cheese, bread, vegetables, juice….but not the best quality. It is filling just not that exciting. The breakfast at the Bansko hotel was much better.

Some photos from the Kempinski
With regard to place to eat (outside of the hotel) you may want to avoid the promenade just between the Kempinski and the beach. There are plenty of restaurants there but they are just overpriced and not that good. Yes, they are convenient (if you need to have a quick bite at lunch while near the beach), but in the evening you may want to head to Varna or to near by Kranevo (north of Golden Sands).

Here is a good restaurant — Restaurant Milev. To find it just head along the road towards Kranevo, Albena, Balchik. It will be on your right hand side in a restored old house a few hundred yards after you enter Kranevo.

Here are some pictures from it:

All in all we had a pretty good time in the area. Spend three days at the beach, managed to see some of the surrounding area, had good food… Following the stay at the Golden Sands we decided to return to Kazanlak via the Northern route — Varna to Shumen to Veliko Tqrnovo (the capital of the second Bulgarian kingdom), to Gabrovo and across the Shipka mountain pass to Kazanlak. More on that and of course great pictures from Veliko Tqrnovo in the next posting. Stay tuned… :-)

Kazanlak - Next stop on the trip in Bulgaria

Kazanlak is located in the province of Stara Zagora, in the foothills of the Balkan range in Central Bulgaria. The travel time from Nessebar (on the Black Sea coast) to Kazanlak was about 3 hours (if traffic is not heavy as the road is a divided highway with one lane in each direction — thus passing could be tricky if you encounter slower traffic).

Kazanlak is famous for several things:

• The Thracian Tomb - a UNESCO protected site dating back to 4th century B.C. Here is a link to a detailed description of the architecture of the Tomb
• The Rose Festival and the Valley of Roses — the city is located in this famous rose growing region of Bulgaria. Based on information I heard in Kazanlak, the Rose Valley produces some 70% of the world’s supply of rose oil - essential component in perfumes;

Here are some images from the region of Kazanlak to give you some idea of the area and local color:

Entrance to the Thracian Tomb View of the old town of Kazanlak (from a hotel terrace)

view from one of the suburbs of Kazanlak Another vew from a hotel terrace

Near the town of Kazanlak is the Shipka mountain pass (a pass allowing you to cross the Balkan range and go from Northern into Southern Bulgaria). The Shipka pass is famous for a huge battle fought during the Rusia-Turkey Liberation War (1877-1878) - a war that lead to the liberation of Bulgaria. A big monument reminds the visitors of the fierce battle fought during July and August 1877. Today you can also visit a great chirch - Храм-паметник „Рождество Христово“
(in Bulgarian) which is a great example of East Orthdox (sometimes refered to as Greek or Bulgarian Orthodox) architecture. The village of Shipka (near-by where is the chirch) is several miles to the North-west of Kazanlak, while the mountain pass is high in the Balkan range (above Kazanlak) at about 1300 meters (4000 feet) elevation.

If you go to the mountani pass location you could also sample some “Bivolsko mylako” - yogurt produced from water buffalo milk. It is very good and rich tasting type of yogurt (you could also purchase just milk).

Aside from these monuments, you can just enjoy the beautiful mountains and country side and also visit a big dam (the Koprinka dam) on the bottom of which is the ancient town of Seuthopolis (currently under water but the local government is creating plans and gathering funds to uncover and preserve the ancient town and site. Here is a an image (courtesy of the local government - obshtina Kazanlak) of the project concept:

If you would like further informaton on this area of the country please contact us. Happy travels!

More on Nessebar, Bulgaria

What can I summarize about Nessebar? I have visited the place more than once or twice in my visits back to Bulgaria. As far as I understand, the town used to be a fishing village in the 19th century….The history of the place dates back way back to the Roman and Byzantine Empires.

Today Nessebar is one of the well developed beach resorts in Bulgaria. You can find here both modern hotels as well as rent a room or a complete old house / villa.

If you rent a house/appartment, you can get deals in the range of US$50 (for 2 people renting an appartment in the new town) per day…or US$60 for 3 people for an appartment. So you can get a good deal.

Then, there is the new trend — buying a holiday property in Bulgaria. To give you some idea, a 2-bedroom appartment about 60 square meters / 600 square feet, will set you back about 40K euros.

At the same time a similar appartment further south along the Black Sea coast — in Sozopol (a place I like as well) will be slightly more pricey — at about 45K euros.

Then for a comparison you should consider a similar size appartment in one of he major cities of Northern Bulgaria - Pleven. There the prices are in the range of 20K to 30K euros (approximately)….So, the Black Sea coast is a desirable place…

Next step on our trip — 4 day stay in Nessebar, Bulgaria

After leaving Bansko my family and I headed to the Black Sea coast. The interesting thing about Bulgaria (in a very summary description form) is that you can experience the pleasure of hiking tall beautiful mountains and 5-6 hours drive later you could be at one of the many seaside resorts. Our trip took us to the resort town of Nessebar located in the central part of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast (please see the map in the previous post)

We had booked an all inclusive stay at the Nessebar IFA hotel (I believe this was a German hotel chain). The all inclusive meant meals and hotel rooms for all of us were included.

The hotel was located South of the old town of Nessebar in the newer section of town. Nevertheless it was not far away (within 10 minutes driving) from the ancient (what used to be B.C. era — as I understand approximately 550 B.C.) town. Here are some images from the town:

We stayed for 4 days and enjoyed both the sea beaches as well as the hotel pools and entertainment. One of the afternoons we visited the old town (where the photos are from) but more of the time we spent relaxing on the beach or at the pool area. Not bad after all…

Where in the world is Bulgaria

Here is a link to the a more detailed map of Bulgaria It should give you a better idea of cities and places in Bulgaria as well as which are the neighbouring countries…

Bulgaria trip — renewable energy

After leaving the Bansko region my family and I headed for the Black sea coast. The trip from the southwest corner of Bulgaria (where Bansko is located) to Nessebar (on the Black Sea coast) took about 7 hours of driving. It was an interesting drive - going through mountains, passing through mountain villages and observing life. You can see some photos here:

But the most interesting site probably was this –> energy generating wind farm located right next to a roadside gas station on one of the highways on the way to the Black Sea cost. During our drive through Bulgaria we saw a large number of these wind farms — obviously a number of investors believe in “green energy” — a nice thought and a very progressive step for a country which has a significant revenue generating tourism industry.

Travel to Melnik, Bulgaria

First let me give you an idea as to where we have traveled so far and where we will be going next. Here is a map of Bulgaria with our route (step 1 through 5) on this trip:

After staying in Bansko for two days, we decided that it is time to experience some more of the nature and sites Bulgaria has to offer. So we drove to the town of Melnik — according to government and provincial statistics (Melnik is located in the province of Blagoevgrad) - this is the smallest town in Bulgaria. Population: approximately 230.

The town is not that difficult to find. From Bansko, we first drove through the town of Razlog, to Simitli, where we got on the E79 highway (which leads also from Sofia to Greece). While on E79 watch out for the city of Sandanski (it will be about 40 minutes before you get close to the city). After you go through Sandanski, look for exit for Melnik. The road to Melnik after E79 is a tiny one with hardly any traffic… You will pass through several small villages before you reach Melnik. The long journey is well worth it. Melnik is a very old settlement (according to scholars dating back to Thrace and the Roman Empire). Later on in the middle ages, the Crusades passed through and currently the town is restoring a small chirch which dates from that time.

Melnik is famous for its sand piramides (limestone or porous stone formations in the mountains surrounding the town), interesting houses (see pictures in this posting) and very good wines. The climate is good and there are many wineries in the town.

Kristin and Sarah in Melnik (they enjoyed the trip)
With regard to timing, you can make the trip from Bansko to Melnik as a day visit. This will give you plenty of time to walk around the town, sample some of the wines, see the architecture, may be even do a short hike in the hills outside of the town. Enjoy!