A day trip to the southeast part of Bulgaria

This summer I decided to spend more time exploring the beautiful landscapes and historical places in the home country. I was lucky enough to have the time and resources to do so and also with the support of my lovely friends. Thus, we decided to explore the south of Bulgaria and more specifically the ancient city of Perperikon, the Petrified Wedding, which was a geological formation and the ancient village Tatul. I know it might sound like a lot of landmarks to visit in a day, but trust me, all of them were quite close to each other, so we didn’t need much time travelling from one point to another.

Anyway, the south part of Bulgaria is famous for its beautiful landscapes everywhere, especially in the Rhodope mountains and the ancient Thracian villages that are spread all over the land. This part of Bulgaria is truly one of the best parts to visit in our country and is also my favourite. It has a very mild climate, which allows you to even enjoy the not so cold winters there and travel around. It is also famous for its fine wineries that can be found almost everywhere and its high-quality agricultural products. It is truly a land that offers a lot to its visitor.

However, I would advise you to be careful with the sun there, as it is quite harsh. That is why it is better to bring sunscreen with yourself, lots of water and a hat so that your head does not hurt. Also, if you go there in the spring or summer, wear light clothes as the heat is unbearable.

Since my friend’s parents lived in Krumovgrad, which is a small city near the landmarks we wanted to see, we decided to travel there by bus from Sofia. This cost us around twenty leva and around six hours of travelling, which was quite exhausting if you ask me. However, in the end, it was all worth it, so I didn’t mind travelling that much. After we arrived, we spent the night in the city and the next day we left for our first day trip around the southeast part of Bulgaria.

The Thracian village Tatul

We started our trip by first going to the Thracian village of Tatul, which was very close to the home town of my friend. When we arrived we had to pay the admission fee, which was about three leva or 1.50 euros.

The Thracian village of Tatul was a very old one dating back to the fourteenth century before the birth of Christ. It was considered to be a sacred place by the ancient people that were coming here to worship the god of the Sun.

Once we entered into the ancient Thracian village there were huge buildings that survived from the Antiquity period when they were built. Most of them were temples used by the ancient people for sacrifices and worshipping their dearest Gods and mainly the God of Sun. However, there were a couple of earthquakes that destroyed most of the temples that were located at the top of the hill.

Among these many temples, we also found many sarcophaguses of which one of the most famous ones was that of Orpheus, who was a famous ancient prophet and musician on these lands. The legend says that he was living in these lands a long time ago and was playing such music that even the animals and trees were dancing. However, when his wife got killed by vipers he started playing the saddest song and even went to the underworld to bring her back.

As the story goes, he made a deal with the God of the underworld Hades to bring his wife back to the living world, but there was one condition in that deal. Orpheus should not have turned back to check on his wife, but walk straight to the exit. However, exactly at the end of the underworld, he turned back to check on her and she fell back to the underworld forever. This is quite a sad legend, but pretty much everybody knows it. After that Orpheus worshipped only the God of the Sun and that is why he was buried at the top of the hill so that he can be closer to Apollo. Alongside Orpheus was buried the famous Thracian King Rhesus, who fought into the Trojan war a long time ago.

All of these sarcophagi belonged to prominent ancient heroes and kings and that hilltop there were many of them. To get to Orpheus sarcophagus we had to climb a lot to the place, so we can reach it, but the view that was revealed there was simply fascinating. No wonder the ancient Thracians built this complex of temples here.

The Petrified Wedding

After the ancient Thracian village of Tatul, we headed to another famous natural landmark, which was situated just half an hour from our first stop. It was the so-called Petrified Wedding. There was nothing historical about the landmark, as it was simply a geological formation that emerged more than forty billion years ago.

Once we arrived, we stopped near the road and had to walk for around ten minutes up the hill, so we can reach it. All the stones there were white and of an easily breakable material that reminded more of a seafoam that froze. That is no surprise since millions of years ago the Black Sea has spread itself to that exact place forming those stones that look like frozen giants.

The Petrified Wedding consists of two huge rocks standing near the hill and many other small ones next to them. That is why the locals tell a story of a beautiful bride that was marrying a guy from the village nearby, whose father was envious of his son. To punish him, the gods froze all of the people that attended the wedding. That is how we got to see the Petrified Wedding these days.

The Ancient city of Perperikon

Finally, we drove to the ancient city of Perperikon, which was close to the city of Kardzhali. There was a designated area for parking a car, so it was quite easy to find a place and not be worried about it. Right next to the parking there were many open souvenir shops selling all kinds of things like jewellery, statues, stones and magnets. However, we went straight to the ticket office, which was like a small pavilion on the way to the ancient village. The tickets cost six leva or three euros, which was a very reasonable price for what we were about to see.

We had to walk for around twenty minutes straight through a staircase up the hill until it brought us to the ancient stone staircase that was left ages ago. That stone staircase was quite dangerous and at some point a bit slippery, so you have to wear proper shoes so that you don’t fall or hurt yourself.

Eventually, we reached the first part of the ancient city and it was full of temples, remains of houses and sarcophaguses. While walking around them I could even see an old throne, where the guide was saying that the ancient people were getting the youngest and most beautiful girl and putting her there. Then, they were making her drink various infusions so she can fall into a deep trance and predict the future for them. At the hilltop, we could also see the vast fields where the ancients were living and only coming up here to worship the God of the Sun. Right on that hill we also saw the temple of Dionysusthe god of wine that was also worshipped on these lands.

Going up the hill we saw the next part of huge megalithic remains from the ancients that were suggesting that people were also living there at some point. Up there it was quite windy and quite sunny, so we kind of burned, that is why I would suggest that you put some sunscreen on and also bring lots of water with yourself.

Walking around we found another throne that at the highest part of the temple complex, which was next to the remains of the ancient palace and the fortress of Perperikon. That was the throne that belonged to the oldest church built in Bulgaria, which dated back to the fourth century. According to the archaeologists, the church was built so that the Thracians could be Christianized, as the people in the Roman Empire at that time.

After walking around the basilica, we went up at the fortress using the recently built staircase to check out the complex from above. Only then, we realized how big it was and we could also see other artefacts and various ancient remains we could not witness when walking next to them. That is how we saw that the complex of temples, was full of basins for sacrifices everywhere.

Eventually, we started descending from the temple complex and on the way down we found another church, which was recently found by the archaeologists. This one was quite bigger than the one that was at the top of Perperikon but was quite ruined and there was almost nothing left of it, but its floor.

Going down the complex, we also found the huge water basins from which the ancients were gathering water, so they can use it for the sacrifices. They were mainly relying on rainwater to fill them so that they could bring it up the hill later when needed. Almost at the end of the archaeological site, there were many huge ancient jars that were used to put grain and wine in them. They were brought there when the people from the fields decided to live closer to the temple complex.

Finally, we walked down to the parking lot through another path, which took us around twenty minutes to get there. In the end, there was a man selling prehistorical fossils that could be found everywhere here on these lands, as they were underwater millions of years ago. Thus, this was quite interesting to be seen and we decided to buy one for each one of us.

Going to the southeast part of Bulgaria is absolutely a must-see, as there are many landmarks to be seen. For only a day we managed to see just three of them, but there are many more and all of them are quite fascinating and old. That is why I would suggest you visit it and enjoy your trip back in time.

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