Bulgaria
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This lovely river runs alongside the road as we drove to Stoykite in Bulgaria.
If anyone recognizes this location and mountain, I would love to get more information :)
Stoykite area, Bulgaria. May 2016.
The Trigrad Gorge is a canyon of vertical marble rocks in the Rhodope Mountains. It is in Smolyan Province, one of the southernmost provinces of Bulgaria.
The gorge encloses the course of the Trigrad River, which plunges into the Devil's Throat Cave and 530 metres further emerges as a large karst spring. It later flows into the River Buynovska.
The gorge's west wall reaches 300 metres in height, while the east one extends up to 300–350 metres. Initially, the two walls are about 300 m apart, but the gorge narrows to about 100 metres in the northern section. The gorge is 1,450 metres above sea level and has a total length of 7 kilometres. (Wikipedia)
We stopped here, just before a very long tunnel cut into the rock, to look for a Tawny Owl nest. Absolutely beautiful place!
Trigrad, Bulgaria. May 2016.
The narrow-leaved helleborine is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant in the family Orchidaceae. It is widespread across Europe, Asia and North Africa from Ireland and Morocco to China.
It usually grows in damp woodland places (mainly oak and beech), forest edges and rocky slopes. These plants prefer calcareous soils and in well exposed places, at an altitude of 0–1,400 metres above sea level. (Wikipedia)
Teshel, Bulgaria. May 2016.
This is another view of this amazing Bulgarian fortress . Built originally by the Romans taking advantage of the mighty rock formation. The name Belogradchik literally means "white construction" , with the walls ca. 2m thick. Some of the ancient sandstone rocks are up to 200m high.
Click on image to enlarge.
In 1444, the Ottoman Empire invaded Bulgaria, burning and raping their way across the country. Girls who were captured by the Ottomans were either kept for the pleasure of the officers or sent to join the Sultan’s harem at Constantinople. When the Ottoman army approached Cape Kaliakra, 40 local girls fled to the end of the headland with the intent of killing themselves. They tied their hair together to be sure that none of them would yield to their fear and jumped together from the 70 metres high cliff. A memorial obelisk known as ‘The Gate of the 40 Maidens’ now stands at the entrance to the cape.
Legend or true story?
Photo taken in the fortress on the cape
Beglika is an area in the western part of Rhodope mountains in Bulgaria. It is located in Batak mountain ridge, on altitudes mainly between 1500 and 1700 m. There are two main peaks nearby- Golyama Syutkya (2186 m) and Batashki Snezhnik (2082 m). The terrain is quite plain, so these peaks are not clearly exposed. The area is rich with many streams and small rivers, branched in a labyrinth of valleys, finally gathered in Devin River to the southeast and Sarnena river to the south.
The whole area is covered by almost 100% taiga coniferous forests, with many glades and meadows on the valleys and near the lakes. You can meet bears, wild pigs, sometimes wolves, deer and other typical European forest animals along with many species of birds. (JourneyBeyondHorizon.com)
Beglika, Bulgaria. May 2016.
View from the Musala Peak (2925 meters) at dawn, towards the Pirin Mountains, painted by the first rays of the rising sun in red.