Sunday, August 16, 2015

Bulgaria: Trigrad to Sofia

Trigrad is one of the most highly recommended towns and areas that I can recommend if you venture to Bulgaria. The town is awesome and the caves are fun to explore. Our morning started by hiking around the gorge, awaiting for the cave, Devil's Throat, to open.

Trigrad Gorge

Trigrad Gorge

Trigrad Gorge

Devil's Throat Cave

Devil's Throat Cave: DUCK!

Devil's Throat Cave

Devil's Throat Cave

Devil's Throat Cave: The light at the end of the tunnel: LOOKING UP

Devil's Throat Cave: LOOKING DOWN

Devil's Throat Cave

Then we were off to Yagodina Cave, about a 45 minute drive away. This was a longer and more captivating cave full of calcium stalagmites and stalactites.

Yagodina Cave

Yagodina Cave

Yagodina Cave

Yagodina Cave

Yagodina Cave

The Wonder Bridges are a mind-blowing natural formation that is well worth the trek to the middle of absolute no where. Also, PLEASE don't make the mistake that we saw most people making: Only doing the 10 minute trail that walked around the upper edge. There is a little bit to see from that, but the best views come from hiking down into the base of the bridges and exploring around. We were easily there for an hour exploring all of the nooks and crannies (Adam being the climbing monkey that he is), and it was a truly beautiful and peaceful place.

The Wonder Bridges

The Wonder Bridges

The Wonder Bridges

The Wonder Bridges

The Wonder Bridges

The Wonder Bridges

The Wonder Bridges

The Wonder Bridges

The Wonder Bridges

The Wonder Bridges

The Wonder Bridges

The Wonder Bridges

As this was our final full day in Bulgaria, and our flight was the next morning, we headed back to Sofia to end our time and explore this neat city at night. Sofia is the largest city in Bulgaria, but it is small enough that you can explore all of the main sites in a few hours.

First though: DINNER! And yes, our eyes were a thousand times larger than our stomachs, so there were to-go boxes involved.

Buttered grilled bread

The salad I became addicted to, covered in white cheese

The charcuterie plate

Mmmm, chicken and pork

Gratefully, our tour of Sofia at night was a walking one...much to the happiness of our satiated bellies!

St. George Church

St. George Church

St. George Church

Sofia National Theater

Loved this apartment building!

St. Nikolas Russian Church

Nevsky Cathedral

Nevsky Cathedral

Honestly, I wish that we had more daylight time to explore Sofia, but we prioritized getting out in nature instead of staying the city, since we live in the city 24/7 at home, but I do feel that we did miss out on a piece of Bulgaria in doing this. That being said, I don't really feel the need to go back to explore that either. Just of note, I think 4 full days in Bulgaria would allow you to complete explore all of the key aspect of the country and to experience the range of what it has to offer. Don't get me wrong though, I could have stayed there to eat for WEEKS!

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Bulgaria: Melnik to Trigrad

Bright and early, out and about!

Our accommodations in Melnik, the had the top front floor

From Melnik, we headed up into the mountains to see Rozhen Monastery and to hike back through the mountains into town. It was a great way to spend a morning and get the legs stretched out! The entire open courtyard is criss-crossed with wires above your head that are ALL grape arbors. It was beautiful! Unfortunately, they do not allow pictures in this active monastery, but it is free and very peaceful to walk around.

Hiking up from the monastery to the trail head

Abandoned church along the way

Bulgarian tradition, leaving bracelets in trees

Our beautiful walk in the mountains:




They were too active for me to capture a good image, but there were butterflies EVERYWHERE.
After our hiking, we climbed into the van for a day of driving and exploration of more small and traditional towns.

Leshten

Leshten

Leshten

Kovachevista

Kovachevista

Kovachevista

On our travels between towns we happened upon this AMAZING (I know, I say that a lot, but we really fortunate on these things that we happen upon during our travels) little winery and newly opened restaurant....seriously, it had just opened a few days prior!

Beautiful little restaurant

Our outdoor seating

Enjoying a beautiful day with a nice glass of house wine

It was a warm day, so I spent some time traipsing through the sprinkler to cool down, and wandering through their large garden, vineyard, and orchard. They grew all of their own produce for the restaurant. We were also spoiled when they delivered us a plate of freshly picked and washed raspberries. The perfect side to a delicious bottle of red.







And further into the mountains we went for our evening, Trigrad bound!