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Current date: 2010-02-09 09:51

Stranja – unknown tourist destination

Stranja Mountain is a place wrapped in mystery. This mountain standing in the furthermost corner of Southeast Bulgaria is a magnet for people of adventure wishing to spend something different from a standard vacation, far from the chaos and bustle of modern civilization.

The Ice Age covering vast territories of the Old Continent, Bulgaria included, seems to have left out that portion comprising the Stranja range today. That is why it has preserved to this day dozens of archaic plant species – representatives of an otherwise lost-for-ever world. Walking through Stranja’s fir and oak trees you can find rare plants, some of which are to be fount nowhere else in the world.

” Tourists visiting our part of the country can get an idea of the way Europe was like before the start of the last Ice Age,” says Katya Ivanova from Stranja Natural Park, which is the largest protected territory in Bulgaria. In the coastal portion of the range, where its mildly rounded slopes stoop to the shore, one has the feeling of standing in different latitude. The lazy waters of the Veleka River slowly head the coast where they flow into the Black Sea near the village of Sinemorets, after crawling under evergreen laurel woods thick with lianas. Before getting there, however, the river winds across incredibly beautiful natural images, unaffected by human activities except for the sparse small settlements where time has stopped.

The fact that until some 20 years ago a large portion of Stranja was in the closed border zone with our southern neighbor – Turkey, has been beneficial to the preservation of the unique flora and fauna. Today the region is accessible and curious explorers would discover things quite different from its exotic nature. The mountain is marked by the presence of the ancient Thracians that inhabited Bulgaria’s lands more than 4 thousand years ago.

“Besides as “the oak Montanan” Stranja is also known as “the Copper Mountain” as the ancient Thracians used to process Copper Ore, Katya Ivanova further explains. Traces of their primitive technology have been found in many places in the region. In many places there have been found remnants of Thracian tombs, mounds and sanctuaries. One of the most visited sites is the rock sanctuary in the locality of “Kamenska Barchina”. There, some 2500 years ago the Thracians used to meet the rise of the Sun-God while their priests performed religious rituals pouring out wine, milk and water for obtaining prosperity and health for the community.”

Stranja is the mountain of fire dancers. The dance barefoot upon live ambers is practices to this day in some local villages in early June, marking the day of Saints Constantine and Helena. Thousands of guests from across the country and abroad come at that time to attend the rituals. For some of them this oasis of wild nature is also a destination for rural tourism. In latter years the villages of Gramatikovo, Bulgari, Kosti and Stoilovo small family hotels have opened doors for their guests. Most of them are restored and refurbished houses, sometimes up to 150 years old. Exploring the shady woodlands of Strtanja would take you to the architectural reserve of “Brashlyan”, the Bulgarian for Ivy.

“The ground floor of its houses is made entirely of stone, Katya Ivanova goes on to say. In the past, that part used to be inhabited by the cattle of the family. The large rooms of the second floor, where the fireplace was, were the living quarters of the owners. In winter part of the warming up of the living quarters was provided from the ground floor, where the animals lived. Another distinctive feature of the Stranja house is that the second floor was lined on the outside by horizontally aligned oak planks. In the settlements closer to the seaside, this wood cover is thinner and the tiles are arranged vertically.”

If you like entertainment your address is the coastal Stranja village of Sinemorets. You will be taken for a trip by boat along the Veleka River. Jeep safaris are also popular with its guests, tells us local entrepreneur Krassimir Chernev.
“These itineraries include visits to several Stranja villages. Driving along dirt roads across the mountain, tourists can see the rare plant and, if lucky, animal species. In the region there are around 1300 rare plants, 70 of which are enlisted in the Red Book. At the southern beach of Sinemorets visitors can ride a camel, shoot an arrow or two or take a horse ride for longer hikes. The most popular of them follows the southern bank of the Veleka River and leads to the village of Brodilovo standing some 12 kilometers from the seashore.”