News and Articles related to mountain Rila
Current date: 2010-02-09 10:44

Eco trails in Rila and Pirin mountains

Few countries can rival Bulgaria’s superb mountain scenery, and 35, 000km of trails on which to explore them. The Rila and Pirin Mountains rival the Alps with their rugged peaks, great ridges and panoramic vistas. Crossing high mountain ridges, walking through the fantastic panorama of eroded landscapes, beautiful forests and past many lakes, set amongst meadows of wild flowers and herbs in summer, one can really appreciate the peace and tranquility and enjoy a sense of breaking new ground.

The Rila and Pirin mountains offer a network of specially set up eco trails, reaching out to some of the most remote and least accessible corners of Bulgaria’s natural scenery.” Two of Bulgaria’s largest nature parks, ”Rila” and “Pirin, are on our territory and this is a gift from heaven, which we appreciate highly and want to make it available to tourists in the most attractive fashion”, says Elena Trichkova from Razlog Municipality. Last year the municipality built, with EU financing, three new eco trails, revealing the scenic beauty of the two mountains to its best advantage.

“One eco trail is in the Pirin Mountain, reaching high up to where the Mesta river springs out at an altitude of 2600m. The eco trek runs past the Bayuva Dupka reservation, which is on UNESCO’s World Nature Heritage register. Walking along the trail mountain trekkers can site a bear’s den, and if in luck, even glimpse it in the distance. They can spot a nest of the imperial eagle or have a picnic in a picturesque meadow. Local residents will be willing to let them in on the secrets of making jam from the wild strawberry, growing in great abundance on the steep hills. We’ve named this trail” The way to the edelweiss kingdom” as it runs past one of very few places in Bulgaria, where this fragile threatened flower, has continued to thrive”, says Elena Trichkova.

Breath-taking panoramic vistas of the southern hills of the Rila Mountain open up before your eyes from the huge rock outcrops and conifer-tree clad ridges of the Pirin Mountain. The residents of several small villages, scattered in the lower folds of the Rila Mountain, are successfully earning a living from rural tourism. The village of Bachevo offers several guest houses as well as a stable of horses for horseback rides across the mountain. The Wood-fairy trail begins near by. The narrow mountain path weaves up the rocky slopes all the way to a mystery-clad corner. Local superstitions assure that if nightfall should overtake you there and you are forced to spend the night under the stars, a strange vision will appear before your incredulous eyes just before daybreak- a party of wood fairies, all in white dress, dancing barefoot in the grasses, heavy with the morning dew.

Another eco trail takes off at the village of Godlevo, nestling in the foothills of the Rila Mountain.

“The trail is named “The Rebel’s path” after a huge footprint in the rocks, which legend says, is Krali Marko’s footprint. Animations can be arranged for trekkers locally, such as abductions of tourists by rebels- i.e. by prior order. “The hostages” are led away to a cave high up in the mountain, where they would eventually be assisted to make their way back to freedom. Locals are very much a part of such and other attractions. They have invested in rural tourism and in making foreigners welcome to their way life and ecologically clean, home-cooked meals. As a matter of fact, there are guest houses in nearly all villages, lying in in the foothills of the mountain”, said Elena Trichkova.