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Red Corner: Biking Bulgaria
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Every city or country has a "can't miss" attraction that you simply can't miss. When I was traveling through Bulgaria a few years ago, the can't miss attraction everyone told me to visit was the Rila Monastery.
While the monastery was indeed truly magnificent, Bulgaria's Rila Mountains where the monastery is located are equally spectacular.
I unfortunately spent very little time in the mountains, merely driving through on the way to the monastery, but last August Gregory Dicum visited on a mountain biking adventure in which he rode right into the heart of this Balkan range. His Travel & Leisure article paints a very quixotic, old European view of ox carts, farmers, mountain dwellers, Sheep's-milk yogurt, alpine blueberries, scenic lakes, mountain meadows, and beautiful vistas. It's another off-the-beaten-path adventure that is flush with the wondrous rewards such journeys always seem to offer.
Filed under: Biking, Bulgaria, Red Corner
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Hit the Road - See America and the World May 16th 2006 4:51PM
Bulgaria is a beautiful mix of modern and ancient which is well described in this NYTimes article:
Sofia, Bulgaria: An Ancient City That Wears Its History Well
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/30/travel/30next.html?ex=1304049600&en=4d3b2b79c53852a8&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Also, I am not sure if is appropriate to use the "Red Corner" heading anymore -- Bulgaria voted out the communist government in 1989 and is joining the EU in 2007...
Neil May 16th 2006 4:54PM
Thanks for the cool link!
As for the Red Corner title, it simply refers to those areas that were once behind the Iron Curtain and still remain off the beaten path today.
Brian Davidson May 17th 2006 3:39PM
I was in Bulgaria in August and in the election they had just before that, the communist party was gaining power again. As I understand it, they gave a small amount of money to all the Gypsies who voted since I guess they often don't vote. Since there are a lot of Gypsies in Bulgaria, they tipped the scales from what the previous trend was.
As I can imagine, the EU will probably disallow Bulgaria to join the EU if the communist party has any power.
I'm no expert in this, it's only what my friend told me. She is a native living in Varna.
As far as the Rila mountains and Rila Monestary go, I started at a chalet called Skakavitza and hiked across the mountains to the monestary. It was truly amazing. On the way I was able to see two or 3 of the "7 Eyes", mountain lakes hidden within the mountains.
I'm not a religious person, but I did feel some sort of holiness when I was at the monestary and one of the monk priests performed a blessing on a pendant one of my travelling partners purchased. I'm really not sure what I felt, but it was the one and only time I felt as such.
Ivan Jul 9th 2006 3:10PM
Dear Neil,
Bulgaria is a very beautiful country. It has mountains and sea called The Black Sea. There is a virgin place near the Black Sea by the name of Irakli where the mafia wants to build their hotels and villas. That's the last virgin place near Black sea.
If you want I can provide you whatever info you need to write about this beautiful place, how it is abused, and may be some organizations will see your post and ask Bulgarian politics (elected by the vote of gipsies), why they don't care about the protests of the Bulgarian people against the destruction of the environment.