Kardzhali

Kardzhali is a small city in southern Bulgaria, at the banks of the Arda river, surrounded by two reservoirs and the foothills of the Eastern Rhodopes. The nature, however, is not the only sight to see.

These lands were at the crossroads of history since the Neolithic times, and there are plenty of material evidences left all around the city. Some are few millennia old, like the ancient city of Perperikon. There are a few recent creations, like the 103 meters high wall of the reservoir just on the city’s edge, or the longest in Bulgaria rope bridge in the Lisitzité village. There are natural curiosities, made by the nature itself. Those are a million years old.

Google and OpenStreetMap know very little about the region. As soon as you walk a kilometer away from a village the maps turn almost entirely grey. Terra Incognita begins. But it just adds more fun into otherwise ordinary hiking.

The rope bridge over the reservoir

Monyak (Mneakos) castle

“Stone Wedding” rock formation next to the Zimzelen village

Perperikon