During the last week of July, we celebrated B.'s birthday by exploring the Stara Planina mountain range. We started our hike in Karlovo and finished in Shipka, following a section of the Kom-Emine hiking trail that crosses Bulgaria from west to east (part of the European E3 trail).
[Distance: 85KM | Elevation: 3731M | Rakija shots: countless]
Since I've had so much fun making the little video edit of my mountaineering adventure earlier this month, I decided to do the same for this trip. I hope you'll enjoy the summary of our trip in these 20 short gifs :)
Day 1: Karlovo - Vasil Levski hut
#1 - Our train journey from Sofia to Karlovo
#2 - It was really hot this day, but the trees protected us from the sun here
#3 - We found some fresh water
#4 - More fresh water :)
Day 2: Vasil Levski hut - Tazha hut
#5 - A lonely shepherd's horse against a beautiful backdrop
#6 - Crossing a stream close to Botev peak
#7 B. flying up Botev peak
#8 - We joined Bulgarian ultra runner and adventurer Alexander Dafinov for the second half of the day. Very interesting chats about his experiences and about Bulgaria. He was hiking the full Kom-Emine (650KM) in 10 days!
#9 - B. couldn't resist her botanical passions and inspected the local flora from up close
#10 - Proost / cheers / наздраве - Lovely Bulgarian dinner at Tazhu hut. We did notice that the mountain hut diners often lacked carbs for some reason. It usually consisted out of: meatballs / soup / salad / desert. Fortunately we also got some bread this time.
Day 3: Tazha hut - Patrizanska Pezen hut
#11 - This is the only shot of a group of German-Bulgarian friends we made at the Tazha hut the night before. They kindly offered us some of their uncle's home-made rakija (which of course came in a repurposed 1.5L Coca-Cola bottle, as is custom) and we spend a great evening together. They were hiking the full Kom-Emine route and we joined them at the end of this day again at the next hut for dinner and drinks. Great experience, great people!
#12 - Beautiful undulating hills, it was truly a joy to walk here
#13 - This part of the hike made me feel as if I was in Lord of the Rings, specifically the scene of the warg attack
#14 - A very hung horse indeed
#15 - Bulgarian flag at Mazalat hut, our lunch stop this day
#16 - God tier Bulgarian soup: tarator (cold cucumber soup)
Day 4: Patrizanska Pezen hut - Shipka
#17 - Our second mekitsa (deepfried dough with cheese/jam) breakfast in a row - living our best lives
#18 - B. found some bear paw prints... very cool!
#19 - Paying homage to the geography gods at the Geographical Center of Bulgaria
#20 - Finish at the beautiful Shipka Memorial Church after a long-long descent