During the last week of July, we celebrated Becky’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).
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 Becky 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 – Becky 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 – Becky 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
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