Central Balkan National Park

Central Balkan National Park, a protected area created for the conservation of the unique environment and culture of the Stara Planina Mountains, recently received PAN Parks certification. Here, visiting Canadian Emily Hobbs shares her impressions of an autumn afternoon journey into Central Balkan and its surrounding villages.

Our car barrelled along the winding country roads toward the boundary of Central Balkan. Great rock outcrops jutted up from the earth to the south – hints of the mountains ahead. The autumn air was heavy with smoke from the burning piles of sheaves and stalks left over from the harvest in the roadside fields. We passed through small, sleepy villages along the way where houses decorated with garlands of drying paprika hid behind hanging gardens of squash, fat and ripe in the autumn sun.

At a small shop in Trojan, we stopped for bottled water and pickled aubergine for lunch. In Cherni Osam, we visited a monastery built in the 16th century, its cobblestone paths and dark wooden buildings encircling a chapel decorated in bright blue and golden paint. Inside, an Orthodox priest chanted in the shadows, lighting incense and candles, oblivious to our presence.

For the afternoon, we had picked out a trail in Central Balkan to explore – a hike through the forest and up the mountain to a tourist hut known as Pleven, near the Severen Dzhendem nature reserve. With our hiking boots tightly laced, we enjoyed a brilliant, but steep, hike up the mountainside, stopping at clearings to view the remarkable mountains, including Botev, the highest peak of the Stara Planina Mountains, dressed in autumn reds and yellows.

We reached the top of the trail; the mountain flattened into blonde alpine fields where a lone horse grazed lazily in the distance. Across the meadow, a man stood on the eave of his house, the peak of Botev rising behind him; he was adding a fresh coat of paint to his bright red chalet. As we passed through the field, he paused to watch us. After a moment he smiled down and sent us a hearty wave – welcoming us to his mountains.

by Emily Hobbs