Petrohan Pass and Berkovitsa Travel Video Guide

Petrohan Pass and Berkovitsa Travel Itinerary

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The road that heads northwest from Sofia, route 81, skirts round the western edges of the Balkan Range on the way to the mountain health resort of Berkovitsa , passing over the 1446-metre Petrohan Pass on the way. Most Sofia-Berkovitsa buses travel this road - Berkovitsa itself is also well served by bus from Montana in the northeast; and by train from Boichinovtsi, a junction on the Sofia-Vidin line.

After about 65km the road from Sofia begins to ascend the Petrohanski prohod or PETROHAN PASS , a wooded defile which sits between Mt Zelena Glava (literally "green-head") and the jagged Todorini Kukli . About 7km short of the summit you'll pass through the straggling village of GINTSI , where locals line the roadside to sell the best sheeps' milk yoghurt ( ovche mlyako ) in Bulgaria, as well as home-produced honey. The summit itself is marked by a

scattering of truck-stop cafes and grill stalls, and a couple of signed trails leading east onto the slopes of Todorini Kukli. Deer, rabbits and roe deer reportedly abound here, and for the hardy souls who wish to stay, accommodation can be found at the Petrohan campsite (June-Sept) and the Petrohan hizha (tel 096/25251; US$9-18). From the pass the road zigzags down into the valley of the northward-flowing Barziya, from where it's a short twenty-kilometre drive to Berkovitsa.

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