|
About 40km south of Bachkovo, MANASTIR , 1500m above sea level, is the highest village in Bulgaria and (they say) the Balkan peninsula. With its steeply terraced houses, potato and tobacco plots, stacks of firewood and scampering goats, Manastir makes a good base for hiking and gives a feel for rural life in the Rhodopes. The easiest way to get there is on the daily bus (at 5.30pm) from Laki , 20km north. One of the best hikes from Manastir is to Progled , a trip which can be done in 5-6 hours, but is far nicer stretched out with an overnight stay at a hiking chalet; you'll need map #4 in the BTS Rhodopi series. The trail begins behind Manastir, blue and white markers starting at a fountain five minutes' walk uphill, whence it's fifteen minutes to a flat, stony track where you bear right into the woods after 500m to find an old Roman road. Another twenty minutes brings you to a junction of trails, a blue one to the Svoboda and a red one to the Prepsa chalets. The latter passes a beautiful clearing of fallen pines and purple thistles and is easy going all the way, so that you arrive at Prepsa two and a half hours after setting out, in the mood to press on to Svoboda (2hr) or westwards to Haidushki Polyani (35min) and the Momchil Yunak chalet (1hr more). Haidushki Polyani (Outlaws' Meadows) is a trade union resort where you can sink a beer before examining an obelisk in the woods, on the spot where leaders of the Macedonian revolutionary movement decided to launch the 1903 Ilinden uprising. The partisan figures on the obverse side typify the Communist Party's efforts to identify itself with past liberation movements. Sporadic red and white markers indicate the trail from here to Momchil Yunak , a primitive chalet near an ex-Party villa that's now an exclusive hotel. From here it's twenty minutes' walk to the main road; if you're heading to Progled , simply stay on the main road, and follow it downhill for 11km.
Your Tip for Manastir
Help other backpackers! Write your own guides and backpacking tips to Manastir - they will appear instantly on this page - Please only write a tip/guide to Manastir - visit the main Manastir forum to ask a question!
Please do not post links to your site here (they won't work) - please use the Manastir webguide section below! Thanks.
| 
