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Having seen the model of the Agushev Konak in Smolyan's museum, you may want to check out the original in the otherwise unremarkable village of MOGILITSA , 26km south of town. You can do this in a day by taking the 12.40pm bus from Avtogara Zapad terminal to Arda (the next village up the valley), which stops in Mogilitsa en route, then catching the 3.30pm bus back to Smolyan. Alternatively, you could catch the later Arda bus (5.40pm), stay at the Milchovata Kashta in the tiny hamlet of Bukata immediately to the east (tel 03036/297; US$9-18 including breakfast) and visit the Konak next day. The Milchovata can arrange walking, riding and fishing excursions, and guests can pay extra for meals, or cook themselves. The Agushev Konak (Wed-Sun 9am-noon & 1-5.30pm) is a splendid example of the fortified manor houses built by rich Rhodope merchants in Ottoman times, when villages like Mogilitsa owned vast herds of sheep and were far wealthier than today. As the largest sheep-owners in the region, the Agushevs could afford to build a winter residence in Mogilitsa (1812-42) and a summer one in the hills (which hasn't survived). Divided into three walled compounds (for Agushev's household and the families of his eldest sons), the complex is visually unified by its thick slate tiles and pinnacled chimneys, with latticed screens designed to preserve the privacy of the women's quarters while allowing air to circulate (it has 86 doors and 221 windows altogether). The interior is comfortably furnished, with many large, panelled rooms, and some remarkable features, such as an enormous hall with high minderi for seating guests and some intricately carved ceilings with sunburst and diamond patterns. Aromatic box-shrubs were planted outside the sliding screens of the summer rooms to deter flies, while built-in wardrobes, painted red, green and blue, in the bedrooms, acted as insulators against the cold. Wool-dyeing took place in upstairs workrooms, containing looms and bales of brightly coloured yarn and family members slept in cosy panelled rooms furnished with couches covered in goat-hides. Just 3km east of the village, at Sinite Virove (the Blue Pools), is the stunning Uhlovitza cave (Wed-Sun 9am-5pm), just one of twenty or so in the Mogilitsa region, and best known for its series of waterfalls and curious rock formations. The bus from Smolyan to Arda will stop nearby.
Your Tip for Mogilitsa
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