Entdecken Sie das zauberhafte Bourgas in Bulgarien Travelcontinent

22:24 | 26. Juli 2015 | No Comment

On expedition tour in Bulgaria from Bourgas Bay to Strandzha Mountains, to the sites and hidden archaeological places

Bourgas Bulgaria *press trip*

A press trip introduced me to the remarkable cultural project „Magic of ancient times and beauty of nature“.

Bourgas Bulgaria and region

The regional center of Bourgas is surrounded by three lakes. Their shores are covered with dense green vegetation, mostly reeds and cattails, inhabited by rare animal species.
The Bourgas Bay is the largest bay of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. It is 41 km wide and the sand around it looks almost black because of the high content of iron, manganese and magnesium. In its surroundings there is a romantic little island Saint Anastasia. It is located about 7 km southeast of Bourgas and can be reached by boat.

Its history is shrouded in mystery and legends of treasures and pirates. At its highest point there is the best preserved monastery complex in Bulgaria. It dates its foundation around the XII-XIV century. In the period 1923-25 the monastery complex was turned into a prison for convicted political activists.

The region from the Bay of Bourgas to the Strandzha Mountain is characterized by its extremely rich biodiversity. This is due to its specific geological past, favorable climate and geographical position. A large part of the unique vegetation of Strandzha has survived from prehistoric times to the present day, thanks to the fact that the extreme conditions in Europe during the Quaternary Period did not affect the mountain, allowing the flora to survive since the Ice Age.

Bird Paradise in Bourgas region

South of the city of Bourgas around the flow of the Madrensko Lake towards the Black Sea there is the Nature Conservation Center „Poda“, an area that protects birds and their habitats. You can observe about 260 species of water birds swimming and singing. The second largest bird migration route in Europe passes through this area. Every year in August, about 250,000 white storks gather in this region to start their great journey.

storchs in a nest, Bulgaria Bourgas region

The wild nature of the reserve of the Ropotamo River offers a bio-diversity of flora and fauna. The banks of the river are covered with thick longoz forests and water lilies and reeds grow in the water. On the way to its mouth, where it flows into the Black Sea, the river passes through scenic areas with rich vegetation, which strongly resembles the tropical. There are regular cruises with tourist boats to the mouth.

lake with an island, the magic of bulgaria — Ropotamo river in Bourgas region of Bulgaria

Bulgarian Megalith culture, Strandszha Mountains

Strandszha Mountain is one of the places in southeastern Europe where you can see some of the best examples of theMegalithic civilization from the early Iron Age (12th-14th century B.C.).

They are represented by dolmens and stone shrines. The local people call them dragon houses. It is interesting to note that there is a cluster of several dolmens, concentrated around the villages. There are myths that at one time these were the dwellings of winged giants – dragons with human faces that kidnapped beautiful girls. The dolmens that have been uncovered so far in the Bulgarian part of the mountain are more than 100..

Dolmens are funerary structures, prototypes of the Thracian tombs. They belong to the megalithic culture, dating back to the early Iron Age XII – VI century B.C. They are built of huge stones roughly shaped by human hands. They contain corridors and chambers and are covered with mounds of stones and earth. These dolmens are religiously significant, as they are believed to be the primitive herons or temples of the solarchtonic imperial cult among the local Thracian population.

Megalith temple in Bourgas region, Bulgaria’s mystery

In the region of the town of Primorsko there are several places of worship where people in ancient times worshipped and turned to their sacred places of worship and prayer. One of them is the rock formation of the Stone Mushroom called Beglik Tash, located about ten kilometers from the town of Maliko Tarnovo. Once there was also an ancient temple in which the Thracians greeted the rising of the God Sun on the day of the summer solstice. This megalithic temple is often called the „Bulgarian Stonehenge“. It is believed to have been built around the XIV century B.C. and to have fulfilled the functions of a temple, a rock calendar and a sundial. The impressive huge stones, spread over a wide meadow near a dense forest next to the ruins of the ancient city of Ranuli, have not yet revealed all their secrets. There are also theories that it is a sanctuary of Dionysus or the existence of an ancient observatory.

Thracian cult complex

About 3 km southwest of the small town of Malko Tarnovo, close to the border with Turkey, lies one of the most interesting monuments of the ancient Thracian culture in the Bourgas region of Bulgaria. It is the cult complex Mishkova niva.
It really takes a good SUV to reach this hidden mystical place in the wilderness. This place is associated with myths for the tomb of a goddess. The imposing cult building was the tomb of a Thracian tribal leader, priest and hero and later his mausoleum was transformed into a temple dedicated to the god Apollo. The date of the monument could be related to V-III century B.C. and the end date to II-III A.D. The archaeological complex includes also a sanctuary, a fortified building, a fortress, a hill necropolis and ancient water pipelines. Many legends tell about hidden treasures and there are still many secrets behind this mystic place.

megalith culture in bulgaria — Archeological reserve in Bourgas region Bulgaria

Archeological reserve

About 20 km southwest from Bourgas, near the village of Debelt, there is the National Archaeological Reserve Deultum. The village Debelt exists still from the times of the Roman Empire, when it has got this name. The village is an object of archaeological researches. Here, in the ancient period, the Thracian settlement of Dovelt was established, which was one of the important economic centers of southeastern Thrace for two millennia. As a result of the lively trade that took place around its ports, hundreds of amphora seals and many cult objects have been found today. Visitors can see the open-air exhibition, the ancient baths, the temple of Asclepius and the imperial cult, as well as the walls and gates of the Byzantine fortress, the military garrison from the beginning of the 6th century.

stone ruins in Bulgaria — Deultum (Debelt) in Bourgas region

Architecture reserve

The village of Brashlyan in the Strandzha Mountains of Bulgaria with its old simple houses offers 9 of them to visitors because of their architectural significance. They are built in the architecture style typical of the Strandzha house architecture, made of stone and wood with preserved authentic interiors.
Several ethnographic museums present everyday life and crafts in the villages from the 19th century.

Since the 10th century one of the traditional crafts in Bulgaria is the production of articles from unwoven textile, the so-called „plasti“ (felt). Strandzha is one of the regions where this ancient art has been preserved until today. In workshops, women from the villages spin by hand and then color their products with natural dyes. The dyes are obtained from various leaves, roots, flowers and stems, and the wool is purchased from local shepherds.

This trip to the Bourgas region gave us great insights into the cultural treasures and fascinating impressions of this Bulgarian region – we have a desire to come back.

This project in Bulgaria was performed with the financial of the Operative Program Regional Development 2007-2013 that was co-financed by the European Union’*s Fund for Regional Development.