Yagodina

Yagodina is a remote mountain village in the middle of the Rhodope Mountains. An old mosque and women dressed in traditional clothing are the only remnants of its former Muslim character, which is a remnant of the 500 years that Bulgaria was under the Turkish yoke (everyone uses the term "yoke" to describe the Turkish oppression). It is in an incredibly beautiful setting but the town itself has seen hard times. The average age of the population is probably 60 and there are children here, but not as many as you would expect. Still a recent resurgence of tourism may hekp it survive. We are staying in a beautiful family ruin hotel with comfortable rooms and osm eof the best food in I've eaten in Bularia.

Despite forecasts of rain the weather was beautiful today as we hiked along an old Roman road to the Trigrad gorge. Along the way we met an old man who was building a fireplace and then stopped to explain to us what he was doing, posed for pictures, and then sang us Balkan folk songs. He was a good singer and I could have listened for hours. We then continued to Devil's Throat cave, where Orpheus entered the underworld in search of his dead wife Eurydice. It's a huge cave with a rushing underground river. Our next stop was Yagodina cave, one of the biggest in Bulgaria and with more natural features intact (such as stalactites) than any cave I've been in - it was quite spectacular. An hour walk back to Yagodina, a hot shower and another fantastic dinner and I'm ready for bed.