Perperikon

From the Black Sea to the south. We continued the adventure down to the ancient Thracian city called Perperikon. It is said to be a palace and the oldest Thracian capital.


Here is also found the earliest chirch dating from the mid-5th Century, the time when Christianity was adopted in the Rhodope mountains. It was also a major military stronghold and a city existed here until the 14th Century, when the Turks invaded the area in 1362. Perperikon is also famous for its gold production.


Perperikon is off the beaten track a bit and is impossible to get to without a car. We followed the signs leading to the old city and made a quick little hike up the hill to be amazed. The weather was hot, but views were amazing. We even had a tourist map, although the dimensions appeared to be off a bit, to help guide us through the small rock city.


From here, we made the trek back to Stara, stopping at a rock formation. Most of the rock formations in the southern region near the town of Kurdjuli originated from the volcanic eruptions that raised the land from the sea forty million years ago, and whose ashes solidified into the porous golden-colored rock. We were unable to find the "Stone Wedding", a formation that follows the legend that a wedding party was turned to stone. But we did find the Stone Mushrooms. They are large formations with brown spotted stalks and pink caps. But to me, they looked more like big marshmallows.