Guest house in Rodopi Mountains near Plovdiv
I have just come accross a guest house located near Plovdiv at the foot of the Rodopi Mountains. Although I have not visited the http://www.thenorthplacebulgaria.com/index.html yet I do know the area to the south of the second city plovdiv very well.
For those of you interested in exploring the Rodopi mountains area which lie to the south of Plovdiv you could of course hire a car, though this is not really in the spirit of this site. After all it is a bulgarian adventure holiday site.
What I normally do is pick up a coach or minibus from the coach station in Plovdiv. For litle money you can travel to the main southern bulgarian destinations such as Smolyan or Devin.
In my experience the transport varies from relatively modern air conditioned coaches to rusty 1970's mercedes mini buses.
As you leave Plovdiv heading south you take a bumpy straight road with various shabby looking businesses either side of the road. Gradually you see that you are heading for the distant Rodopi Mountains. Gradually the road gets narrower as you pass through small villages and slowly start to climb.
The mountain road towards Smolyan is a true delight, though a bit hair raising as the mini bus / full size coach decides to over take that old Lada car uphill on a blind bend. Iv'e seen a few crashed vehicles on bulgarian roads during my travels.
The road snakes it's way slowly upwards and between banks of rock and trees and the occasional small town or village. This journey is great at any time of year but the winter time is the most magical when the ground is snow covered and frozen water hangs down from the banks on the side of the road like stalactites in a cave.
For any information on the practicalities of this journey, then why not contact me. I am glad to help out.
Craig
