Eurasian (common) treecreeper (Certhia familiaris familiaris) at Vitosha Mountain, Bulgaria. I made this clip from pretty great distance and poor light and again the Panasonic TZ80 held its ground.
This is one pretty interesting and somewhat difficult to shoot bird. It is found mostly in mountainous areas, where is difficult to approach them and even if we are lucky to have one of then close there often are a lot of branches, twigs and leafs which make it difficult to focus and follow with the camera. It doesn't help either that this birdie doesn't stop moving and often disappears from view. Anyway I managed to have a good look take a few photos at one of these.
Eurasian (common) treecreeper (Certhia familiaris familiaris). Note the large nail on the back toe, which along with the shorter bill are the two main signs to differentiate this species from the very similar Short-toed treecreeper (Certhia brachydactyla)
Great Tit (Parus major major) at Vitosha Mountain, Bulgaria. The camera (Panasonic TZ80) did surprisingly good job handheld on low light and with maxed 30x zoom.
These birds are one of the more common species across Europe and are often seen in villages and towns during the winter months when they go out of the forest in search for food. They eat about everything soft enough for their thin bills, but prefer insects.
Great Tit (Parus major major) at Vitosha Mountain, Bulgaria
Great Tit (Parus major major) at Vitosha Mountain, Bulgaria
The staring point of the trek was the Rezovo River, which serves as border between Turkey and Bulgaria and therefore is the most southern point on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. The village with the matching name Rezovo happen that is small and pretty pleasant place by the look of it.
From there after a bit of walking there are interesting rock formations called Kastrich, after that was something that really surprised me big fence with barbed wire and cameras patrolled by armed police and soldiers which were on high alert because of illegal immigrants trying to enter the country from Turkey, so in fact the passage along the coast is closed and one must got to the main road, which is couple of kilometres away and cross there.
After that there is the very famous beach called Silistar, which is a natural reserve and I guess it used to be place were animals and plants can live without being destroyed, but I use past tense, because it looks now kind of the opposite thing, way too many cars and people and actually worse then the average. The Sand Lily was very nice species indeed, but it is picked up by people not caring about the nature or not interested to know is its protected or not. For example there was a plaque dedicated to two life guards who died saving a child and it was decorated with sand lilies.
And later on during the trek are the beaches Listi and Lipite. Lipite seems to be one of the designated as naturist/nudist beaches and looks very nice place, in fact much better then the more popular Silistar and Butamyata. After Lipite with half hour walk is Butamyata and the village Sinemorec.
Important point to note is that there are couple very dangerous for walking areas, where the trail passes exactly on the edge of 30-40m high nearly vertical cliffs, which on top of that are some kind of easily crumbling rocks and I'd advise to be prepared physicaly for a bit of bouldering and to use suitable foot gear.
I decided to walk along the coast from Ahtopol to Sinemorec (Sinemorets). The distance in straight line is probably 5-6 km, but I think following the the shore line makes it probably twice more. It is indeed very pleasant experience and its very easy to do, there is a trail, so this mean there are people regularly walking that route.
Now I had more time to have a proper look to the village Sinemorec and its two main beaches and I am very disappointed. Its just some poor place that got somehow famous and was instantly overbuilt and shortly after overcrowded. Despite being favourite for may Bulgarians I can't recommend such place, it is simply very unpleasant and to top it the locals were not friendly at all, but rather greedy and trying to do as much as possible profit from the short touristic season.
The only reason to visit Sinemorec is to see and if you are inclined to fish in the river Veleka. It is indeed very interesting and particular river, which runs 7-8 m deep and is surrounded by nearly virgin forest and nature.
It was still windy and I decided to see the coast north of Ahtopol. The wind makes it difficult to hear speech sometimes, but still one can get impression what looks like the area. There are no real paths or trails, so the walking is not very easy.
This place looks like good option for campers and the there is the option for naturism/nudism on specially designated section, known as "Delfin" (Dolphin) beach.
Ahtopol is a village in the south part of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, around 16 km with car from the border with Turkey. Its ancient settlement, but in the beginning of the 20th century it burned down, so there is about nothing older left.
Despite the bad weather exactly this day, the place gives impression for subtropics and is very warm place indeed on par with the Spanish Costa Brava. The prices are like half of what you can find in the other villages around, the quality of the sand and the water is great and they are couple of beaches, one of them specifically designated as "nudist beach". Also there is pretty big camping area and even more bungalows as historically it was one of the popular resorts in Communist Bulgaria.
And finally, most of the closer beach is given on concession to somebody (common occurrence in the country) and the access is limited. There are signs that unless you don't pay you can't sit or live belongings in the area. And to make the things even uglier, the umbrellas are up to and even in the water in many places. So, this was enough to spoil my otherwise relatively positive experience.
Here I decided to check the famous in the last few years village called Sinemorec (it means something like Blue Seas in Bulgarian). Its the second closest to the border with Turkey village and it was supposed to be place less touched by the civilisation, because during the times of the communism normal access to places close to borders were forbidden and as side effect the nature was left in near pristine condition.
As touristic attractions there is about nothing except the river Veleka and the three beaches covered with high quality sand, however they are way too popular and during the holiday season are densely packed with people.
I spend an hour in Burgas, in the early morning and had a look around. Burgas in the biggest town in the south of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast and serves as a hub to the more popular touristic destinations. The town itself is not a bad choice for holiday either, it has a beach, nice centre and in general is worth to be visited.
I made this video the other day while climbing Musala, the summit of the Rila mountain range and the highest peak between the Alps and the Caucasus and the highest in Eastern Europe bar the Caucasus. It is 2,925 m (9,596 ft) above the sea level.
Climbing this peak, while not the most difficult experience in my life was still pretty hard and this mostly due to the late start and the need to maintain relatively high speed. And the big luck I had this day was to meet a family of experienced climbers who were setting the appropriate pace. Without them I would have had pretty hard time, because at first I started way too fast and probably would have crumbled before reaching the peak and then, I didn't knew really the way and the chances are that I would have gotten lost at some point. So, big thanks to them and the good luck I had this day.
Now, A bit of information how to get to the peak. First, go to Sofia, the Capital of Bulgaria. Then find "Gara Yug", which means South Station and is next to the metro station "Joliot Curie". There can be find busses every hour going to town called Samokov for 5-6 levs (2-3 pounds), then from Samokov to the village Borovets with mini busses for few levs. The distance is 12 km and taxi will cost 12 levs for example. Once you are in Borovets look for the gondola lifts and go for the one for Yastrebets, it should cost 12 levs for 2 way ticket. If you want more hardcore experience you can start climbing from Borovets, but here I am not going to get in details about that option. Mind that if you want to use the public transport and the gondola lifts you should squeeze the whole exercise between 8 and 18 o'clock and check in advance which days the gondola lift works.
So, from Ystrebets there is wide back road to Musala Hut, which can be taken for 40 min. From there starts the steep part through rocks and boulders to Ledenoto Ezero (Icy Lake) Hut, which takes another 50 min. After that point is the last section, which finishes at the summit itself and takes no more then 30 min. This climb took about 2 hours as far as I can see from the time stamps of the photos that I was taking during the ascent.
So, in conclusion Id like to say that despite the bad weather and the lack of any visibility, getting on this summit was great experience and nice notch on the tourist's belt with conquests.
Just visited Bankya (In Bulgarian: Банкя), small town around 15 km from the Capital of Bulgaria, Sofia. Honestly, this place doesn't have any exceptional natural formation or anything like that, nor it has any cultural objects of significant note. Relatively interesting are the natural hot mineral water springs and public fountains and baths built on them, but that's about all.
Nonetheless, due to its geographical proximity to Sofia, it was popular destination for weekend trips during the second half of 20th century for many of the inhabitants of the Capital and seems it continues to be popular choice for holidays and city-breaks.
Below I'll post a few pictures from this town.
And below a few more pictures with views from another village in the vicinity - Gradoman
