Smolyan

In the Rhodopes, they say Orpheus once sang here – and indeed, the music of the gaida, the Rhodope bagpipe, can be heard in every village. A vacation in Smolyan Province means skiing in Pamporovo, hiking through pine forests and gorges, and spending the night in stone houses with slate roofs.

Mountains, Gorges, and Caves

The province lies in the far south of Bulgaria on the Greek border and is almost entirely mountainous. The town of Smolyan stretches for six miles along a valley slope, with the Planetarium and the Historical Museum as highlights. Near the town, the Smolyan Lakes lie strung together in the forest. To the west is the Trigrad Gorge, with sheer marble walls and the Devil's Throat, a cave where a waterfall disappears underground. Near Yagodina, you can tour the Yagodinska Cave. Around Progled and Chepelare lies Pamporovo, one of the country's three major ski resorts, overlooked by the TV tower on Snezhanka.

Towns and Traditions

Devin is known for its mineral water and thermal baths. Zlatograd in the east has an open-air ethnographic museum with workshops of weavers, goldsmiths, and coppersmiths. Villages such as Shiroka Laka preserve the typical Rhodope architecture; a well-known music school is based here, and at carnival time masked kukeri parade through the lanes. At Rozhen, a large folklore festival takes place every few years. In Dospat, on the reservoir of the same name, trout is farmed. A special destination is the village of Momchilovtsi, with views across the mountain ranges, as well as the Uhlovitsa Cave with its travertine pools. The new Cathedral of St. Visarion of Smolyan reflects the religious life of the town, and on the mountain pastures around Chepelare, sheep graze whose milk is made into cheese.

Food, Getting There, and Best Time to Visit

Rhodope cuisine features patatnik, a potato bake with onions and mint, klin, a stuffed pastry, and beans from Smilyan. You can reach Smolyan from Plovdiv in about two hours over winding roads; there is no rail connection. Skiers come from December to March, hikers from May to October, when the climate stays pleasantly cool even in high summer.