Belogradchik, Bulgaria

This is the Belogradchik fortress, backed by the Belogradchik rocks.  The fortress was built in the time of the Roman Empire.  The rocks are located on the western slopes of the Balkan mountains.

These rock formations are a major tourist attraction in the area.  They have formed fantastic shapes that have been given names, such as the Dervish, the Madonna and the Shepherd Boy.  Each has a name and many have had legends built around them.

The town of Belogradchik is below:

The name Belogradchik translates to "small white town".  If you see it from the air, however it looks more like a "small red town" with all these roofs down below.  I noticed this as we flew over most towns into Eastern Europe.  It looks nothing like flying over the United States.   Why are most of our roofs so colorless?

There was a group of students there that day, on a field trip.  They easily ran up the stairs to the rocks above.

I, on the other hand, decided to stay below and take some photos.

We drove down from the mountain to the town below.

First, we had to convince these men to move their truck so we could get through…

While we were waiting, I noticed this kitty watching us.

Then we were taken to a local place for some coffee and cake.

The decor was interesting…

We got to see only a tiny part of Bulgaria.  When you look at this map, we were in the far northwestern tip of the country, that tiny point that says "Vidin".  We did not see the capital city of Sofia or the beach resorts along the Black Sea to the east.

This is the part of Bulgaria we did not see! (From Google)

Next post:  Romania, the final country we visited (and we didn't see Dracula).