The Vazov Trail in Bulgaria. Also, Happy National Holiday!

Hello, people of the world!

It is the National Holiday here in Bulgaria, the 3rd of March. At least it was when I started writing this.

On the same day in 1878 Bulgaria was declared a free state, after being under the Ottoman Empire for almost five centuries.

Skaklya has a meaning close to something jumping, prancing...or in this case - cascading. As waterfalls usually do.

A lot of us have the habit of celebrating by traveling across the country, visiting places, honoring the beautiful land in a tourist kind of pilgrimage. Today me and my fiancèe, we chose a trail named after a person who has become a cultural icon of the New Bulgarian Kingdom, as it was called. Ivan Vazov, a poet and writer, dubbed The Patriarch of Bulgarian Literature.

He has left a lot of trails in our culture, not only literal ones. Part of his work has been dedicated to nature and to the praise of our beautiful sites.

This trail begins with an asphalt road climbing up the Balkans from Bov railway station. And that would be a street, also bearing the name of Ivan Vazov.

Next part of this seemingly same asphalt road...oh, alright, after a fork of sorts, is named after a character of Vazov. Granpa Yotso (awkward translation, right?). The short story of the writer had a title translating as Grandpa Yotso Observes. And it is about a blind old man who is a witness of the changes happening in these parts. A railroad being built. The same one that brought us there today.

After that 1.4 km stretch we are on the forest trail going along river, backtracking it to its sources.

A very interesting place made me risk my shoes and feet being soaked with almost freezing water. There was a lot of climbing down slopes, avoiding bushes and branches, balancing on stones, etc., while carrying a tripod and my small camera with me while my darling Silviya kept the heavy artillery with her.

After a while we reached a path winding up and past interesting trees like this one...

Eventually, it would bring us at the base of Bovska Skaklya Waterfall. Some of the water was frozen on the cliffs. But the shapes below where the water drops fell during the winter looked extraterrestrial. Or like shapes you can find in caves. Only made of old snow and dust.

The path after that is steep and it takes about half an hour more. During which everybody would like to catch a breath from time to time. And the ascend ends on the plateau from which we have some view east towards the place we came from.

There's also a waterfall behind us.

This is it for now, I wanted to post this before the 3rd of March is over. I may add something in another post. I hope you liked this part.

Take care and travel safe!

Yours,

Manol Donchev