 |
Photo-Exploring
Bulgaria's Rhodope hills outside Plovdiv on a mid-August afternoon.
 |
 |
| We went down this dirt
road off the highway between Asenovgrad and Pomporovo to explore a clear,
swift-running mountain stream in the Rhodope hills. |
The rocky shoreline
drops off quickly to a deep pool in the center of the stream. Frogs and
some small water snakes are seen inhabiting the water's edge. |
 |
 |
| Eager to explore, Krassi
quickly finds a narrow, rocky spot and searches for creatures in the cold
clear water. While we saw no fish, only moments later, two fishermen appeared,
found some worms under the stones and in a few minutes had brought in their
first fish. |
The mirror-like reflection
of a deep pool in the stream gave rise to our desire for much closer exploration
off the main roadway. This photo was taken above the stream from the highway,
looking down the valley carved by the stream over the milleniums. |
Difficult to distinguish,
even in the full-size image, there are twenty or more tiny butterflies and
dragonflies flitting here and there among these rocks at the side of the
stream. They are in all shades of blue ranging toward red at one end of
the spectrum and green on the other. |
 |
 |
 |
| Close examination will
uncover the beauty in even the most common of the native flora. A variety
of colorful summer blossoms are easily found on the Bulgarian roadside. |
A variety of clover
growing near the river's edge. While the leaf is nearly identical to the
common red clover found in many parts of North America, the blossom appears
to be more like a small daisy. |
Common bindweed found
blooming on the roadside near the river. It appears identical to its North
American cousin and its vine was choking out neighboring plants. |
 |
 |
 |
This next short side trip was one we absolutely could not resist! This sign in Cyrillic points
the way to the Bulgarian village of "Kosovo" - no battles have
been fought here in modern times.
|
Most of the homes in
Kosovo are built into the hillside. Our photo of the main part of the village
did not save properly. These newer homes are on the opposite hillside from
the original village.
|
The wooden exterior
of this abandoned hillside home rotted away years ago, but you can easily
admire the sturdy well-crafted stonework of the lower portion which remains
intact. It is now a shelter for one family's livestock. |
About Us |
Site Map |
Links |
Privacy Policy |
Contact Us |
Links | ©2004
