Going Up On Chepan, Going Down to the Dragoman Marshland
Sredna Gora at the Village of Svezhen
The third of the four days off because of the National Day of Cultrure and Slavic Script - 24 may, was the first sunny one after the long rainy series from Easter.
It was already 10 when a friend of mine and I were already driving along the Plovdiv - Karlovo road. Unnoticeably the field was going behind while the Sredna Gora mountains were rising up in front of us, and beyond was the realm of the Balkan mountains and nothing else. Chernozem, Dolna Mahala, Pesnopoy, Banya, Beguntsi, Domlyan, Mrachenik. Going through all these villages the number of cars was decreasing at the expense of road curves.
'He who falls in freedom's fight
Dies not - he's mourned
By earth and sky, Nature and beast,
And singers remember him in song...'
These words marked the first part of our adventure. It started soon after passing Mrachenik, when we stopped our car at the beginning of path to the grave of Hadzhi Dimitar - a legendary Bulgarian voivod working for the Libertation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule.
This walk appeared to be too short for us so our next stop was the village of Svezhen. Despite the crumbling architectural monuments, we found a good number of memorial tablets paying tribute to past events and honoured people. As well as hope of a better future.
For the next time we left two more paths that we found on our way back home. To reveal the secret of the multicomponent route, please look through the gallery HERE.
