Abandoned Amidst Beauty - Part V from Belogradchik, Bulgaria

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Welcome to Part V of my series on Belogradchik...Part V, how is that possible? How many photos do I have from this place anyway? 😁 So far, I have shared a monochromatic prelude to this series, showed you the natural beauty and the ancient fortress plus taken you on a walking tour around our neighborhood. (You can find links to all of those posts below.) This was the first stop on my 2 month long road trip around western Bulgaria with fellow Steemian @brentssanders.

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After our hike around the fortress, we thought we would go for a drive in the countryside. What we found is like nothing I've ever seen in my neck of the woods in California.

The Belogradchik Rocks are spread throughout the Western Balkan Mountain range over 50 square kilometers. There are 5 groups of sandstone/rock formations. To tell you the truth, I don't know which group this picture shows because most of the time I had no idea what direction I was heading. I can't begin to describe how disoriented I felt driving in Bulgaria, especially at the beginning. Thank heavens for my co-pilot!

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We came across an abandoned cemetery right along side of the road that extended back a ways into the trees. This shot belongs to Brent...I am moved by this image. Who was this man or any of the people buried here, for that matter? They are all one with nature now.

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These shots show the haphazardness of the headstones. I don't recall seeing many names or dates on the stones. Perhaps there were markers closer to the ground hidden by the brush.

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This little house caught our eye. It was a bit of a jaunt from the main road but we felt it was worth investigating.

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I obviously did some aggressive editing here completely changing the look and feel of the day. Weird but worth sharing. I especially like the bonus UFO. 👽

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Here is an inadvertent selfie I took while experimenting with the panoramic feature on my iPhone. Look at this gorgeous valley we had all to ourselves!

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Are you beginning to sense a theme here? We were obviously drawn to these abandoned places this fine afternoon. This house must have been gorgeous back in the day. The interior designer in me could see the former glory as well as the potential. Out on the road, in front of the house, was a baba walking her cows...not a common site for me. She seemed like quite a colorful character. For the life of me, I don't know why I didn't ask if I could take her picture but I have confidence you all can use your imaginations.

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I am giving you a little peek inside plus an artistic exterior shot here but you can see much more of this place in my post from a few months ago. In my younger days, I would have jumped at a chance to restore a place like this!

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It was time for us to go if we were going to make it back to the fortress by sundown...which we did. We had had an extraordinary day that was topped off by an encounter with a wild pheasant crossing the road right in front of us. Brent practically jumped out of the moving car to see if he could get a picture of this beautiful bird. The bugger was off into the grass before he could catch up...the memory will have to do.

I hope you were able to feel the mystery and wonder of these places that were abandoned amidst the beauty of the Belogradchik countryside. It was an experience I won't soon forget!

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Check out my previous posts from in and around Belogradchik:
The Prelude
The Series Begins
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Exploring the Back Roads of Northwest Bulgaria

!steemitworldmap 43.617970 lat 22.691633 long Just Outside Belogradchik d3scr