The Eastern Rhodope Mountains
The images shown on this page are by kind permission from one of Bulgaria's most accomplished landscape photographers, Evgeni Dinev. Visit Evgeni's web site to view more of his work and copyright information.
The Rhodope Mountains are a huge range in the Southern Bulgarian Balkan Peninsula. The mountain, buried in age-old forests and greenery, is a diverse and complicated system of mountain massifs, valleys and mountain plains. The length of this huge mountain range is 240 km from west to east and 100 km from north to south. It is associated with the ancient legend about the mythical Thracian singer Orpheus and with unique architectural monuments and traditional houses which are in harmony with the mountain scenery.
The Eastern Rhodope region has been inhabited since the dawn of European civilization and it is the richest in the Balkans in megalithic monuments from Thracian antiquity. The fortresses in this part of the mountain are possibly the best preserved medieval strongholds in the territory of present-day Bulgaria. The climate in the Eastern Rhodope Mountains is transitory between moderately continental and mediterranean and its unique location on the Bulgarian/Greek border is the reason for the permanent warm and fresh weather. The temperature can reach lows of -9 to highs of +40 degrees C and the region holds the record for the most sunny days in Bulgaria.
There are few places in Europe boasting such biological variety when considering your mountain holiday. Countless breathtaking views, forgotten fortresses, rare and protected plant and animal species, grasses, flowers, herbs, shrubs and trees, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals.
