Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Cleansing yourself with the spa waters and massage therapies of Devin spa
resort (
Click here
)
in the Rodopi Mountains
History
The vastness of southern Bulgaria and its mountainous geography have graced it with
great historical diversity. It was the stomping ground of the ancient Thracians, an enigmat-
ic, warlike group of tribes that left no written records in their own language, but once
dominated large parts of modern-day Bulgaria, northeastern Greece and today's European
Turkey. Thracian customs and beliefs have been passed down to us in Greek. Their mys-
tery religion found its supreme expression at the Temple of the Great Gods on the Greek
island of Samothraki, influenced antique religion, attracting initiates even from Macedoni-
an and Egyptian royalty.
Today's 'Bulgarian Thrace' - the section between the Sredna Gora Mountains, the
Rodopi Mountains and the Black Sea coast - was the birthplace of the legendary slave
leader Spartacus, and Orpheus, the tragic, semimythical inventor of music. Some two-
thirds of historical Thrace lie in Bulgaria, with Greece and Turkey splitting the remainder.
Although the Thracians have long died out, there is a certain proud, earthy toughness
common to the different inhabitants of these three parts of Thrace that might, just perhaps,
express the spirit of that long-lost civilisation.
In the deep south of Bulgaria, the sparsely populated Rodopi Mountains, dotted with
tiny, untouristed villages, attest to the more recent Ottoman legacy. The Muslim popula-
tions of Turks and Pomaks (Bulgarian Slavs who converted to Islam to win special bene-
fits during Ottoman times) are evidenced here by minarets that pierce the boundless sky in
villages unchanged over the centuries.
On the other side, in the western region of Pirin, towns such as Sandanski and Gotse
Delchev preserve the names of heroic revolutionaries who fought the Ottomans at the turn
of the 20th century to free Macedonia from Turkish rule. The issue of the similarities and
differences between Bulgarian and Macedonian national identities and history remain con-
troversial topics to this day, something you may experience while travelling in this region.
