Video Clips & Photos of Area

Above is a typical village view and to the right a shot across the top of Yagoda village in the Valley of the Roses. 

Here is a video clip of Yagoda village and then the area around the village where I have bought and below the view from the road going into my village.

I am afraid my first attempt at videoing was pretty dire but I have rescued a few clips to give you some idea of the sites around Stara Zagora and give you some idea of the landscape. 

Shipka Pass

This is a clip of the view from the top of Shipka pass on the Balkan mountains. The Shipka pass runs from Kazanlak over the mountain to Garbovo and then you can drive on to Veliko Turnovo. There are wonderful views from the top down into the Valley of the Roses with all the lakes and dams and across the mountains to the north and east, towards the small ski resort of Budludja. Click here to view clip. 

Russian Church at Shipka

Here is a short video clip of the church and then the view taken from the car park (although a little hazy).

Thracian Tomb

The 'Valley of the Roses' is also now known as the 'Valley of the Thracian Kings' following the discovery of more than 1,500 Thracian tombs in and around the Kazanlak region. These tombs and temples are over 2,500 years old. A golden mask was found in one of the most famous tombs near Shipka and it now resides in the museum in Kazanlak.

There are a number of tombs available to visitors, including that of King Seuthus III, just outside Shipka. The tomb is built from perfectly carved large square stones with a corridor leading to what was originally a domed temple room with amazing acoustics and then into a sacrificial chamber or what later became the sarcophagus for the king, carved out of one huge slab of rock. The entrance cost is 3 levs per person and includes a guide to explain the history and findings.

Lakes & Dams

There are a number of lakes and dams in the Valley of the Roses. These are used for bathing, water sports, fishing etc. Here is a short clip of one of the lakes. 

Rose Distillery

In the village of Tarnicheni, there is a working rose distillery (and lavender after rose season) which you can visit with prior arrangement. It has been renovated and restored into a beautiful working museum. You can see the old way they used to distil the rose oil (picture on far left above), the still working but older rose distillery (next picture in) and the new more efficient distillery where hundreds of bags of rose petals are brought in and put into the distillation vats. You can purchase rose oil directly from the distillery here.

Stara Zagora

Stara Zagora has nearly all amenities you would want in a major city. It has a medical university and a veterinary university. There are tree lined parks and pedestrian areas, cafes, restaurants, shops, neolithic ruins, a huge park, stadium and more. There is also a new opera theatre being built as the old one burnt down a few years ago, there are roman ruins, museums and such. The Foreign Direct Investment magazine, which is a division of Financial Times Group, ranked Stara Zagora equal to Zurich in 2004 for city of the future and was ahead of all other European cities for quality of life based on low cost living, new accommodation and cultural heritage. 

Budludja Ski Area

Budludja is about a 25 minute drive up the mountain from Kazanlak. The road is fairly good, although windy until you reach near the top when you would struggle to get through if there was a fair amount of snow. You then get to a couple of old rest homes and hotels and this is where you would park.

Once up where the slopes are there is a small drag with a south facing slope and then 2 short drags and a longer button lift. There are a couple of tin shacks at the bottom to hire equipment and get a cup of coffee or beer. 

It was around 8 levs a day to hire equipment and I think 12 levs a day to use the ski lifts. 

The area is mostly used at weekends when there is snow. It would be fine for messing around, sledging, pottering about on skis etc for a day but there is no way you can call this a ski resort. 

Here is a video clip to give you a better impression. 

Spa Resorts

There are a number of small spa resorts where there are open outdoor pools filled with natural warm spring water, however the two main resorts are Pavel Banya and the Stara Zagora spa resort.  There is a smaller one in Yagoda with out door pool as well as indoor baths and massage facilities.

The Stara Zagora mineral baths are located around a 10 minute drive from the city and are built on the site of a 2nd century Roman bath. There are regular buses into the city and the region is under going serious redevelopment with 4 star hotels springing up where the old rest houses were. It is a lovely, peaceful area with great walking and scenery. 

Plovdiv

Plodiv is around an hour or so drive from Stara Zagora and the old town is huddled on a hill with cobbled streets, old timber houses painted in beautiful colours and various shops selling artwork. Many of the houses are museums and there are roman ruins everywhere. Click here for video footage. 

View from monument out across city

As well as the above the medieval city of Veliko Turnovo (below) is only a an hour and half's drive over the Balkan mountains, the coast is a two hour drive and on the way there are the Blue Rocks near Sliven, 

(Lake and hills near Elena)

Every year on the first weekend in June, there is the festival of the roses held in Kazanlak to celebrate the regions rose growing industry and there is a museum dedicated to the subject.