From Rila (mountain) with love: great views and colourful flowers

 

I have reported here once last year about the highest Bulgarian mountain Rila (with Musala being 2925,4 m high). The place is magical, once you have been there you always long to go back...I was going up every summer with my grand parents when I was little. It was standard nature escape... So this year I did it again with my parents! We took another hike trail and had a fantastic weather and amazing encounters. Enjoy the breathtaking views of lakes and colourful inhabitants! I hope you can feel how special, quiet and cozy this place is from my photo-tour...

Next to enjoying the magnificent views, refreshing out feet in the lake water and sweating while climbing up we did not forget the most important activity! We have picked some fresh Rila thyme (picture below), which is used in almost every Bulgarian family as aromatic tea or best home caugh-remedy in the cold season! I love to collect this plant as my fingers are parfumed for some time afterwards with the thyme oil:-))

 

Rila mountain hike and two of its lakes...

 

In the hot summer days Bulgarian people like to escape the heat in the refreshing shadows of the trees in the mountains. Among all mountains in my country (and on the Balkans), Rila is the highest mountain with its peak Mussala (2925m). The peak is some 8 meters higher than the top of Olympus-mountain, the highest one at our neighbors, Greece. The name Rila comes from Thracian word for the "well-watered", which is not a surprise at all. The mountain has some 200 glacial lakes as well as several hot springs! Some of Balkans longest and deepest rivers originate from Rila: Maritza, Iskar, Mesta. One of the most famous lake group are the Seven Rila lakes, about which I have already wrote.

Last weekend I had the big pleasure to visit two more lakes...A big part of the Rila mountain is a national park due to its amazing flora and fauna. This is also the biggest national park in Bulgaria...We went first up to the Fish Lake (first picture) and then refreshed our feet and toes in the crystal clear water of the Dead Lake (6th and 7th picture), which is located at 2100m. Enjoy the hike with me:-)

The Seven Rila Lakes/ Седемте рилски езера

A really magical place in Bulgaria is without any doubt the circuit of the seven Rila Lakes, all seven located between 2100 and 2700m altitude.

The Rila mountain is the highest mountain in Bulgaria with its 2973m, each lake carries a name associated with its most characteristic feature. The highest one is called "Сълзата (Salzata)"/(En., "The Tear") due to its clear waters that allow visibility in depth. The next one in height carries the name "Окото (Okoto)"/ (En., "The Eye") after its almost perfectly oval form. Okoto is the deepest cirque lake in Bulgaria, with a depth of 37.5 m.

"Бъбрека (Babreka)"/ ("The Kidney") is the lake with the steepest shores of the entire group.
"Близнака (Bliznaka)"/ ("En., The Twin") is the largest one by area. "Трилистника (Trilistnika)"/ ("The Trefoil") has an irregular shape and low shores. The shallowest lake is "Рибното езеро (Ribnoto ezero)"/ (En., "The Fish Lake") and the lowest one is "Долното езеро (Dolnoto ezero)"/ (En., "The Lower Lake"), where the waters that flow out of the other lakes are gathered to form the Dzherman River.

I was pretty lucky to see the National Park of the Seven Rila lakes(one time) in 2007, when access to them was quiet limited due to the fact that one should just climb up. Since 2 years there is a chair lift bringing all tourists up to the first 2 lakes and made the area more touristic than in the past...I have signed several petitions, as several organisations were fighting the completely illegal construction of the lift in the past years. Unfortunately it did not help...Lets hope and pray that nature stay long untouched and unspoiled there, where one feels like a (tiny) piece of mother NATURE!