Summer fruits in Jakoruda (market and garden)/ Летни плодове в Якоруда, от пазара и от градината

 

One of the reason while I love summer (not only beacause of all the sunshine, warm temperatures and all the green nature around us) IS the fact that this is one of the reachest in fruits season! So while discovering the mountains at home I also ENJOYED the fresh, yummy and juicy summer products: watermelons, apricots, tomatoes, .... name it! The birth town of my grand-mother Jakoruda (where we start our mountain hikes from) has a very busy market every Saturday. Today I am taking you there, before we pass by our house at the end:-) The beautiful apricots are from our garden, which is vere well taken care of my parents& a helpful neigbour. They were good subject to try my new lens, 35mm macro!

The weekly market in Jakoruda, Bulgaria

 

The small and cozy mountain town Jakoruda (the birth place of my grand-mother, nowadays with some 5.600 inhabitants) is located at the feet of mountain Rila. I have spent many weeks in my summer vacations here, at the birth house of my grand-mother, enjoying the green landscapes, the fresh air, the singing birds and the coziness of this hidden gem...

 

Every Saturday a colourful market takes place. Fruits, veggies, food and tools are available. People are like busy bees, greeting and talking to eachother, checking the different stands and living the market with hand full with bags...End of July and the watermelons and honeymelons were again there, I had some there were simply amazing. I also got one jar of honey, some fresh tomatoes, and, and....:-)).

 

The two pictures below are from the birth house of my grand-mother...

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:-)