Belogradchik Rocks and Venetsa Cave


My first trip outside of the Bulgarian capital was a four-hour bus ride to the north-western small town of Belogradchik, known for its rock formations and old fortress.  I climbed up the fortress itself, and the nearby lookout rocks, but also did a 10km walk on small paths through the surrounding trees - with occasional views of some of the rock formations, and I really enjoyed just being in nature, with jays flitting about, lizards running off in a panic, and the cool air circulating around the trees.

The only thing that might have improved this trip was to have delayed it by a couple of weeks, as they were setting up a stage for a festival of opera, ballet and musicals to be held in the grounds of the fortress.  Difficult to have full information on all such things when you are travelling though.

When I checked in to the guest house in Belogradchik, the owner was very keen to tell me about something or somewhere he called 'Venetsa'.  Google translate didn't really help, so he dug up some online photos - as a result of which I made a trip on my final morning to this place:

This 200m long cave complex was discovered in 1970 through activities at a next-door quarry, and was opened to visitors in 2015.  It is estimated (from the size of the largest stalagmite) to be 10 million years old.  It is now flooded with variously coloured lights - not sure if that adds to the experience or not - but it is amazing.


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