We are close to Belogradchik, near Vidin, Bulgaria. It is dark and wet. We are slowly driving to a single-line road through the forest. To say it is a road maybe is too much. It barely looks like a route. No car lights, no human voices, just insects and jackals screaming that night. There are big holes on the road, and many rocks, and the car is really struggling. It is getting harder to drive. Suddenly, behind the corner we see a projector pointing up. In front of us, we are seeing the magnificent Belogradchik Rocks in all their glory. A massive rock formation, comparable to no other with more than a thousand years of history.
Tonight we camp under it, and tomorrow we will climb it, and explore its present and its grim history.
The morning came with an abrupt sound. A very strange noise. Just like a dragon, 5 seconds of “B-r-r-r-r-r-r”, followed by silence. Then again “B-r-r-r-r-r”.
I jumped from my sleeping bag, open the tent and what do you think I saw? A massive air balloon rising just 50 meters away from us. There were 3-4 balloons, getting ready one by one to rise and hover over the great Belogradchik rocks. It was still early, so we made a coffee to enjoy the beautiful site. When we properly open our eyes, we will learn more about the history of Belogradchik and the bloody rebellion of 1850.
Where is Belogradchik and how to get to Belogradchik?
If you are wondering where Belogradchik and Belogradchik Rocks are, here you have it.
Belogradchik is located in northwest Bulgaria and it is a part of Vidin Province. The name Belogradchik can be translated as the little white town.
You can get to Belogradchik by car from the following Bulgarian cities (Click on them to see Google Navigation instructions):
From Vidin to Belogradchick takes 55 minutes (53km).
From Lom to Belogradchik takes 1 hour, and 5 minutes (63km).
From Montana to Belogradchik, takes 1 hour, 5 minutes (66km).
From Sofia to Belogradchik, takes 2 hours, 55 minutes (179km).
You can get to Belogradchik by car from the following Serbian cities (Click on them to see Google Navigation instructions):
From Nis to Belogradchik, takes 3 hours (152km).
From Sofia to Belogradchik, takes 4 hours (300km).
You can get to Belogradchik by car from the following Romanian cities (Click on them to see Google Navigation instructions):
From Calafat to Belogradchik, takes 1 hour, and 20 minutes (70 km.).
From Orsova to Belogradchik, takes 3 hours and 5 minutes (192 km.).
From Bucharest to Belogradchik, takes 5 hours, and 45 minutes (383 km.).
Top 4 what to see near Belogradchik?
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Belogradchik Rocks. So we woke up and it was time to explore. The first and most obvious choice was the Belogradchik Rocks. They are massive, and you can see them all around. They just beg you to climb on them!
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Belogradchik Fortress. After than, we were eager to get to the Belogradchik Fortress and learn about its history. It turned out that it has a lot of stories to tell, about many battles during the centuries.
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Belogradchik town. Before leaving Belogradchik we went around the town itself. It is a small town, but it has some nice accommodations and restaurants.
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Magura Cave. And the last stop we went to was the Magura Cave. It is a long cave, with very beautiful tunnels. Shame, that it has become too touristic. Now the price is considerably higher than other similarly interesting caves in the area, and its main attraction, the cave paintings, was forbidden for tourists. I had a different view of Magura Cave when I visited it in 2011, and sadly, back then it was better.
Let's see more about these places.
The Belogradchik Rocks
The Belogradchik Rocks are ancient rock formations, spread over an area of around 50 square kilometers, that have more than 200 million years! The dinosaurs were roaring around them, can you imagine? A T-Rex trying to climb up with its small hands hahahahaha. Ok, I got a big out of the point.
The Belogradchik Rocks are a combination of sandstones and conglomerate rocks with different colors. Some are red, others yellow, beige, and brown. The highest can reach up to 200 meters in height. They have various shapes and sizes, thanks to natural erosion, denudation, and various natural factors. Even sand-clay soldering, thanks to the high temperatures, 20 million years ago.
The Belogradchik Rocks are part of the UNESCO world heritage site (Global Geoparks Network) and the European Geoparks Network.
It was the Bulgarian entry to the New 7 Wonders of Nature, but sadly it couldn’t get into the list, because there were not so many Bulgarian to vote for them. We are just 6.9 million people.
The local people have named many of the rocks: The Madonna, the Horseman, the Monks, the Mushrooms, Adam and Even, The Schoolgirl, The Bear, the Dervish, The Shepherd Boy, and more. They even created stories for them. Here are two of the legends of the Belogradchik Rocks.
The Legend of the Madonna of Belogradchik (The Madonna rock, a part of Belogradchik Rocks).
Once upon a time, there was a woman, so beautiful like no other. Hidden under her nun’s rope, she was living in a monastery on the Belogradchik Rocks.
The oldest nun, the Mother Superior was aware of the tremendous beauty this nun had, and she was often reminding her. “You are young and beautiful, but you belong to God and no other, remember that”.
One day, there was a celebration in the village, for Petrovden (the day of Saint Peter), and the nun went there. Between laughing and fun, she saw one extraordinary man. A young strong guy, riding a white horse. The sparks were too strong and she broke her vow to God.
9 months later, the cry of a baby echoed the rooms of the monastery. The nun couldn’t hide what she did. The Mother Superior was mad. How could she betray God?
She was so angry that she banished the nun, never to return to the monastery again. Never to wear a nun’s rope and to live as an outcast, alone with her child.
This destiny was worse than death for the nun. The people looked at her despised. Nobody wanted to talk with her or help her in any way.
She suffer for a long time and eventually came to the monastery to beg for mercy. Her call was not heard, and the monks and nuns threw her away.
She cried and cried. “Oh God, I am sorry, please God, forgive my sins and take me with you. Please, God!”
Then the miracle happened. The day turned into a night, thunders and lightning covered the sky.
God saw everything. His wrath was strong, and he raised the rocks from the ground, breaking the monastery into pieces. Not a single person there was spared.
The nun and her baby became rocks and were called the Madonna rock. The Monks were petrified(The Monks' rocks) too, and the young man also became a part of this sculpture formation as the Horseman rock.
God was not merciful.
The Legend of the Schoolgirl of Belogradchik (The Schoolgirl rock, a part of Belogradchik Rocks).
Once upon a time, there was a young and beautiful schoolgirl that lived in a town near the Belogradchik Rocks. She studied in the hunchback dervish's school.
She was young and pretty. The young hammersmith of the town was armless against her beauty and he fell in love.
Their love was strong, but they had to hide it. Back then, the girls had to be pure, if they wanted to get an education. That is why they were meeting away from the town, near the Subashin's spring, in secrecy.
But her beauty attracted the wrong eyes too. The headmaster dervish also got interested.
The old guy was fat and ugly, so he decided that the only way to have her is by force.
He followed her one day to the spring and attacked her. The poor girl was resisting. She managed to hit the dervish and run. The dervish was catching her. She was screaming, but there was nobody around. Suddenly a massive bear came out. The girl, instead of being scared of the ferocious animal, ran even faster toward it. She preferred to die, eaten by the beast than be raped by another beast.
Then the miracle happened. The day turned into a night, thunders and lightning covered the sky.
God came and petrified all of them creating the Schoolgirl rock, the Bear rock, and the Dervish rock.
The hammersmith was so angry, that he put all his anger into his work. He never fell in love again, but he became one of the best smiths in the whole Balkans.
So, back then, God was solving the problems by petrifying everybody. Good, bad, and neutral. No people, no problems. And leaving beautiful rock formations behind. With the number of rocks around, this zone had to be full of problematic people, hahahaha.
Belogradchik Fortress Kaleto
The entrance fee to Belogradchik Fortress Kaleto is 6 BGN (around 3 euros) for adults.
For students and pensioners, the entrance fee for Belogradchik Fortress Kaleto is 3 BGN (around 1.50 euros).
Last updated in Summer 2022.
The Fortress of Belogradchik is located in the Balkan Mountains and it is the main attraction of Belogradchick, apart from the Belogradchik Rocks. It is a very well preserved fortress, with walls, high as 12 meters and thick as 2 meters. The whole area of the fortress is 12 square km. (109 900 sq.ft.) and it has 3 parts.
We went there on a very sunny day, and there were not too many tourists so it was awesome to walk around and explore.
What we learned was that the first fortress here was built in Roman Empire’s time. The Romans used natural protection from the rocks and made a watch tower.
Many years later, in the 14th century, when the Belogradchik fortress was part of Bulgaria, Tsar Ivan Stratsimir, extended the fortress with fortified garrisons. The fortification was one of the best in Bulgaria at the time.
Sadly, even the best fortifications couldn’t resist the Ottoman (Turkish) invasion and in 1396, the fortress was captured. The Ottomans further expand it for their defensive needs.
What was the most interesting for us was the Belogradchik Uprising of 1850.
The Belogradchik Uprising of 1850, the first organized Liberation Movement of Bulgaria
Finally, the dramatic story that you were all waiting for.
The year is 1850. The Ottoman Empire is in its downfall, there are many separation movements all across it, the Serbs were just one step away from being completely independent and Russia is threatening it constantly.
One peripheral part of the Ottoman Empire is exactly Belogradchik, Lom, and Vidin. Because it was a frontier, there were far more soldiers than in other parts. That brought big problems.
There were big clashes between the Bulgarian Christians, who lived there and those Muslim soldiers. The main issue was that The Ottomans took many lands of the Bulgarian villages illegally, and add taxes, far bigger than those of the Muslims, and that brought an economic burden to those Bulgarians.
Who likes more taxes? Not Bulgarians! They started to dream about a separation. They wanted another state, where they can have equal rights. They were looking at the Serbian neighbors with envy and inspiration.
The most important people of this region were Valcho Bochev, dyado Bozhin, Lilo Panov, Nedyalko Vlahat, Konstantin Yanev, Petko Kazandzi and Tzolo Todorov.
These guys started a rebellion union, which was gathering in Rakovishki monastery and planning the attack. It was the first Bulgarian liberation movement of the 19th century!
More than 20 years earlier than the April Uprising, the Belogradchik Uprising was taking shape!
They were in contact with many immigrants from Hungary and Poland that were hiding in Vidin at this time, taking ideas and planning.
They tried to find support both from Serbia and Russia.
The Serbians were saying they will help, but there were actions showing the opposite. They were sabotaging the movement in different ways.
The other ally didn’t help either. In 1848, Valcho Bochev and Lilo Panov managed to talk with Konstantin Nikolaevich, a prince of Russia. They ask for military help, soldiers, and actions! But the prince responded with a cold answer. “Show me that you really want to be free first, otherwise we won’t help you”.
The cold shower the Bulgarians received didn’t stop them. Even without help, the Bulgarians were not giving up. They wanted freedom! Even without the help of 3rd parties.
The organization of the uprising was going strong. There were many who wanted to join and help with money for weapons. Sadly, the economic situation didn’t help them to raise a lot of money.
The Bulgarians from Lom and Vidin were also helping.
After a while, they put a date for the uprising – 01.06.1850 (Spasovden)!
The crazy organization was going well. Everybody was joining the uprising. Things were going incredible. The number of participants was around 10 000 to 15 000 people.
They were strongly believing that it is the right moment. That the world will see how brave the Bulgarians are and they will help their battle for justice. Finally, Bulgaria will be free again, after almost 500 years of Turkish occupation.
And then, one day before on 31.05.1850, there was a fight between some of the Bulgarians and Turkish soldiers. The Bulgarians killed them. That made a lot of noise and the leaders of the rebellion got worried. They didn’t want the uprising to start before, because they needed to perform coordinated attacks in Lom first, then Belogradchik, and finally Vidin.
The news about the first death Turkish exited Baba Stoyna, the wife of Tzolo Todorov. She said to one of the Turkish soldiers that their end is coming and that his husband will lead the fight.
Bragging too early is never a good practice!
Of course, the Turkish soldiers didn’t wait a lot and arrested Tzolo Todorov, and all of his close allies like Lilo Panov, Valcho Bochev, Petko Kazadhi, dyado Bozhin, and more.
At that time, there were not so many educated people. Arresting all of the organizers left the Belogradchik Uprising without heads.
But that didn’t stop the Bulgarians. The arrest of those men triggered captain Krastyo to attack Lom with around 1000 Bulgarians. This attack failed and captain Krastyo was killed. Those who survived turned towards Belogradchik with their new leader Ivan Kulin.
In Vidin, a bigger group of 3000 Bulgarians, with the leader Petko Marinov, sieged the Vidin Fortress, where the Turkish were hiding. On 03.06.1850, the traitors Petko Nikolov and the priest, father Tzeko, told the Turkish how many Bulgarians are out there, and their equipment. The Turkish were better prepared so they decided to fight. Soon the Turkish soldiers killed many of the rebels and the rest escaped.
But the heaviest battle was in Belogradchik. The Turkish hid inside the Belogradchik Fortress. The siege was created by around 10 000 Bulgarians. The number was spectacular, but sadly they only had around 200 firearms. Some say that the firearms were even less. Not more than 50! They were eagerly waiting for the promised weapons from Serbian. Or help from Russia. The Russian soldiers were just on the other side of the Danube, and now, the Bulgarians proved already they are serious. Surly Russia will help.
But no, Russia didn’t.
Those rebels waited for the group of Lom to come and help with firearms, but sadly only a few soldiers came from there since Lom’s attack was unsuccessful.
The Turkish were stuck inside of the Belogradchik Fortress, without knowing the exact number of the Bulgarian rebels, and nothing about their weapons.
On 04.06.1850, an official message from Serbia came, banning any export of arms to the Vidin region. Serbian didn’t help with weapons, as it previously said, so most of the Bulgarians were fighting with agricultural tools.
Finally, after 6 days of siege, a big Turkish army came from Vidin. They killed many of the Bulgarians and destroyed many houses. The Belogradchik Rocks were covered in blood. It has been a massacre. Dead bodies were falling like autumn’s leaves. Firearms vs shovels. The Bulgarians had no chance to win without modern weapons.
But the few Bulgarian survivors had the last word. They escaped to Serbia and the mountains, and they vowed never to return to these lands. Leaving a poor region, that won’t provide tax money to the Ottoman Empire. The Vidin area became an empty zone, with a few small villages and minimum development.
Even today, the Vidin region was poorly inhabitable, and it is one of the worse economic areas of the whole European union.
The Magura Cave
The entrance fee to the Magura cave is 12 BGN (around 6 euros).
For students and pensioners, the price is 6 BGN (around 3 euros).
The parking cost is 2.40 BGN (1.2 euros) per hour for a car or 6 BGN (3 euros) per hour for large vehicles (buses, etc.). Last Updated Summer 2022.
The Magura Cave is one of the best-known caves in Bulgaria. It is located around 25 km. north of Belogradchik, near the Rabisha village. What makes Magura cave so popular are the cave paintings. On the walls of the cave, there are cave paintings from the Epipaleolithic, Neolithic, Eneolithic, and early Bronze Ages. To say it in normal words, there are 10 000 years old cave drawings, which are one of the oldest cave drawings in the whole of Europe.
What these ancient people painted were hunting scenes, religious ceremonies, and different deities. And of course men with big… sticks in the middle.
According to some Bulgarian scientists (Stoev and Muglova 1999), these old people used a solar calendar to count the days and prepare for religious celebrations. Something that nobody was doing at this time.
Apart from the paintings, the cave is massive. It is at least 2.5 km long and there are plenty of stone formations and many bats.
The cave is great, but there is one huge BUT. Since it became a protected heritage, access to the part of the cave painting is closed to the public. So you won’t be able to see a major attraction.
I managed to see them back in 2011, but probably only scientists will be able to see them in the future and that is sad. People say that it was closed because the heat that people were bringing to the cave was damaging the painting.
Also, the entrance to the cave is open only once per hour. If you miss the entrance hour, you need to wait until the next.
Honestly, I don’t recommend it already.
Belogradchik town itself
It is a small town, but you can find some nice accommodations at a very good price. What you can enjoy in the town is the little town square with various coffee shops and restaurants. There is a small museum – Belogradchik History Museum. There you can learn a bit more about the 1850 Belogradchik uprising and the history of the region. The entrance fee is 3 BGN (around 1.50 euros) for adults (above 18 years old) and 2 BGN (around 1 euro) for younger people (less than 18 years old)
What else to see around Belogradchik?
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Astronomic observatory Belogradchik (1.2 km away). It is a part of the Bulgarian Academy of Science. The visitors to the observatory can see the night sky of Bulgaria, and learn more about stargazing in general.
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Bashovishka church in Oreshets village (4 km away). Not really spectacular, but if you are a fan of medieval churches, why not check it out.
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Bashovska Cave (4km away). It is a nice cave nearby.
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Lepenitsa Cave (4km away). It is a part of the Belogradchik Rocks so it has the brownish-reddish color of the rocks.
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Kozarnika Cave (6 km. Away). This one is the goat cave. It is 210 meters long. What is interesting about it is that there, a long time ago, cave people were living.
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Venetsa Cave (14 km. Away). It is one of the newly-opened caves for visitors. The first tourists arrive in 2015. It is a really beautiful cave and it has light effects. There are 5 halls with a total length of 200 meters.
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Bela Voda waterfall (23 km away). It is located on the river Stakevska. It is around 15-meter high. There is short trekking, that starts from Stakevtsi village and finishes at Bela Voda waterfall. It takes around 35 minutes by walking.
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Rabisha lake (27 km away). It is located really close to Magura Cave. It is one of the biggest lakes in Bulgaria. You can have fun and even enjoy a boat trip on it. If it is warm enough, why not swimming too? Yes, it is not like a sea beach, but it is still very enjoyable.
What else to do near Belogradchik?
So, we gave you three great locations near Belogradchik, and even more in the surroundings, but there are more things to do here:
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Fly with hot air balloons over Belogradchik Rocks.
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4x4 safari ride near the Belogradchik Rocks.
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ATV ride near the Belogradchik Rocks.
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Boat trip with a Dragon boat on Rabisha lake
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Horse ride and e-bike ride tour.
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Hiking with a guide.
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Eat Bulgarian food.
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Drink Bulgarian drinks.
Check details about these activities in our article “Best things to do in Belograchik”.
What's next?
So, Belogradchik was a great destination, and even the small disappointment of Magura Cave didn’t leave a bad impression. Honestly, the Prohodna Cave(Eyes of God cave), and the Devetashka Cave were better, but never-mind. The area is awesome and you should visit it at least for a weekend, no matter if you are from Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania or another country.
From here, we are heading towards Vidin, and then we will cross the border to Orsova (Romania) on our trip towards Budapest (Hungary).
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What you can see around?
If traveling around north Bulgaria is your jam, don’t miss Lovech, Lovech surroundings, and Dryanovo too. There are many interesting places in Bulgaria!