Weekend in Tsigov Chark Resort

Georgi Georgiev, VisitBulgaria.NET

Two weeks ago I felt myself quite tired of the busy life in the city and particularly of the active night life, pubs, rock clubs and other places where the alcohol, the loud music and the pretty girls were on the way to destroy my health and nerves. So my friends and I decided to realize some kind of spiritual trip in the mountain. Our destination was Tsigov Chark resort, located on the banks of Batak dam in the Rodope Mountain. This is one of my favorite sites with its magnetic atmosphere.

It was Saturday midday (the previous night was hard-drinking of course), when we finally loaded the car and set out on our journey. After half an hour we left Sofia successfully. It is about two hours driving to Batak dam. The last 30 km are especially picturesque even when the weather is cloudy and misty, such as it was when we were travelling to Tsigov Chark.

We arrived there in the early afternoon and it took us about an hour to find a place to stay. We started our journey without any preliminary reservation, with the idea to make it more adventurous. But the truth is that we are not very organized people. Anyway, finally we found the perfect place for us. A cosy family house for six persons (we were five and not a family), with a local heating system, fully equipped kitchen and the most important facility – a charcoal barbecue.

And this pleasantly furnished house, situated almost near the bank of the dam, surrounded by venerable pine trees, costed just 90 BGN per night. But the barbecue was the most important for us was. As a real carnivorous we rushed to the local supermarket and filled the luggage-grid of the car with any type of meat, stakes and sausages. Of course we bought some cheese as an appetizer for the wine and some vegetables for the brandy. The only girl in our company was a vegetarian, so he had the honour to prepare the salad while the rest of us, as real cavemen, took up with making the fire for the barbecue. When the coal was ready I took up with one of my favourite occupations – roasting the meat. Oh God, I love the smoke from the barbecue rising up to my face, the smell of the roasting meat and the fresh mountain air at the same time.

When everything was ready we laid the table, filled up the glasses, said “cheers” and started the real feast. Everything was at hand for the perfect evening with my best friends in a mountain lodge - ewer full of good wine, delicious meal and of course the guitar. I can’t describe what happened next and probably I should not, but we had a real good time…

On the next morning I woke up on the sofa in the ground floor. Obviously I was the only one, who could not reach the second floor of the house where the bedroom premises were situated. My friends were already awake. It was vital for us to go for a walk to have some fresh air. And we did it. The weather was cool and cloudy and a tiny mist was floating above the waters of the dam. It made the place almost unrealistic and mysterious. We spend some time staring at the magnificent view and everyone was lost in his thoughts, but after several minutes the hunger got the upper hand over the romance and we decided to go to Batak which is just 3 km away from the dam.

After we had hot tasty chicken soup, meat balls and potatoes in the restaurant we have visited two years ago, we went in the history museum and in the legendary church where 2000 were killed during the April uprising in 1876. After that my friends wanted to go somewhere among the nature and I offered them to visit Beglik dam. It is situated higher in the Rodope Mountain and the site is extremely beautiful. It fascinated me when I was there for a couple of hours in the summer. But now, when I saw the frozen waters, the white snow and the tiny fog above the dark pine tree forests, I was speechless.

Lately in the evening we were back in our small cosy house in Tsigov Chark. The only girl of our company was preparing the salad, I was standing next to the barbecue breathing in the smell of the roasted meat. And my friends were sitting around the table with the guitar in their hands and a glass of wine in front of their eyes.