Manastirishte Again

After a few weeks of big hikes with long drives to the starting point, it was time for something familiar and relaxing, our beloved Manastirishte. We enjoy our hikes here so much, that husband is inclined to come here every second week :)

The forecasts for today were for windy, but sunny day with some clouds and fortunately the weather was in agreement with the forecasters and even exceeded our expectations - it was quite warm and the wind was pretty moderate. 

Hike info:

Date: 22 November 2025

Destination: peak Manastirishte (1338 m)

Mountain: Plana

Total length: 8 km

Elevation gain: 160 m

Total duration (plus picnic): about 3 hours

Average difficulty: 2 / 10 

We started around 10 o'clock from home and at noon we were already on the peak

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxers, knitted socks, Burda Cargo pants, Burda blouse

I: lingerie, Sinclair Lotte Hoodie, Love Notions Sabrina Slims II

 

Lately we have our picnic on the table at the summit, but today we decided to try a new place on the southern slopes of the peak.

The view from our picnic spot, where we had our traditional tortillas and cold beer, sitting on the warm grass. Lately we've been very picky about our picnic places and today, on our way back, we tested a couple of new picnic spots for our next hike. A grassy patch on the southern slope under the peak with a clear view to the village and the mountains across looked most promising and will probably be our  picnic place when we next climb Manastirishte.

And back to the village along a partially alternative trail. Short and easy, but extremely satisfying.

Pchelina November 2025

It is a tradition for us, after climbing Rudina mountain, to make the 30 min drive to Pchelina dam and take the short hike to the rocks and the chapel over the dam.

The drive from home to the village of Sirishtnik is about an hour and a half, the hiking trail on Rudina mountain is short and it only makes sense to combine it with another short hike nearby. 

The Friday afternoon on Pchelina was warm and quiet and we spent a leisurely hour there, sipping our beers and watching the birds and the calm waters of the lake. 

Hike info:

Date: 14 November 2025

Destination: Pchelina

Mountain region: Kraishte

Total length: 7.5 km

Elevation gain: 160 m

Total duration (plus rests): about 2 and a half hours

Average difficulty:  2 / 10 

 

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

 

I: lingerie, Sinclair blouse

Husband: men's boxers, knitted socks, Burda cargo pants, Burda blouse, Burda hoodie

 

The birds at the lake - ducks, herons, cormorants, gulls, are fascinating to watch, even without special bird-watching binoculars. 

An autumn tree with curious "fruit" - I see sparrows, finches, greenfinches, buntings :)

Jam-Filled Muffins

The parking lot for the hiking trail in the village of Sirishtnik is a small square at the end of the village, near some abandoned houses. The people and the houses are now gone, but the fruit trees are still giving fruit and mid-November there were some scattered quinces on the grass under the quince tree at the end of the parking lot. Last year, when we hiked there more or less at the same time of year, we gathered a handful of fruits and made quince jam, which came out very aromatic and delicious.

This year the quince harvest was even bigger and we made almost a dozen and a half jars of jam, which should last us years :) Here is the method and recipe we applied this time:

The total amount of quinces we gathered was 3.5 kg. We washed them and put them in hot water to boil until soft, so that they would be easier to cut and clean. Then we took them out of the water (which we preserved), let them cool and cleaned them. After all cores were removed, the harvest yielded about 2.5 kg quince meat. To that we added about 1 l of the water, in which the fruit was cooked and blended them with a hand blender. Then we added 1.8 kg sugar to the mash and let it stay in a cool place for a couple of hours.

Once the sugar had completely melted and soaked in the quince mash, we added the juice of half a lime and brought the jam to cook at medium heat for an hour. once the jam was cooked, we poured the hot jam into the clean jars and turned them upside down to cool, no boiling of the jars is required.

I used the jam to make a batch of jam-filled muffins. This is probably my fifth batch of muffins with jam core lately. I've been experimenting with the batter and the filling method and though I wouldn't claim that I've nailed it, I am pretty happy with my latest results:

Ingredients for the muffins:

• 2 eggs
• 80 g sugar
• 200 g yogurt 
• 70 g sunflower oil
• 200 g flour 
• 5 g baking powder + a pinch of baking soda
• 5 g spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves) + a pinch of salt 

Preparation:

Beat the eggs with the sugar, add the oil and yogurt and mix. Stir in the flour, mixed with the baking powder and the spices. Distribute the batter in 12 muffin forms. Place a teaspoon of jam in the center of each muffin form, stirring it lightly to push the jam inside the batter. Bake in a preheated oven at 200C for 25 min, until a toothpick test confirms readiness.

Enjoy with your fresh coffee or tea.

Rudina Mountain November 2025

We've been traveling and hiking quite intensely lately and for this weekend's hike we had in mind something short and local, probably on Vitosha. However, the weather forecasts surprised us with some gorgeous late autumn sun and temperatures, which had to be made the most of, so we postponed our leisurely hikes for worse weather and decided to do a repeat double hike - Rudina and Pchelina Dam.

Rudina is a low mountain in the western mountainous part of the country called Kraishte. The hiking trail from the village of Sirishtnik to the summit of Rudina is about 4 km long, quite steep and well marked and maintained. The trail runs in the open and is ideal for spring and autumn hikes, especially when every sun-ray counts.

Although the village of Sirishtnik is fairly far from home - it takes us at least an hour and a half to get there through the busy Sofia traffic, we love hiking on Rudina. We were there last in May and it amazes me how different the trail looked then, green and fragrant with all the wild lilacs in bloom. Mid-November the trail had a calm, subdued warmth, enhanced by its complete work-day desertedness.

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

 

I: lingerie, Sinclair blouse, knitted legwarmers

Husband: men's boxers, knitted socks, Burda cargo pants, Burda blouse, Burda hoodie

The view from the peak to the numerous highlands and low mountains of Kraishte

The day was so warm and the trail so steep, that I even took off my blouse on the way up

We had our picnic on a comfortable bench, facing Rila and Pchelina Dam. Lately I've been rating our hiking picnic places, based on view and comfort and this bench on Rudina ranks among the best, on which we've enjoyed our tortillas and beers this year :)

Hike info:

Дате: 14 November 2025

Destination: Sirishtnishka Rudina (1172 m)

Mountain: Rudina

Total length: 8 km

Elevation gain: 480 m

Total duration (plus picnic and rests): 2 and a half hours

Average difficulty:  4 / 10

 

And back to the car along the same trail.