First Autumn Hike - Polovrak 2026

We usually try to stay away from popular trails on weekends, but we can't always help it. So, when we decided to hike to peak Polovrak on Sunday, we expected some presence, but the crowds that met us at the parking lot, where we found a parking place with difficulty, totally blew our minds away. Everybody and their granny were in the Lozen mountains this Sunday :)

We turned on the turbo pace and climbed the section to Lozen monastery in no time. 

We stopped at the monastery just for a couple of minutes, to take a look at the grounds and the Sofia valley from the monastery wall and continued up towards the peak.

The chill is already in the air, some of the leaves are yellowing and it felt like our true autumn hike this year.

The autumn crocuses, кърпихожух, are confirming it - the summer is over.

We pushed with the same high tempo to the peak, overtaking all of the big groups on our way.

Hike info:

Date: 27 September 2026

Destination: peak Polovrak (1182 m)

Mountain: Lozen

Total length: 10 km

Elevation gain: 420 m

Total duration (plus picnic and rests): 3 h 30 min

Average difficulty: 3 / 10

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxers, Burda cargo pants, Burda longsleeve

I: lingerie, Sinclair Lotte blouse, legwarmers

Some new construction on the peak - I like it.

Our high pace provided us some time, before the majority of the large hiking groups got to the peak, so we managed to have our beers and tortillas, followed by freshly baked home-made muffins and coffee, in peace and quiet, enjoying the gorgeous views to Iskar dam and the distant Rila ridges.

We returned to the car along an alternative trail, as we love to do, when possible. Polovrak is definitely one of our most favourite peaks - beautiful landscapes, nice picnic place, super easy and quick access from home, easy distance - what is there not to like :)

Carob Muffins

Carob powder is such a divisive ingredient in our family - husband loves it, Gaby tolerates it, the rest of us find it unpleasant. So lately, I've been baking two different batches of muffins with jam, to suit our different tastes. As carob is sweet and meanwhile flour-like, I had to adjust the recipe a lot, to take its unique qualities into account.

Here is an example of the recipe, executed with ricotta and strawberry jam.

Ingredients for the muffins:

• 1 egg
• 20 g sugar + a pinch of salt
• 60 g ricotta 
• 60 g milk 
• 35 g sunflower oil
• 25 g carob powder
• 80 g flour 
• 5 g baking powder

Preparation:

Beat the egg with the sugar, add the oil, ricotta and milk and mix. Stir in the carob powder, the flour, mixed with the baking powder. Half fill 6 muffin forms with the batter. Place a teaspoon of jam in the center of each muffin form, the fill in the forms with the rest of the batter. Sprinkle with a pinch of brown sugar on top of each muffin. Bake in a preheated oven at 200C for 30 min, until a toothpick test confirms readiness.

i made also a batch for myself and others, with normal sugar and flour and spiced with baked fig leaves - did you know, that baked fig leaves make for a very interesting spice? I brought a few leaves with me from Greece and made myself a small jar of dried powder, that I love to add to my muffins. Unfortunately, it lost some of its potent with time, I'll have to research further how to prepare and store it, so that the essential oils would last longer.

Husband loves to have his carob muffins with milk, I enjoy mine with my morning coffee and German lessons. Life is good, when everybody is happy, nicht wahr?

Manastirishte September 2026

It is early autumn again and time anew for our favourite Manastirishte - one of those places, where we love to hike any time of the year, but early autumn makes it shine with its best attire.

Although the cold nip in the air, especially at night and early morning is already a constant, some September days are still summer hot and last Friday was one of these - sunny and hot, with a pleasant light breeze.

Peak Marchin Kamak (1241 m) - husband suggested a climb and here we are, taking a short detour from the trail to climb the small elevation.

A young doe, probably resting in the tall fern, jumped almost a couple of meters from us and ran away.

On Marchin Kamak

Hike info:

Date: 18 September 2026

Destination: peak Manastirishte (1338 m)

Mountain: Plana

Total length: 10.5 km

Elevation gain: 160 m

Total duration (plus picnic): 4 and a half hours

Average difficulty: 2 / 10 

The place was absolutely bare - with another national holiday on Tuesday and the still summer temperatures, I suspect many people are still enjoying long weekends on the seaside in Greece and not roaming the local mountains.

Ripe pears - they were sweet and juicy, but very astringent and almost impossible to swallow

Peak Manastirishte - this time we took the direct steep trail to the top

Vitosha on the left

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxers, Burda Cargo pants, Burda blouse

I: lingerie, Burda Jeans, Burda raglan blouse 

We had our beers and tortillas at the picnic table on the peak - a lunch with a view and atmosphere

We saw a number of mantises - it must be their season 

After lunch we decided to explore a round trail we hadn't tried before, which goes all the way around the hill of the peak. The trail down we took was a bit too steep for my taste, next time we'll definitely make it different, but the round trail turned out to be totally worth it.

It passed mostly through forests and it the heat of the noon it was exactly the place we were disposed to appreciate most

And back on the main trail after a full circle around the peak. The detour added some 3 km to the hike and finally managed to make it a genuine hike, and not just a walk in the park, as it often feels. We are definitely adding this track to our staples.

Rilska Skakavitza 2026

As was forecast, Friday yesterday was the last of the hot summer days this year and we simply had to make the most of it. Rilska Skakavitza - the highest of the Rila waterfalls, is one of our favourite hikes, with the timeless beauty of the Skakavitza river valley, so the choice was easy.

As promised, the day was sunny and warm, perfect for the higher mountains. The trail is very popular and overcrowded on weekends, but this Friday it was quite tolerably frequented by just a handful of tourists.

We had a short stop at the Skakavitza lodge, with a small power snack, filled our water bottles with cold spring water and continued to the waterfall.

Hike info:

Destination: Rilska Skakavitza Waterfalls

Mountain: Rila

Total length: 13.5 km

Elevation gain: 585 m

Total duration (plus picnic and rests): 5 and a half hours

Average difficulty: 4.5 / 10 

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxers, Burda cargo pants, Burda grey hoodie

I: lingerie, Burda color jeans, Burda raglan blouse

The whole valley of the river at the foot of the waterfall was abundant with ripe raspberries, which made our progress towards the waterfall quite slow and sporadic :)

We decided to have our lunch up on the ledge above the valley, like last year. The seating was comfortable, the view, of course, spectacular and the tortillas and jam-filled muffins - delicious as always. The blueberry bushes we discovered last year, were loaded with the biggest wild blueberries we've seen during our hikes, so we quickly filled our boxes with ripe fruit to be turned into blueberry crumbles and pies soon.

After descending from the waterfall, we spotted by the raspberry bushes on the other side of the river. Husband had a quick raspberry snack, while I sat on a stone in the middle of the river and had a quiet moment with the falling water and welcome sunshine warmth.

We returned to the car along the winding alternative trail, as we've been doing for the last several times we've hiked this route.