Kokalyane 2025

The weather during the first week of February has been unusually sunny, however very cold. In all frankness, probably normal cold for February, but lately we've gradually come to expect winters to be much warmer and temperatures below and just a degree or so above zero nowadays seem to me too cold, though it is mid-winter.

For today's hike we chose a trail we've hiked only once before, from the village of Kokalyane to Kokalyane Monastery and up to the ridge of the mountain. The trail is fairly short, but steep and a good exercise. The beginning of the trail was covered with frozen snow and we had some worries that the climb could be problematic, but luckily, the trail itself was completely free of snow and ice and quite easy to hike.

Hike info:

Destination: Kokalyane Monastery  (1060 m) round trail

Mountain: Plana

Total length: 8 km

Elevation gain: 430 m

Total duration (plus picnic): 3 h

Average difficulty: 4 / 10

Only half an hour quick paced hiking brought us in front of the doors of Kokalyane Monastery. From what I understood, the grounds of the monastery are closed for the public and only the church was open.

We had a quick glimpse and continued up along a steep side track. Next time we plan to explore the wider track behind the monastery, which, a bit longer, according to the map leads to the same place on the ridge of the mountain.

Lozen and the skirts of Rila on the horizon.

We had our picnic on a sunny meadow and home-made olives bread with cream cheese and ham has never tasted so delicious!

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxers, orange hat, Burda longsleeve, Burda Cargo pants

I: lingerie, Burda blouse, hat, gloves, scarf

The return trail was barely noticeable through the oak forest, more like a spring water gutter than a path, with lots of fallen trees and not a single person in sight. We should try this trail sometime in spring or summer, as I'm sure it looks much prettier in its green outfit :)

Kokalyane

Yesterday was probably the last of the mild spring-like January days this year, with temperatures above +10C. The forecasts for the coming fortnight unequivocally speak that winter is finally coming and the temperatures are expected to fall in the range of -5 to +2, which isn't that bad, but still - not a spring weather yet.

For our weekend hike we chose a new trail not far from home - to the Monastary of Kokalyane and then up to the ridge of the mountain to the Sacred Oak place.

The trail starts from the so called Devil's bridge, a stone bridge over the Vedena river near its inlet into the river Iskar.

The trail to the monastery is narrow and steep, about 2.5 km long.

Hike info:

Destination: Sacred Oak  (1080 m) round trail

Mountain: Plana

Total length: 8.5 km

Elevation gain: 450 m

Total duration (plus picnic):3 h

Average difficulty: 4 / 10

The forests in this part of Plana mountain consist of many oak trees, some hundreds of years old.

Right across the road and the river Iskar is Lozen mountain and the Urvich fortress. Here and there among the trees we could glimpse the on going excavation works there.

The Monastery of Kokalyane is one of the 14 monasteries that were built around the city of Sredetz (old Sofia) during the medieval times. The whole place was called The Sredetz Sacred Mountain (Sveta Gora), by analogy with the Monastic Community on Mount Athos in Greece.

We had a quick glimpse of the monastery grounds and the church and continued our climb up the narrow path to the ridge of the mountain.

Although the trail is not long, some 5 km from the bridge to the meadows on the ridge, the slope is steep and the elevation gain is significant. We quickly found ourselves again swimming in sweat and took off our jackets.

The change of view on the ridge was so impressive - after the steep narrow trail in the thick oak forest we were suddenly walking along level paths by yellow-brownish meadows.

Vitosha looming on the horizon.

An old oak tree. A few meters away from it lived one of the oldest trees in Bulgaria - The Sacred Oak (Кръстатият дъб) - over 1000 years old. Unfortunately in 2010 it was destroyed by treasure hunters, who dug up its grounds in search of gold and the tree fell soon afterwards :(

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxers, orange hat, Fire socks

I: lingerie, Grasser blouse, cat hat, Borika gloves, knitted socks

We had a quick lunch on the meadows and headed back to the Devil's Bridge, following an alternative path through the forest.

And back to the river Iskar