Hisarlaka Fortress

On the next day after our hike on Ruen, husband and I decided to visit the ruins of the ancient fortress above Kyustendil - Hisarlaka. Kyustendil is a fairly big town at the foot of Osogovo mountain, near the border with Serbia and Northern Macedonia. Hisarlaka was the fortress, built on a hill above town. It was originally constructed by the Romans around 400 AD and was later one of the important medieval fortresses during the Bulgarian kingdom.

Wee were very pleasantly surprised by the exposition of the fortress. It was recently partially reconstructed and is now a very pleasant park, free and open for the public, with alleys, benches and gorgeous tall coniferous trees.

The partially rebuilt walls and observation towers provide a glimpse at the appearance of the place in the past, when it served as an administrative and religious center in the course of centuries, until it was destroyed by the Ottomans in the 15th century.

The walls of the fortress were build using the Roman technique of alternating stones and bricks, bound by powdered brick mortar.

The fortress has been destroyed three times - by the Huns and was rebuilt by Justinian I, then by the Avars and the Slavs, after which it was rebuilt by the Bulgarian rulers, after the region was integrated into the First Bulgarian Kingdom and finally by the Ottoman empire, after the country fell under Ottoman rule and the fortress ceased to exist.

The fortress had 14 towers, of which 3 were reconstructed. The latest reconstruction works were completed in 2014.

I was really impressed how walkable the place is and as far as I understood, there is an eco-trail, making it possible to walk from the town to the fortress. The entire fortress is within a big park with alleys and places for recreation.

 A view to the town of Kyustendil

Ruen 2023

Last week was my birthday and we decided to celebrate it at Osogovo hut, after climbing peak Ruen in the Osogovo mountains. Osogovo is the fourth highest mountain in Bulgaria, after Rila, Pirin and Vitosha, nevertheless it is very different from the first three. The landscape of the first above the 2000 m altitude mark is typical alpine - bare granite and marble slopes, rocky and rugged, with dwarf pine trees, lots of rivers and lakes. Osogovo is soft, mild and round, with dirt tracks and grassy slopes. The elevation gain to the top is decent, but spread over many kilometers, so it feels more like a very long walk, rather than mountain climbing.

The path is almost entirely in the open and we prefer to hike it on a sunny autumn day, when the air is still warm, but the sun is not so hot and unforgiving, as in the summer. The day we chose for our hike was forecast as ideal, with some sporadic clouds and very mild winds. In truth, as the day progressed, the clouds gathered over the highest peaks and stayed compacted there for hours, so it was a bit chilly at the top of the mountain.

Hike info:

Destination: Peak Ruen (2225 m)

Mountain: Osogovo

Total length: 27 km

Elevation gain: 580 m

Total duration (plus picnic and rests): 8 hours

Average difficulty: 7 / 10

The blueberries were at the end of the season, but we found a few places with plenty of them, small but ripe and even gathered a couple of handfuls for a pie.

The now traditional picture on this mark stone. It started with a picture of Gaby I took during our first hike on Ruen. Then, when we revisited the peak a few years later I noticed the stone and imitated her pose on it and then I've been photographing myself in the same pose during every climb of Ruen (now fourth). I hope the stone stays there at least for the duration of our lifetime :)

I really can't get enough of these soft grassy valleys!

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxers, Knipmode cargo pants, raglan blouse

I: lingerie, Burda T-shirt

On peak Mali Ruen. Here we put on everything we had in the backpacks.

At the first (last on the way back) of the chain of peaks. The trail is not round, but as the place is huge, one can vary the tracks a little and chose to climb a peak or go around it.

And back to the hut. Compared to Bunderitza hut in Pirin, Osogovo hut is like a luxury hotel, with large two-person bedrooms, central heating, hot water and probably the most delicious food I've eaten in a mountain hut restaurant in years. It was a great birthday!

Ruen 2022

Our last hike in the mountain of Osogovo was probably the most spontaneous large scale hike. On Tuesday during our lunch break husband and I checked the weather forecast, noticed that the cold and wet weather was expected during the weekend, but Wednesday and Thursday would be sunny and warm and - why not go to Ruen tomorrow? I phoned Osogovo hut, booked a double room and we frantically went back to work. As we work from home, as long as we sent our materials on time, we can work  wherever and whenever we please. And thus, early on the next day we started for Kyustendil.

This was our third hike to climb Ruen and it was completely different from the other two. Because the route is considered long, difficult and remote, it is not very popular and on a work day we were the only hikers along the long trail. The only other people we met during the eight hours of our hike were two mountain bikers and three farmers in a truck. Hiking along a lonely track is such a different experience from being one of the hundreds of people up or down a hill.

:The grassy hills of Osogovo mountain are truly surreal, they never stop to amaze me!

:We felt in great shape, the weather was just perfect, so this time, instead of going around, we climbed most of the peaks on the way, including Tzurni vruh and Mali Ruen

 

Hike info:

Destination: Peak Ruen

Mountain: Osogovo

Total length: 27 km

Elevation: 580 m

Total duration (plus picnic and rests): 8 hours

Average difficulty: 7 / 10

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxers, Knipmode cargo pants

I: lingerie, Sabrina Slims, Burda T-shirt, hoodie

:Osogovo is known for its poisonous viper snakes, but the only snake we met was this harmless small one

:On the second day of our small break we went to see the giant sequoias in the Yuchbunar preserved area, and then sightseeing in Kyustendil. Hurray for spontaneous breaks!

Kyustendil

Kyustendil is a  pleasant town in the western part of the country, only 100 km from Sofia, situated at the foot of the Osogovo mountain. On our way back to Sofia we stopped there for an hour or so and strolled along the streets of the town center. And because it is famous for its cherry orchards, we returned home with an enormous bag of gorgeous cherries (at a very reasonable price :)) 

Just a few glimpses of the town: