Friday, February 14, 2025

Urvich 2025

As planned, this week we travelled to Kokalyane again, but this time we hiked across the road, in the Lozen mountain, around the Urvich fortress.

The day was sunny and even pleasantly warm (6-7 C). Because the gorge of the river Iskar there lies in the shadows of the two mountains, the river was still frozen and the ground was still partly covered with snow.

The path at the beginning of the trail was cleared of debris and fallen trees and easy to walk. I believe this is the path that most visitors to Urvich know and walk and I wouldn't be surprised that a lot of people do not even suspect the existence of other walkable paths around.

After the detour for the monastery, the path seems abandoned, with lots of fallen trees, blocking it and requiring going around. To be honest, it had a very Blair witch vibe today and gave me a bit of the creeps.

Hike info:

Destination: Urvich
Mountain: Lozen
Total length: 6 km
Elevation gain: 90 m
Total duration (plus picnic and rests): 2 h 30 min
Average difficulty: 2.5 / 10


Me-made items, worn on this hike:
 
Husband: men's boxers, Burda cargo pants, Burda longsleeve, Burda hoodie, hat, (scarf in the backpack)

I:  socks, lingerie, Grasser sweater, Central Park hoodie, CC copycat hat, gloves, (scarf in the backpack)

I was just commenting with husband, that there were still no spring flowers on Kokalyane and Urvich and we came upon these snowdrops and hellebores :)

After doing the full circle around the hill and returning back to the river we followed the hidden path along the rocks to the Urvich fortress. We found this path last time we were here and it is probably the most exciting part of the hike.


The excavations of the fortress were closed and covered for the winter season, but the works have gained some progress over the past three years since we were here.


The grounds of the Urvich fortress are now like a museum in the open, with a number of information boards, elucidating the history of the place and the unearthed artifacts. This was definitely the most interesting and informative part of the hike.






After visiting the excavation works we went down and then up the opposite hill to the functioning monastery, where we had our lunch on one of the sunny benches. It was a short but nice hike and I am so glad we chose Urvich for our visit today.




Sunday, February 9, 2025

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 :)




Monday, February 3, 2025

Easy Stollen

Stollen is a traditional German Christmas cake, which husband loves dearly. I had tried making it before, but found it too time-consuming and the result - underwhelming. However, last December we came upon a simplified recipe, which we liked very much and I've probably made already a dozen of these.

With every attempt I've moved slightly away from the original, so probably my version is now hardly a stollen, but who cares - it is delicious, we love it and I'd like to have it on the blog, so that I wouldn't loose the recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 250 g flour
  • 7 g fresh yeast
  • 70 g warm milk
  • 50 g melted butter
  • 30 g sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 200 g dried fruit
  • 25 g rum
  • a pinch of salt and spices (cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, star anise)

Preparation:

Put all the dry fruit in a bowl, add the rum, cover and let them sit for a few hours, preferably over night,  so that the fruit can soak up the rum.

Warm the milk and add the fresh yeast and the sugar in it. Melt the butter. Add the milk with the activated yeast, the melted butter, the egg and the spices and mix. Knead the dough until elastic and leave it to rest for a couple of hours in a warm space. In winter I put it covered in my oven with the light on.

Once the dough has doubled its size, it is time to add the dry fruit, which has soaked up the rum. Mix and knead thoroughly and leave to rest for another hour or two.

Spread the dough on a surface and flatten it into a rectangle. Fold one third of the rectangle, then fold the second third on top and press, giving the dough the traditional stollen form. I used to bake the stollen in free form on a baking tin, but lately I prefer to put it in a rectangular cake form and bake it like that. I know, it is not as per tradition, but it is easier to cut in slices.

 

Leave the stollen to rest for a final half an hour, preheat the oven at 180 C and bake until ready, for about 40 min.

Once the stollen is out of the oven, you can brush it with melted butter and cover it with powdered sugar. That is the traditional way and we do it sometimes, but frankly, I prefer it without the added sugar and usually skip the last step. 


Around Christmas I used to put candied orange and lemon peel and other Christmasy goodies in the dough, but lately it is only dried fruit of various sorts, these here are raisins, plums, dates and cranberries, a favourite combination of mine, which combines sweetness, sourness and flavour.


Friday, January 31, 2025

Polovrak January 2025

It had been three full weeks since our last hike and I was craving clear air and mountain views. The day was promised to be sunny and warm on Polovrak and we packed our backpacks and climbed in the car, although the morning in Sofia was dark, gloomy and foggy.

It got even more foggy towards the village of Lozen and we began to wonder, whether this would be one of those rare hikes in the fog with almost zero visibility.

But once we were high enough above the village at the parking lot, where the trail starts, the fog was left below and the sun was shining bright in the sky. That phenomenon of fog and smog in winter in the Sofia valley is really bothering me, as I am a sun-oriented person and the months under the blanket of smog are a real downer.

The first spring crocuses are out. The forecast for the beginning of February is for cold and snow, but today it felt, like spring was around the corner. I'm not a winter person, I can't wait for the sunnier and warmer months.

Hike info:

Date: 31 January 2025
Destination: peak Polovrak (1182 m)
Mountain: Lozen
Total length: 10 km
Elevation gain: 420 m
Total duration (plus picnic and rests): approx. 3 h
Average difficulty: 3 / 10





Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxers, Burda cargo pants, Burda longsleeve, knitted socks, orange hat
I: lingerie, sweater, CC CopyCat hat, gloves

The thick cover of smog over Sofia

We had our pieces of freshly baked banitza and cups of hot herbal tea on the peak, looking at the ranges of mountains ahead and the Iskar dam in the distance and enjoying the warm January sun.