Yesterday we did a new for us hike, that involved driving by our car and riding on three different buses, so that we could start the hike from one point in the mountain and end it on the other side of the mountain. We've done every part of the hike many times, returning to the starting point, combining the two was the trick.
The idea for this hike had been brewing in my mind for a long time, but the logistics of the transportation stopped me from getting anywhere with it. I use Gemini (and other AI models) a lot, so I asked it to make me a plan for the optimal transportation. I checked its suggestions with the available bus schedules and Google street maps and it turned out doable and tolerable, so we decided to do it.
We drove to the foot of Dragalevtzi, left the car there (the only tricky part - to find a free parking spot, we lucked out). Then we took the bus to Aleko and started on our adventure towards Cherni vruh along the so called King's road.
The first part of our hike was a repetition of the start of the hike we had with Vali exactly a month ago. Unlike then, however, and despite the clear skies, the weather on the peak was cold and the wind was strong and freezing.
Hike info:
Date: 26 July 2026
Destination: Cherni Vruh (2290 m)
Mountain: Vitosha
Total length: 16 km
Elevation gain: 500 m - Elevation lost: 910 m
Total duration (plus picnic and rests): 4 and a half hours
Average difficulty: 4.5 / 10
Me-made items, worn on this hike:
Husband: boxers, Burda cargo pants, Burda hoodie
I: lingerie, Burda raglan blouse, Burda color jeans
We found some shelter among the rocks on the western part of the peak, where we enjoyed our tortillas, beers and home-made muffins, but we didn't linger long. My lips were getting blue, fingers losing sensitivity and in the end I was starting to tremble - it was time to move.
We took the trail down to Samara Shelter and decided to make a detour and climb peak Samara - one of the "Vitosha's dozen" - peaks above 2000 m, which we climbed a couple of years ago for the first time.
Once we got on peak Samara, we realized what a big mistake we had made with our lunch place - only a few hundred meters lower than Cherni vruh, the temperatures were tolerable, the wind much milder and the peak would have been a perfect lunch stop - next time we'll know!
The view from Samara towards the Pernik valley.
The trail through the plateau is one my favourites and the main reason I wanted this hike so much - the vastness of the almost level ground, surrounded by high peaks on all sides is really impressive.
The trail lead us to Konyarnika - another of my favourite spots on Vitosha, which we hiked at the end of June.
And back to Zlatnite mostove. Here we took another bus to the Ring road, and from there a third bus back to our car. Although the logistics sounds complicated, on weekends the buses to Vitosha are quite regular and the trip was surprisingly comfortable and smooth - I even managed to read a few chapters on my Kindle while riding the bus, so win win. We'll definitely plan a similar hike or repeat this one some time in the future.
