А mass of high peaks, meandering rivers and gentle slopes, the Rhodope mountain range makes one seventh of Bulgaria's territory and is a universe with its own character, history and charm. People have lived in it for millennia, making the most of its rivers, meadows, low mountain fields, thick forests, ores and routes along meandering rivers. The mountain is defined by a rich mixture of impressive natural phenomena, ancient traditions and legends, mesmerising music and stunning examples of human craft and ingenuity, created by Thracians, Romans, Bulgarians, Turks and Pomaks. Exploring the Rhodope is a never-ending and always pleasant experience. Here are just some of the outstanding options for discovery in this amazing part of Bulgaria.

Gluhite Kamani rock shrine

The Thracians, who lived in what is now Bulgaria between the 2nd millennium BC and the 6th century AD, saw the Rhodope mountain range as a huge vortex. It was a sacred space and here, according to ancient sources, there lived a famed oracle of Dionysus. Archaeologists are still searching for evidence, but meanwhile there are plenty of ancient Thracian sanctuaries in the Rhodope. As a general rule, the Thracians made their shrines at and around prominent rock formations and boulder groups. For them, strange rocks, saddles and caves were manifestations of the nameless, but omnipresent Great God and Great Goddess.

Gluhite Kamani, or Deaf Rocks, is one of the most impressive. Created 3,000 years ago, it is a labyrinth of high rocks, covered in niches often hewn at vertiginous heights for reasons that are now lost to time. The trail ends by a tall rock with steps carved in its face, which lead to a cistern at the top. The room hewn at the foot of the rock is later, it belonged to a Late Antiquity church that appeared on the site of the ancient pagan sanctuary, a common practice at the time.

Bachkovo Monastery

Bulgaria's second largest monastery is one of the biggest pilgrimage sites in the country. People flock here on 15 August, Dat of the Assumption, to pray to a supposedly miraculous icon of Virgin Mary kept the main church.

The monastery does warrant a visit year round. Its fortress-like premises were built in the 18th-19th centuries, but it was established in the 11th century by two Byzantine nobles of Georgian or Armenian origin. Through the centuries Bachkovo Monastery accumulated a trove of art and historical treasures – the medieval ossuary with rare preserved portraits of a Bulgarian king, the stunning portraits of a couple of 16th century donors in the nave of the main church, the lavish murals on the outer wall of the living premises, and much more.

Podkova Mosque

When travelling around the Rhodope mountain range, you will often encounter the charming sight of a humble village of houses scattered on the hills marked with the pencil-like vertical of a white minaret. Islam settled in the Rhodope after the Ottoman conquest in the 14th century, but as local Muslim communities were not wealthy, most of the mosques they built for themselves were small and humble.

The mosque at Podkova is also small and humble, but it stands out with its design and of course its legend. The entire building is made of timber without a single nail to hold the whole construction, and is supposedly 500-600 years old. According to locals, the wooden mosque was built by seven maids who lost their fiances in a battle. When they heard the news, the girls sold their dowry, bought timber and built a mosque themselves. Then they disappeared, never to be heard of again.

Yagodina and Trigrad gorges and caves

The wild, forbidding pinnacles of the western Rhodope are the home of one of Bulgaria's most stunning natural phenomena. There, the small but strong Yagodinska and Trigradska rivers have carved narrow gorges: a world of deep shadows, echoing water murmur, dark firs and gigantic burdocks.

The three caves in the area bring the idea of otherworldliness to an entirely new level. The 10 km long Yagodinska Cave is the easiest to visit. The guided tour is on mostly flat ground and passes by phantasmagorical stalactites and stalagmites.

The Devil's Throat is more demanding – it takes some effort to climb the steep, wet stairs parallel to the 42 m tall underground waterfall booming in the main cavern. According to a legend, Orpheus went to Hell from here...

Haramiyska Cave is only for people eager to climb a 20 metre rock wall, sneak through narrow cave tunnels and descend into the dark abyss of a 43 metre high gallery illuminated solely by an opening far, far above. Special equipment is needed.

Trio of dams

Squeezing through the Rhodope's peaks west to east, the 272 km the Arda is the longest river in the mountain. To a significant degree, it defines its landscape. In the 1950s-1960s, its lower course was tamed by three huge dams: Kardzhali, Studen Kladenets and Ivaylovgrad. All three are formidable feats of engineering and create some strange landscapes, but the first of them, Kardzhali, stands out with its famed horseshoe bend, located near Star Chitak village. Deep and extending through almost 360-degrees, it looks like a part of the American Southwest transported to Bulgaria.

The Kardzhali reservoir is the uppermost in the cascade but was the last to be built. Theoretically, it was completed in 1963, but it was first used in 1977. At 103 metres its wall is the third highest in Bulgaria.

Agushev Konak

The Rhodope is famed for its small, but well preserved traditional towns and villages with charming houses with their distinctive roofs of stone slabs and chimneys crowned with "hats" of rock: Shiroka Laka and old Smolyan, Zlatograd and Dolen, Kovachevitsa and Leshten.

Agushev Konak, in Mogilitsa village, is also old, but stands out with its history and construction. This combination of a mansion and fort was built in the early 19th century by Agush, a local Muslim personage, for his family. The vast house had enough rooms and space for him, his sons and their children. It sported 221 windows, 86 doors and 24 chimneys. It also boasted a unique structure, a circular tower decorated with murals of faraway places. According to a legend, it was built for one of Agush's sons who used to be a captain in the Ottoman navy but had to return to his father's home.

Perperikon

This is Rhodope's big tourist draw, and deservedly so. How often can you wander the streets of a mysterious megalithic hilltop city without leaving Europe?

The 3 acres site began to take shape in the 6th-5th millennium BC, when people would visit the rock and fill its crevices with offerings such as pottery shards and small clay idols. A couple of millennia later, believers turned the hill into a large shrine built into the rocks. Researchers suggest it was here that the famed oracle of Dionysus had foretold the formidable success of both Alexander the Great and Roman Emperor Augustus. Under the Romans, the town grew larger and in the Middle Ages it became an important fortress and the seat of a bishop.

And then, after the Ottoman conquest, it was abandoned and forgotten.

Perperikon has been excavated for the past 20 years, revealing a maze of houses, shrines, churches, fortifications and even cemeteries made of rock that invariably tingle the imagination.

Gela bagpipe festival

The Rhodope is considered the birthplace of Orpheus, the mythical musician from Greek mythology whose talent mesmerised people, animals and even the lord of the Underworld. Today, the Rhodope is also a place of mesmerising music – traditional tunes played on a specific, low-pitched bagpipe. The best known Rhodope song, Izlel e Deluy Haydutin was included in the Golden Record of sounds from Earth on the Voyager spacecrafts, which were sent into space in 1978 in search of contact with alien civilisations.

One of the best ways to enjoy the cosmic harmonies played on Rhodope bagpipes is during the festival held in early August in Gela village. For two days, musicians of all ages demonstrate their talents to an audience eager to immerse in the Rhodope melodies, while sitting on the green meadows, ready to indulge in a typical Rhodope dish, spit-roasted lamb.

Devil's Bridge

With its three stone arches rising audaciously over the Arda at a particular narrow part of its course, the stone bridge near Ardino is so beautiful and strong that locals have a hard time believing it was built by ordinary humans. Something supernatural was helping the builders, the legend goes. Who was it? God? One of His angels? Nope. It was... the Devil. How exactly the Devil helped the builder to create such a perfect structure is unclear – there are at least five versions of the story.

In actual fact the 56 m Devil's Bridge was built in the 16th century on orders of Ottoman Sultan Selim I to facilitate travel through the mountain. Recently, the bridge was restored, which robbed it of some of its charm. Still, visiting it will remain one of the highlights of your Rhodope trip.

Never dying flower

If you believe yet another legend, the most secretive parts of the Rhodope are covered with drops of Orpheus's tears or blood. No, these are not actual bodily fluids, but the blue flowers of a rare plant. The locals call it Silivryak or Bezsmartniche, Immortal Flower. Its scientific name is Haberlea rhodopensis.

Haberlea is a small evergreen perennial plant that thrives in the shady crevices of carbonate rocks of the Rhodope and the Stara Planina mountains. A biological rarity, it is one of the few survivors of the climate change that started 2 million years ago and consisted of constant oscillation between glacial and interglacial periods. The plant's resilience is the result of its capability to survive without water – it can live without water for months or even years. Today, however, due to the decline of its habitat, Haberlea rhodopensis is critically endangered and is protected by law.