WHERE IN BULGARIA ARE YOU?

by Stamen Manolov; photography by Anthony Georgieff

Perched on a hill in the midst of the Rhodope mountain range there stands an ancient rock city that visitors instantly compare to Machu Picchu

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Replete with remnants of residential buildings, a royal palace, a necropolis and some fortification walls the remains of this ancient city pose more questions than give out answers. Archaeologists suggest the Oracle of Dionysus, the notorious seer who advised Alexander of Macedon among others, had a temple here. Their claim is amplified by the overall aura of sanctity that even the most skeptical of tourists feel as soon as they have negotiated the upward path leading to the hill. Ancient accounts, however, remain at best ambiguous, enhancing the sense of millennia-old mysteries.

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