Musala, Myticas, Vihren – Bulgaria and Greece

We will start our trip to Bulgaria and Greece with a transfer by car on route Brasov – Bucharest – Ruse – Borovets (distance – 635 km). Accommodation provided in Borovets mountain resort. Located in Rila National Park, at an altitude of 1350m, it offers excellent options for accommodation and walking up in the mountains.

After breakfast, we’ll get the gondola to Yastrebets (the higher station of the gondola is located at an altitude of 2369m), and from here we’ll follow the classic route to the summit (via Musala hut – 2389m). It is the route that will lead us in the proximity of a chain of beautiful lakes and Everest shelter: the scenery is fabulos. If the team will be at the right level of training, we can descend via Malka Musala summit. The total lenght of the route is about 17km, gaining an altitude of 600m. Accommodation provided in Borovets.

Being a “recovery” day, on route we’ll have a short stop for visiting Rila Orthodox Monastery, the biggest and the most popular one in Bulgaria. It is traditionally thought that the monastery was founded by the hermit St. Ivan of Rila, whose name it bears, during the rule of Tsar Peter I (927-968). The monastery complex, regarded as one of the foremost masterpieces of Bulgarian National Revival architecture, was declared a national historical monument in 1976 and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. Accommodation provided in Bansko mountain resort.

Vihren is the highest peak of Bulgaria's Pirin Mountains. Reaching 2,914 metres (9,560 ft), it is Bulgaria's second and the Balkans' third highest, after Musala and Mount Olympus. Until 1942 Vihren was known as Eltepe (peak of storms); it was also called Buren (stormy) and Malnienosets (lightning-bringer).
In the morning we'll drive for 16km, to reach Vihren hut (1950m). From here, we'll hike to the summit along its southwest slopes, where the main tourist trail is traced ( it requires about 2,5 hours hard work, gaining about 1000m to the top). For the way back, we'll follow the route via Premkata saddle. Accommodation in Bansko.

After reaching Prionia, we’ll hike for about 3 hours to Refuge A (Spilios Agapitos). Accommodation provided at the refuge.

Early in the morning, we’ll start our hike (with the right pace) to Skala Summit (2866m). From here, after enjoying all around views, we’ll have the pretty difficult traverse to Myticas Summit. In the afternoon, we’ll descend back to Prionia and further, by car, to Litochoro where we’ll have provided the accommodation.

After breakfast, we’ll drive to Meteora for visiting its famous monasteries. The six monasteries are built on natural sandstone rock pillars, at the northwestern edge of the Plain of Thessaly near the Pineios river and Pindus Mountains. It will be an amazing exploring day; at its end, we’ll drive back to Litochoro for some more “decompression”.

Today we have quite a long drive on route Litochoro-Bucharest-Brasov (around 950 km), so, we'll leave Greece early in the morning. As we all know, all good things come to an end.