At the end of July 2011 we made a spontaneous tour of Lukovit area and the village of Karlukovo, ‘Geo park Iskar-Panega’. The park is divided into two parts – landscape «Panega» and a karst complex called «Karlukovo».. The geo park is situated just near Lukovit town on the road Ruse-Pleven-Sofia.There are some boards and a parking lot.
There are wooden stairs after the entrance that take you to the low ground
near Panega River, an estuary of Iskar River.
It comes from one of the biggest karst springs in Bulgaria, Glava Panega
and the water is turquoise.
The route follows the river current.
...........
Summer, heat, mosquitoes and rainfalls were expected, it was wet and
stifling in the lowlands and very windy in the highlands – it wasn’t like a
beginning of a «fairy tale» at all.
We set off with great enthusiasm. At the very beginning we met a shepherd
who started asking us what we were doing in the area. Of course, we explained
we were there to make a tour of the area. He warned us to be very careful
because there were snakes.»Blast it!»
A few days ago one of the cows was bitten on the leg, and another one lay
down on a snake by chance and thus died with the snake underneath.
We moved on.
A bit further following the narrow path on the left bank of the river we
entered the kingdom of the dragonflies. There were colourful little dragonflies
flying all around us. Besides, the place turned out to be a kingdom of wild
weeds as well. As if no one had stepped in that jungle for a long time. Tall
grass, grown from the dampness and the sun, had seized everything. The perfect
spot for the snakes, »stinkers». We moved one
after another as the first one lifted and took away the weeds with every step
on the road not to come upon a snake ambush. By pushing the grass aside
dragonflies flew up. The river was running quietly and the colours were
fantastic where the sun was shining.
There were some reflections of trees, bushes … a fairy tale.
Unfortunately it was hard to enjoy the magic around us because of the
constant need to look down at our feet …A bit later a wooden bridge turned up
that connected both river banks.
There was another one (supported with metal) a little farther
… and that was how we got to a shadowy place for recreation and a possible
picnic. We stopped but not for a long time because the kingdom of mosquitoes
and «other pests» was here. The river made a
turn near the pavilion and high rocks were reflected in its water.
It is most interesting for the tourists here because the trail continues on
a wooden bridge above the river mounted to the rocks.
The river is winding and weird rocky formations complement the landscape.
Following the tourist trail you would go straight to the karst complex
in Karlukovo. We had researched the distances in advance and thought we
wouldn’t have enough time, so we went back and set out for Karlukovo.
What was most interesting to us was «Prohodna» cave. The cave turned out to be easy to reach. The odd thing
was that it was right under the road we had travelled on. This cave represents
the longest cave tunnel in the country – 262 m long. There are two entrances as
the height of the western one reaches 47 m. I had read somewhere it was the
highest cave entrance in the country. The entrance we used in the cave kingdom
was about 35 m.
The cave is naturally lit up. It is due to the other interesting formation
called «Oknata» or «God’s eyes» - two holes with the same size resembling eyes.
They have been formed by the natural erosion processes and the water. The cavern is a shelter of bats, rock swallows and other bird
representatives. You can meet Homo sapiens as well such as – fans and
enthusiasts practising bungee jumps, rock climbing etc. We saw representatives
of both groups, mentioned above.
We stepped forward on the path and our heads started going round in
amazement. What height, what impressiveness?! We didn’t feel like leaving it.
The other entrance from the Cavern home was really huge.
It was time to get our next stamp. We came back to the parking lot and were
off to «Petar Tranteev» National cavern
home to receive the stamp №30. We were surprised there was no one and decided to
have a look around. The view was magnificent. We could see Iskar River, other
rocks and forward as far as possible the Balkan Mountain curves, and more
specifically Teteven Balkan mountain. We made up our mind to look for someone
in the village who could give us some more information where to get the stamp
from. We were told to go down to the Psychiatric clinic.
The man with the stamps worked there, too. We went there but without
success as we couldn’t find the right man. Anyway, we looked at the matter from
another angle.
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| Национален пещерен дом |
However, the story with the stamp started becoming really annoying because
we were wasting our time and we had decided in advance to have a look of the
area from a panoramic point of view and that demanded a lot of time. We
returned to the cavern home again. We entered the hallway (it was open) and
nobody was there. Just after the porter’s glass «the precious» stamp could be seen.
Some negative emotions started arising inside of me but finally the great
idea of opening the book came up to see if we could take a stamp from another
object in the area. «Which number is the seal?» I looked at the board above the entrance of the
cavern home where that information was shown - «30»! «Are you sure?» I looked again as the sun burnt my head a lot during
the day «Yes»! «Well, do you
know we have the stamp №30!!!» «!!!!???!!» and we were
goggling in dismay.
The stamp number 30 was ‘The Ethnographic Museum’ – Lovech, which we had
already received. And what happened: we wasted about an hour and a half to fool
around because of a seal that we had had actually. Sometimes I am really fed up
with that book as we go back and deviate from our plans because of it – but
it’s our passion! And in that case it’s not the book to blame!
So, somehow pleased or not …we continued travelling to the «panoramic view». Amazing!!!
There was such a strong wind that would take us away!
There was another great wonder called «Provartenika». A rock tower with a hole, where it had been proved
that during the winter and summer solstice, the sunshine passed right through
the hole.
It looked like the Thracian creations and the incredible similarity with «Probitiya kamak» near Venchan TOUR 9 ‘A view of Venchan from Nevsha’ supported that theory even more?!
We realised that tour was like a tale at a later stage when most of the
disadvantages had almost faded away and only the beautiful views, the
tranquility, the solitude, the flapping dragonflies, the cavern grandeur appeared
on the surface of the memories!
Now when I go back there it looks like a fairy tale!
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