Eastern Rhodope discoveries

November, 2015

The aim of our little expedition led by the honorable Professor Atanas Orachev was to explore some lost Thracian sights in the Eastern Rhodope (Източни Родопи) mountains and the Thracian niches in the valley of the Arda river.

We explored and took pictures of the following:

- the Kovil plateau, which seems is going to be a great archaeological sensation, because of the fortified sacred path leading to an ancient sanctuary and the numerous holy wells around

- the "Gouk In" cave, which is the only one in Bulgaria with Thracian niches carved on the ceiling

- the "Deaf Stones" Thracian sanctuary, which later became hermit monks cloister probably destroyed by the Crusaders of the IV Crusade, as part of the Fraim fortress