In the morning we did a quick last walk around Sofia, looking at some of the highlights of Old Town one last time before catching our afternoon train. It was 3.5 hours long and our stop was Damyanitsa. There were no taxis at this small train station, but luckily for us there was a worker who called one for us. From there it was a short 20 minute taxi ride to Melnik, where we would spend a few days before heading to a new country.

Once in Melnik we walked around the small town. The houses were cute and there were tall sand formations in the background of the street. Nick and I went to the wine museum and were the only visitors. I did the wine sampling and can confirm red wine is still not for me. My non-poker face likely gave away that I thought they were not good to the man pouring the wine as he looked slightly disappointed. I liked the white and the rosé, though. The museum itself had many baskets used for carrying grapes, and other tools used in the traditional wine making methods. We were not able to read any of the signs, though, that was inferred from pictures and props.

During our time in Melnik we ate a lot of amazing food. They had some of the best tomatoes we’ve had. We always had a big tomato-based salad with each meal. There was one restaurant that did amazing homemade bread loaves. The waitress remembered me as the customer who wanted butter with the bread. Apparently that is not typical, but I thought it was much better than with olive oil. Another stand out dish we tried was cooked in a clay pot. It had potatoes, sausage, several cheeses, mushrooms, and tomatoes. It was a bit salty but we agreed with some tweaks it would’ve been super delicious. Nick also tried homemade sheep yogurt with honey as a dessert and loved it. I’ve included some photos of views from the different restaurants both inside and outside.

Besides eating a ton of food and tasting some wines, we also did one easy hike. To the left of the wine museum there is a sandy road that turns into the trail to the Rozhen Monastery. There are trail markings leading the way. The trail for the most part follows the river bed, but at one point diverges (with no obvious marker change). Nick and I did keep following the river bed as we missed the trail divergence. We learned we had gone the wrong way when a man suddenly appeared from thick bushes in front of us letting us know he had also gone the wrong way and there was no way through ahead of us. After back tracking we found the real trail and continued, eating blackberries along the way. I ended up with some scratches up my arms from not being careful enough during my berry gathering.

There was a short section where the trail went up the side of a small cliff. There were great views of the Rozhen Sandstone Pyramids. We liked that the sand formations were surrounded by lush greenery. In the USA there are plenty of badland landscapes, but they usually are sandy all around, the contrast with the green here was nice.

Continuing, the trail eventually came to the monastery. There was a dress code, so I hid in the bushes to change from my shorts to pants. As it turned out that was probably unnecessary. There was a baptism going on inside when we arrived and all the women looked like they were ready to hit the club or they just came from a Vegas bachelorette party. It was hilarious; we were so surprised to see mini skirts, mini dresses, and huge heels for a baptism in a monastery with a dress code. The monastery itself was nice, small and simple.

Our hike back out was quick; in total it was a 3 hour adventure including our monastery visit. It was the perfect morning activity before having a relaxed final afternoon in Melnik to end our time in Bulgaria. Nick and I try to take selfies sometimes when visiting places, especially if it is not convenient to ask someone to take a photo of us. Below are two, one captures the moment I accidentally touched Nick’s back that may or may not have been soaked with sweat from our hike.