Wine Country - (Melnik ~ Bulgaria)

October 2019

What's the best way to describe Melnik? Well Melnik is like Martinborough - a small town (population about 400 people) in a wine growing area (600 years of wine growing in this region) with some nice restaurants but not a lot else but still very popular - sort of famous for being famous (much like a c grade celebrity on a reality TV show).

Actually that's a bit harsh on Melnik as it has some great buildings - mainly because it was designated an Architectural Reserve in the late 1980's and 96 of it's buildings are classed as cultural monuments. On top of that it has good food and wine, it's surrounded by sandstone cliffs and has a few nice trails up to ruins of old castles and churches.

Enough to keep us occupied for a good, albeit damp, day.

Distinctive architecture 

Sandstone cliffs all around Melnik

The hotel we were staying at definitely had a hunters theme to the dining room with deer antlers used in chairs and the chandelier.

So far we have been incredibly lucky with the weather as have been experiencing shorts and t-shirts type weather with only the occasional damp/cool day. It's early November in the Northern hemisphere and winter's coming. Today was overcast and damp and the forecast for the rest of our time in Bulgaria looks decidedly cool (foresee most days ahead with a high of 12 degrees).

Next stop is the ski resort town - Bansko