A Guided Day-Trip to Peshtera

About

The town of Peshtera is only 35 km away from Plovdiv, in the beautiful Rhodope mountains. We will visit its main attractions and discover the unusual rock formation in Snezhanka cave.

Highlights

• Visit Peristera Fortress
• Stop by St. Dimitar Church (optional St. Petka Church)
• See the Clock Tower
• Explore Snezhanka cave

Description

After an hour drive from Plovdiv, we will arrive in Peshtera. The town has few big factories and is known among Bulgarians with its shoe-making industry. In spite of that, Peshtera has a lot more to offer to tourists and explorers alike. Peristera Fortress is one of them - the ancient monument, built around 4th century AD on the St. Petka hill. Its name comes from Greek and means “dove”. The whole complex comprises of clearly distinct citadel, inner city and outer zone, an area of about 15 acres. The fortress also has 6 towers, two of them are church towers, which cannot be seen elsewhere in Bulgaria. After that we will visit St Dimitar Church - the oldest temple in Peshtera, built in 1825-1831 with the donations of prosperous craftsmen, which also serves as the cathedral temple of the Peshtera region.

Our next stop is The Clock Tower (Sahata), built between 1650-1710. It is interesting to note that, during the 17th century, Peshtera was protected by stone walls and four gates. Nowadays, only the Clock Tower is the only preserved monument of that time. Upon guests' liking, we will visit St. Petka Church which is very close to the tower.

Then we are heading outside of the town to Snezhanka cave. It is situated 5 km away from the town. Its name translates “Snow white”, because of the grained marble, cut by the Novomahlenska river more than 3 million years ago, thus creating miracle of nature which cannot be found elsewhere. After a 30-minute walk up the scenic path, we will reach the cave. The temperature inside is constant at 9°C and the tour inside lasts around 45 minutes.

This marks the end of the excursion and after that we’ll be heading back to Plovdiv.

The price includes

• Tour guide

• Transfers 

The price does not include

• Lunch

• Entrance fees