Perperikon – The ancient sanctuary

There is hardly anyone who has never heard of Perperikon. Gathering a lot of history, written and unwritten, spanning several eras, it has become a famous destination to visit. According to the scholars, the famous sanctuary of God Dionysus was located there, and the prophecies made in it were fulfilled. Little is known about what it really is, what its history and meaning is.

The ancient city of Perperikon is located near the town of Kardzhali in the eastern Rhodopes. It rises on a rocky peak with an altitude of 470m. It is thought to have originated about 8000 years ago. The Perperikon River runs along the Perperikon Gold River, claiming that ancient people added gold. Perperikon consists of 4 parts:

A powerful acropolis, in the highest part of the hill.
Grand Palace sanctuary- located 30 meters below the Acropolis. This is believed to be the temple ensemble of God Dionysus.
Northern suburb
Southern Suburb – representing small streets carved into rocks, residential buildings and temples.
It is very easy to get to Perperikon and there are signs along the way. This is how our journey begins in Bulgaria. We left Plovdiv at 2:00 pm, and we arrived at maybe 4:00 pm. There is quite a large parking lot and souvenirs and kebabs are sold in the parking lot. I think the visitors were more pleased with the food and wondered “Now or then to eat?”, But to put it aside. As soon as we parked and got out of the car, one of our salesmen called out and began to tell us about Perperikon’s history and what we would see, all showing on the map he was selling. We took one to get to know the Ancient City better. Then we headed to the entrance.

We realized that there were two ways to go around the city, one to turn right at the first intersection and the other to continue straight. We chose the second one because this is a complete tour and you don’t have to go back to see everything

First we saw the wooden stairs, unfortunately they were closed and could not be climbed. From the map we learned that they lead to the Rocky Passage, these are the giant steps that cut down that lead to the sanctuary.

A little further up the path you can see the First Tank carved into the cliffs at the top, which provided the inhabitants of the city with water.

From here the path becomes very picturesque, on both sides it is green and there are trees. Most of the sites were closed and we were unable to view and shoot them close up. We climbed the stone steps that lead to the south gate, and from there you can already see the beauty of Perperikon.

The first thing I saw was the Main Tower. Of course we headed straight for her. The tower was built on a two-meter fortress wall from the Roman era. When we went up we saw the beauty of the place. It is reached by wooden bridges.

And here’s the tower up close.

While at Perperikon we noticed that most tourists were foreigners who admired everything they saw. There were also people with dogs, and we love them (dogs) very much. The place is well maintained and secure everywhere and has signboards. I liked Perperikon because in addition to the ruins there is a unique view and you can enjoy the beauty of the Rhodope Mountains.

In my opinion, the ruins are best viewed from above. That’s why:

And here is a short video from the place