Trail
Kartalov Clearings
A 15 km loop linking a 4,000-year-old rock inscription, Nadarska Cave, high stone villages, Kartalov Peak (1,478 m) and an 1896 church.
This 15 km route of medium difficulty is marked in orange and climbs about 798 metres in total. It begins roughly 600 metres past the village of Chereshova Reka, at a large signpost near the Kiselska river.
About 600 metres in is the Nadarski inscription, carved into rock and estimated at 4,000 to 5,000 years old, most likely Thracian. It resembles the inscriptions at Sitovo and Belintash, and its meaning is still unknown. The route then reaches Nadarska Cave, with a rest area, and the village of Dimovo, whose upper neighbourhood sits above 1,300 metres among small stone houses with only a few remaining residents.
The trail continues to Kartalov Peak at 1,478 metres, named for the large eagles once found here. Views stretch to Kushnitsa and Bozdag in Greece and to Golyam Perelik and the Arden ridge in the Rhodopes. It passes Kremene, with its small museum and the Holy Trinity church built in 1896, then follows an old path through centuries-old spruce forest before descending about 2 km to Chereshovo and back to the start.
Chereshovo is the ruined site of the Agush family's summer lodges, not to be confused with the great Agushevi Konatsi mansion at Mogilitsa. Nadarska Cave along the way requires advance booking.