The Wonderful Bridges (or Marvellous Bridges) is a natural rock phenomenon found in the Western Rhodope Mountains, 80km south of Plovidv. These marble arches are things of natural beauty and just like all things have their own unique history. Since 1949, they have been declared a Bulgarian Landmark.
If you happen to take note, there was no chronological flow from Rila Monastery to here. That's because Plovdiv belongs to an entire album on its own. So technically, The Wonderful Bridges was a trip out of Plovdiv on Day 2.
There's history and then there's a legend. Let's start with history first. It is said that an earthquake had contributed in the formation of these bridges. Water from the Erkyupryia River carried the debris from the quake away while years of erosion gradually shaped the arches and made them the wonderful and marvellous bridges they are today.
The album cover features the passage underneath the "first bridge", which is the higher of the two main bridges. Like it is with the many nature places I've been to, there's always a sense of God's presence in the stillness of His creation.
Climbing to the top of the first bridge, that is 45m above the river beneath it. Strong winds at the top meant it was necessary to keep a jacket on. Here's an adorable little girl who's clearly enjoying a day out with her parents :)
That's the second bridge, as seen from the top of the first. Its arch measures at 30m high but it looks so much lower because it is actually 200m below the first. Sounds confusing... Let's just say that the second bridge is even lower than the river beneath the first.
This emphasises how much lower it is even more. The second bridge, seen here with the surrounding coniferous forests and mountains in the distance.
Trees and mountains in the distance is always a beautiful landscape to wake up to in the morning. Makes me miss Graz because when you peered out of my window in Eggenberg, you'll see the mountains. Then of course there's our famous #39 balcony, the best Greenbox balcony wouldn't you agree, Chris and Giuseppe?
With everyone and the mountains and the green railing...
Here's the little sister with the second bridge and the railings again.
Everyone was so in a hurry to go thinking that there was nothing else to see. I knew that there was much more to it so I ventured down the first bridge...
There's a bit of stillness to the water flow of the river beneath. It was quite a long way down to the river so I decided to go alone because I knew the climb back up would be impossible for the rest of them.
At the river beneath the bridge is the best place to tell the legend of the dragon. Legend has it that a dragon came to the Zabardo village nearby and devastated the shepherds who lived here...
...For years, the shepherds were tormented and could do nothing about the dragon until they decided that they had had enough. Together, they hatched a plan to outwit the dragon...
Digressing from the legend for a bit...
This was taken directly from underneath the bridge, you can see how it arches so beautifully from here. It's amazingly incredible, really. Not so easy to describe in words either.
Back to the legend...
So the shepherds decided to use a donkey as sacrifice and load it with tinder (similar to what we have as barbecue fire starters). Then they lit up the tinder (which burnt at a slow rate) and sent the sacrificial donkey to the dragon...
The dragon swallowed up the donkey along with the slow-burning tinder. It went absolutely bonkers and found a hole in the ground to try to escape from its slow death but it was not to be.
The gap between the bridges today is where the fire is said to have burnt through it, while bridges were formed from its decaying bones over the years.
We know for a fact, of course, that the beautiful arches were formed due to erosion thanks to the river flow, which you can still see here today!
Ventured down on my own so I had to get a shot of this just to remember how massive it is! It's interesting how we only realize how small we are when we are in amongst nature. Never fails to bring up Psalm 8:4, "what is man that you are mindful of him and that you care for him?"
One last glance upwards to the arch and the spruce trees that surround it before taking a climb back up to the rest.
It's not surprising that there was an Ottoman twist to the history of these beautiful bridges too... It's a distasteful and sad part though with the Turkish invaders cruelly imposing their beliefs onto the poor Bulgarians :(
Didn't venture too deep underneath the second bridge because the two Bulgarians I went down with said to turn back. But I really liked how this captured a unique sense of mystery over the arch of the second bridge.
Glad I took the advice of my Bulgarian sisters to come here and immerse myself in nature again. It's always nice to be away from cities to enjoy the peace and quiet amongst the greenery and spiritual beauty of God's amazing creations.
So, back to Plovdiv again!
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