A tour across Pirin and Rila – local crafts, tastes and new energy

What to expect?

What can connect the famous nafpavok sausage, the Bansko “kapama”, the unique colorful Banichan socks and embroidered aprons, the Persian carpets for Versailles, the sheep, and goat cheese, the horseback riding in the mountains, the church in Dobarsko, and the falling of couscous? All these local dishes, old crafts, and traditions are included in the program of our new gastronomic and cultural tour “A tour across Pirin and Rila – local crafts, tastes and new energy”, which will transport us like a magic carpet in the secrets of history and local tastes.

Deshka Kroteva – a guardian of the traditions from Gorno Draglishte, who managed to turn her native village in the Razlog region into a small capital of rural tourism, will entertain us with these local dishes. Nafpavok – one of the biggest secrets, shrouded in mysticism, old stories, and wood ashes, is the name of a famous local sausage, similar to the “Banski starets”, but with different techniques and spices. On October 2, at her house in Gorno Draglishte, she and her neighbors, better known as the Naughty Grandmothers, will greet us with folk music and songs, dress us in traditional local costumes, water, and feed us, and tell us so much funny stories that we will want to come back here again.

Deshka Kroteva is among the seven hosts – producers of farm food, owners of horses, goats, sheep, knitters of embroidered socks and aprons, healers with riding, and masters of traditional dishes from the Pirin and Rila mountains, who will cook, pass on experience and inspire us. with their stories and food. And this time the experiences will be in many beautiful places – Bansko, Kostandovo, the villages of Dobarsko, Gorno Draglishte, Bachevo, Breznitsa, and Banichan, and the hosts will tell their stories and show the romantic and harsh side of their mountain region.

The journey begins on October 2 with a visit to Kostandovo, where hand-woven carpets have been preserved in their pure form. The skillful hands of about 30 women spin, cut, and turn the yarn into works of art that adorn the Palace of Versailles, the summer residence Osborne House of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, the homes of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Jane Churchill – granddaughter of Winston Churchill, Mick Jagger.

In Bansko we will visit the smallest goat farm in Bulgaria, and its owners will treat us with organic cheese and yogurt, pie, and the traditional among Bansko and Pirin region specialty Banska kapama. Our journey continues with a walk and a guided talk in the Pirin capital Bansko. We will visit the Church of the Holy Trinity (1835) – one of the symbols of the town, which until before the construction of the cathedral “St. Alexander Nevsky ”in Sofia was the largest church in Bulgaria. The native homes of the Bulgarian Revival writer Neofit Rilski, as well as of the poet Nikola Vaptsarov are also located in Bansko. One of the theories is that the author of “Slavo-Bulgarian History” Paisii Hilendarski was born here.

In the afternoon in the village of Dobarsko we will visit the late medieval church “St.St. Theodore Tyrone and Theodore Stratilat ”(XVII century) – one of the brightest examples of art and Christian culture in our country, for which the people of Dobarsko started a subscription for inclusion in the list of cultural monuments under the protection of UNESCO. In Dobarsko we are also waiting for the family of the veterinarian Dr. Ivana Kotsakova – a family of breeders who raise sheep and cows and have a closed production cycle. The oldest woman in the family will show us how to make the traditional sheep cheese for this region. The dinner is with traditional dishes prepared by Deshka Kroteva in Gorno Draglishte. In the evening, the cute “Naughty Grandmothers”, dressed in traditional costumes, will entertain us and teach us the local dialect of Razlog.

The second day of the tour is dedicated to local crafts in the Pirin region. The women in the village of Breznitsa will show us how to “roll” couscous. Its preparation is an old tradition, almost forgotten in our country in recent years. Couscous sessions used to be not only for their preparation but also a place for exchanging love signs and vows – a handkerchief, beaded jewelry, or candy as a sign of shared love. Maidens often molested their fiancés after a couscous sitting, and then called them “grabnushi.”

In Banichan the local hosts will welcome us with the typical for the region pie and will show us the magic of embroidering their famous colorful socks. Only here the tradition of knitting socks has been preserved for centuries, as the combination of colors and ornaments conveys information about the way of life, the worldview of the former Bulgarians, Christian beliefs, family, morals, human relationships. There are as many as 9 models of banitsa socks – “apneites”, “packs”, “cat steps”, “caps”, “locks”, “turkeys”, “blue”, “stars”. The models that have passed through the centuries are still preserved today – they are different because some are only for girls, others for married women, for the elderly, for women and men. The village of Banichan also has a unique map, embroidered by hand and reproducing an exact cartographic copy of Banichan.

We will meet the people and stories behind:

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