Pirot Rural Tourism accommodation
Stara Planina Mountain in Serbia spreads on the surface of 1500 km2 capturing Knjaževac, Zaječar, Dimitrovgrad and Pirot Municipalities, while in Bulgaria its slopes reach the Black Sea. Stara Planina Mountain is an extension of the Carpathian mountain ranges. The slopes of Stara Planina Mountain towards Bulgaria are steep and hardly accessible, while the western side of the mountain gently descends towards the Nišava River valley. However, the border area towards Bulgaria, called the Šopluk features extraordinary natural beauties and well preserved cultural heritage and unique customs !
The Shopluk is predominantly mountainous area in the central part of the Balkans stretching across Serbia, Bulgaria and Macedonia over 12.000 km2 of land. The Shopluk area encompasses the following parts that stand out: Kraiste /around the towns of Custendil – Kyustendil, Bosilegrad and Radomir/, Maleševo /southeast of the town of Osogovo/, Slaviste and Pijanac /near the Pčinja river/, Vlasina /around Vlasina lake and the town of Crna Trava/, Grahovo /around the town of Breznik and Pernik/, Bure /west of the town Trn/, Znepolje /south and east of Trn/, Luznica /around the town of Babusnica and Ljuborađa/, Torlak /surroundings of the towns of Pirot and Dimitrovgrad/, Zagorje /Stara Planina’s east side/, Zaglavak /southeast of the town Knjaževac/, Zaplanje /around the town of Gadžin Han/, Budžak /around the town of Kalna/, Sofia – Sophia field and Sofia – Sophia valley…. In the Serbian part of the Shopluk, likewise in the Bulgarian and the Macedonian Shopluk parts, local population speak the Prizren-Timok or the Torlak dialect of the Serbian language.
Here in Pirot and surroundings there are spectacular mountain peaks, waterfalls and lakes, forested valleys intersected with mountain streams, gorgeous ravines and caves. There are numerous options for hiking and trekking, along the Stara Planina Mountain hiking trails of varied difficulty levels, that are part of the EU Hiking Corridor E4. The specially attractive is to hike to the highest peak of the south-eastern Serbia – the Midzor peak, 2169 meters, along the hiking trail which starts from the Mountain hut and the Babin zub Hotel on the Stara Planina Mountain……
The Serbian part of Stara Planina Mountain has at least 1742 growing plant species /including 41 indigenous orchids/, of which 160 (9.2%) are locally or regionally endemic. The precious Pirot ćilims – woolen rugs or carpets preserve the century old tradition of Stara Planina and are famous for their extraordinary quality, creativity of design and patterns, and beauty of colors. Locals say the best way to feel the richness of the herbs of Stara Planina Mountain is through the taste of the sheep’s milk, from which hard and matured kackavalj cheese is produced – product with geographical origin…..Visitors are also strongly recommended to discover rich heritage of Pirot and the surroundings – the Tijabara Church, Hand-woven Rug workshop of Damsko srce, workshop of the famous Pirot Pressed Sausage, workshop of the delicious Pirot /mature/ kackavalj cheese, Pirot pottery workshop, well-preserved stone village of Gostusa, majestic waterfalls and canyons of Stara Planina Mountain – Čingulj Waterfalls on the Toplodolska reka river, Pilj Waterfalls, Tupavica waterfalls in the Dojkinci village, canyon of the Visocica river, canyon of the Temstica river, canyon of the Rosomacka reka river, Vladikine ploce canyon, canyon of the Jerma river, canyon of the Gradasnicka reka river…..
Our highly reputed artistic partner Slavica Ciric – the President of the Damsko srce Association Pirot always provides visitors unique experiences of discovering and learning on the ancient skills, research and application of the art of hand-woven rugs that she successfully practices for decades. During visit to the Damsko srce Association in Pirot, Slavica Ćirić tells visitors about meaning and energy of the patterns of hand-woven rugs: “the Sovra Pattern is ancient symbol of the ancient civilizations among which are the Serbs, that we here carefully maintain and preserve. I designed and creted this pattern and such a pattern was never seen before. The red color is not usual, but designates the color on caps of the Guard of the Military of Republic of Serbia, it is Divine color. The interior black color was not additionally colored, but it is natural, and comes from black sheep that is called „sura“ color which has some hints of white threads, and only in the central part there is the original red color. This rug pattern needs to be places horizontally on the wall or beneath the ceiling, or wherever you want, only it must be allocatad horizontally to the floor.”…..
