We leave the coast and turn inland. Not too far away from Varna is a geological formation called the stone forest, near Devnya. Thought to be 50 million years old these columns many of which are hollow do look like a fossilized forest. Most geologists agree that they were formed which layers of chalk merged through a layer of sand.
We go forward in history for our next stop. The Madara Horseman if a relief on a cliff face 23m up from the base of the cliff. It represents the Bulgarian ruler Khan Tervel (700 AD).
The cliff face is very impressive and the nearby caves have evidence of human habitation since 2nd millennium BC.
From here we drive to the north, and on our way pass a more modern approach to the use of stone. I am not sure about the safety of this type of transport for rock. These open buckets are full of stone and pass over our road from the quarry to the processing plant. Great economical transport idea though.
Now back to a slower form of transportation. This horse though looking quite spritely as he is returning with a load of grass for his own consumption.
Our last visit of the day takes us back in history to the 3rdC BC Sveshtari. The Thracians during this period have similar tombs to the Macedonian ones we saw in Greece. A symbolic home for the afterlife. A house with a front façade and door with a few rooms inside, one normally as a burial chamber and another often filled with other burial items. This one had the remains of two horses in the chamber as well as a few more outside. The "home" is then buried under a mound of soil. In this area there are hundreds of these mounds many of which are yet to be excavated. This one is unusual in the fact that it is still complete inside and has not been damaged. Inside the burial chamber are some wonderful marble female statues. No photos allowed inside though.
We parked for the night at the site, the first time we have had our own personal security guard.
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