Stone forest, varna, bulgaria. "Stone Forest" in Bulgaria
Landmark of Bulgaria - Stone Forest
Travelers who choose Bulgarian resorts for their holidays often do not limit themselves to beaches and water activities. In the country they will meet many interesting places. Bulgarian travel companies offer . One such unique attraction is natural phenomenon stone forest, other name driven stones.
stone forest located at a distance of 18 kilometers from Varna and is a unique natural phenomenon. It is spread out on hills of sand, between which the Stara Planina highway is laid. Fantastic columns six-eight-twelve meters high, empty inside, look very impressive and unforgettable. But this height is only the visible part of the columns, in fact they are buried deep in the ground, sometimes up to 100 meters. The locals call this place stone forest or driven stones.
Stone columns are arranged in rows and look as if they are connected by two cones, barely touching the columns with their sharp top. The length of the central group of columns is 850 meters, and the width is up to 120 meters. It consists of about three hundred different columns. A group of stones resembling petrified animals or a frozen fountain looks very unusual. If you drive around within a radius of about 50 kilometers, you can find about 15 more such groups of columns, only much smaller in size and number. Therefore, it is the central group that attracts thousands of tourists.
Occurrence of Driven Stones
There are a lot of hypotheses about how this forest appeared, only the most basic ones number up to 20 pieces. The most popular is the hypothesis that more than fifty million years ago the sea was located in this place. After centuries of seabed different layers were formed from different rocks. atmospheric phenomena, influencing these layers, soldered them to each other and formed these tall pillars which are very similar to stalactites in caves. Gradually, the action of water and air cut the columns, giving them various forms, so similar to fantastic trees.
According to another version, the columns were formed from giant corals that grew at the bottom ancient sea. And the voids in the columns appeared due to the fact that petrified growths formed around plants growing at that time, such as, for example, tropical mangroves. Over time, the trunks of these trees rotted, but the shell remained, and so hollow columns appeared.
The newest hypothesis was that these stones were formed under the influence of methane flowing from the bottom of the sea. The gas rose to the surface in a jet, and around it, dead marine animals gradually formed, which were soldered to each other with quartz sand. And so gradually the columns grew from the seabed upwards, and inside, where the gas flowed, there were voids.
According to another version, the columns were a colony of corals. And meet at all unusual versions. Groups of people believe that these columns were megaliths. They believe that in this area in ancient time there was a temple or an observatory. And the columns were like beacons, capable of receiving signals from deep space from aliens.
Now many stones are called by different names. There are such as: Throne, Family, Monk, Soldier, Devil and others. These names were invented by people living nearby. And on the border with the forest, next to three small columns, the locals laid out a circle of stones on the ground. There is a belief that you need to go around all the columns in turn, reach this circle and stand in its center, stand, frozen for a while, and after that a person will be lucky in all his affairs.In general, the older generation in Bulgaria considers this place to be enchanted, in which unusual things happen to different people.
How to get to Stone Forest
The attraction is located at a distance of about 18 kilometers from Varna, next to the old highway from Varna to Sofia. If you like to get acquainted with the country on your own, then you can get there by a rented car, drive from Varna for about 25 minutes. More budget can be reached by public transport, which does not go there directly, only to the village of Aksakovo, then hitchhiking, but this is more difficult. Taxi is a rather expensive option. Well, the last option is to go on an excursion, in any resort town Bulgaria has those who offer excursions to this amazing place. An example of such an excursion "Stone Forest and Turtle River", in addition to stone forest you will be shown other sights of Bulgaria.
Noticed that in Lately I become more interested natural beauty than historical and cultural attractions. If you look at the feed of the most popular posts on this blog, then natural attractions have also become the leaders in it. So, not only I am drawn to nature. Everyone in this world began to get tired of the cycle of events and big cities.
The other day, in the folders on the disk, I found photographs taken in December 2011 during a trip to the famous Stone Forest in Bulgaria. This reserve is better known as Pobitye Kameni (Bulgarian: Pobiti Kameni, Kameni Kameni) and ranks first in the list of the country's attractions. Then we shot with two cameras, I processed and published my pictures a long time ago.
It seems that they were walking next to their sister, but her photos turned out different. And it's very strange that I forgot about this folder. It happens that materials are waiting for publication for several months, but not four years ... These Broken Stones showed us a lot of oddities then ...
I can't say that it was a very pleasant trip. Undoubtedly, it turned out to be a very interesting, impressive excursion, but even years later I remember that feeling of desire to leave this place as soon as possible.
The impressions of tourists who are brought to Pobitye Kameny by bus in the summer are strikingly different. As if the place does not show its negative energy in the presence of a large number of people having fun. We then, by the way, arrived in a great mood, in a wonderful company, and did not expect such impressions. In that note, I tried to describe my impressions as colorfully as possible.
The territory of the reserve is approximately 800 by 200 meters. Most researchers believe that the Stone Forest has natural origin but it's hard to believe. And he has no analogues anywhere else.
Columns with a porous structure are covered with recesses of various shapes and sizes and cracks.
Scientists have put forward over 20 hypotheses about the origin of the Broken Stones, but none of them is definitely confirmed.
One version claims that these columns are fossilized giant corals or stumps of prehistoric trees about 50 million years old. The other is that they are stalagmites. There are supporters of the extraterrestrial origin of the Stone Forest, who believe that the stones receive some kind of signals from space ...
Local residents have many beliefs associated with the Stone Forest. It is said that the one who, having bypassed all the columns, stands in the very center of the circle of stones, will be lucky in life. Who posted this circle is also unknown ... We found several such circles.
By the way, I have already seen similar circles, lined with smaller stones, about ...
To be honest, the Pobitiye Kameny Reserve absolutely corresponds to the definition of "Enchanted Place".
In this building (well, how else to call it?) everyone climbs into some kind of narrow crevice in the summer. If you get through, then your sins will be forgiven.
It is undoubtedly better to go to the Stone Forest in the off-season, when there is no one there, in order to feel in your own skin all the magical things of this place. And also to save money. In summer, the entrance to the reserve is paid and costs about 6 euros (12 leva). However, if you come in the summer with a tour, the guide will tell and show everything. We frankly did not figure out where in which circle it is necessary to get up correctly and where to climb.
Directions to the Stone Forest Reserve in Bulgaria:
From the city of Varna, the path on a good road is no more than 10 kilometers.
Stone forest (beaten stones) is a unique natural phenomenon that has no analogue in the world. Located 20 km from Varna towards Sofia.
The tourist center is the central group 800 m long. Other groups are scattered over an area of 50 sq. km. km. Geologists from all over the world visited the stone forest and tried to solve its mystery. Officially, there are 15 hypotheses. The most popular version is that the sea existed in these parts 50 million years ago. Geologists have named it the Lutesky Sea. Over time, three layers formed at the bottom of the sea. The lowest layer consisted of a gray-yellow marl base, a thick layer of quartz sand formed on it, the uppermost layer consisted of limestone. Over time, the water left these places. Under the influence of atmospheric conditions, the upper layer began to collapse. The lime-saturated rainwater of the upper layer began to penetrate into the lower layers of quartz sand. Thus, the layers began to be firmly soldered to each other and form from top to bottom large stone pillars, similar to the growths of stalactites that occur in caves.
An interesting fact is that many columns are hollow - i.e. empty inside. So, according to another version, plants similar to tropical mango trees grew here. Stone pillars formed around the plants, and the plants rotted and eventually formed wastelands in the pillars.
Another version says that stone pillars are coral formations, since the Lutensian period, when there was still tropical climate. According to this hypothesis, methane gas flowed from the bottom of the sea. It rose up, and dying marine microorganisms were deposited around it, which merged with quartz sand. Thus, the columns grew from the bottom up, and where the gas flowed, the columns remained empty.
Whatever the true cause of the stone forest, the fact remains that there is a very strong energy here. And as they say, if you touch the columns for a couple of minutes, negative energy is discharged. The strongest energy point is the place marked with a circle of small stones. Some of the pillars have received names due to bizarre shapes: poodle, camel, family, warrior, phallus, etc.
18 km. from the Bulgarian city of Varna there is a valley bearing the poetic name "Stone Forest". On an area of 70 square kilometers there are many columns made of stone with diameters up to three and a height of up to seven meters. Composed of calcareous sandstone, these porous stones are pitted and cracked; inside they are hollow and filled with sand. The Bulgarians themselves call them “driven stones” (“beat stones”), because when you look at them, you get the feeling that this unique “forest” cannot have natural nature and its creation is the work of rational beings.
The origin of this miracle is a mystery that has not been solved to date, but there are many versions of the origin of the columns. According to one of them, stones are giant size stalagmites with a history of more than 50 million years. According to another, lime deposits that remained here after the sea ebb, and bizarre forms are only a consequence of long-term exposure to wind and air. According to the third version, these are stumps left over from ancient trees. However, none of the versions has not been confirmed so far.
Conventionally, several groups of stones are distinguished. The first is four rows of columns that are perpendicular to the road. The next one is a group of high (about 6 meters) "trees". The third - stones, as if set by someone giant hand Each other. But the fourth group is the most interesting for tourists - a circle of relatively small stones, in the center of which there is a high column. The Bulgarians themselves have a belief that if you go around the entire "Stone Forest", and then go inside this circle, luck will never turn away from you.
It will take only 20 kilometers from Varna along the highway leading from the sea deep into the mainland, to Sofia, and you are guaranteed to lose the feeling of reality.
It is difficult to resist the temptation to pinch yourself, and at the same time your companion, to make sure you are not sleeping! You did not travel to another dimension, did not end up in ruins ancient city or temple, did not turn into an ant and did not become a midget.
I just ended up in a forest, where instead of trees there are gigantic stone columns of the most bizarre shapes and sizes. They grow right out of the purest sand replacing the grass here. That is why the Bulgarians themselves call this place “beat the stones”, which means "Driven Stones".
Indeed, it seems that the 10-12-meter columns, three meters in diameter, seemed to have been driven into the ground with a gigantic hammer. But where, in fact, this stone forest came from, no one knows. This is a unique natural (although there are doubts about this) phenomenon that has no analogues in the world!
There are a dozen official hypotheses explaining the origin of the Stone Forest. Even more - unofficial. And which one to follow, everyone decides for himself. One, however, is liked by everyone without exception - like any legend about love.
NAME OF GOD
Long ago, when gods lived in the sky and titans lived on earth, the sea stretched much further inland than it does now. And where the Stone Forest is now, there used to be a coast, and next to it is a fishing village. There lived a certain righteous young man. With his deeds and deeds, he pleased God so much that one day he descended from heaven and appeared to a young fisherman with an offer that could not be refused.
He revealed his name to the young man and at the same time gave eternal life, but in return demanded an oath to keep this secret forever. God threatened: the price for talkativeness will be the loss of immortality. The young man, of course, agreed. And he would certainly have kept his word if he had not met the girl he fell in love with at first sight.
She answered him in kind. But the lovers could not be together: the girl was promised as a wife to the main titan. The young man decided to speak directly with her betrothed fiancé. He listened and said that he was ready to let the bride go if the fisherman would tell them, the titans, the name of God, and thereby immortalize them too. Rybak asked for a day to think. And not in vain: during this time he figured out how to keep the oath and at the same time propitiate the titans.
The next morning, he asked his opponent's men to line up in a certain way and each take the place indicated to him. Thus, he laid out the name of the god on the coast with the bodies of the titans. God, who was watching this picture from heaven, became angry and turned the titans to stone.
So, in fact, the Stone Forest appeared. And in the place where the young fisherman first embraced his beloved, today beats healing spring. Water from it is considered especially useful for kidney diseases.
ARCHITECTS OF THE MIRACLE
You will not believe it, but the first to describe the Stone Forest, now included in the top 10 main attractions in Bulgaria and under state protection as nature reserve, was a Russian journalist!
In 1829, during the Russian-Turkish war, war correspondent Viktor Teplyakov was seconded to the headquarters of Ivan Dibich, commander-in-chief of the Russian army. Returning home, he published "Letters from Bulgaria", where he described in detail the Stone Forest under the name of the Gebedzhin ruins (after the village of Gebedzhi, located nearby).
It is still interesting to read them now: “Colonel L. ordered, at my request, to tear off one of the smaller cylindrical columns. Some of our convoy soldiers set to work. Loud exclamations: “Let's find the treasure! Let's find the urn with the gold medals!" - were heard every minute around the dug out column. After some time it was open with more than a sazhen; but, deepening in an equally regular cylinder into the earth, it made us conclude by all indications that it was still too far to its underground foundation ... "
These records aroused curiosity in the scientific world - researchers reached out to Bulgaria one by one, and, looking ahead, let's say: there are plenty of them now.
Assumptions about the nature of the origin of the Stone Forest fell like a cornucopia. What they didn't say. Hammered stones - remnants ancient civilization! No, this is the result of alien interference!
But two prosaic versions triumphed. According to the first, gigantic "trees" are nothing more than petrified remains of coral reefs. For the sea still really once splashed in these latitudes.
Another hypothesis claims that boulders appeared as a result of the movement of the earth's crust and the uplift of the land. The sea receded, the relief bottom was exposed, and the wind, rain, alternating heat and cold, and most importantly, time all together acted as the architects of this bizarre ensemble.
MAGIC CIRCLE
Regardless of which version lies in your heart, you should know that it is generally accepted that there is a powerful bioenergy zone in the Stone Forest. They say that Vanga herself came to this place in order to recharge her energy. Therefore, you need to go here, even if you feel decrepit and broken: under the canopy of stone "trees" you will definitely feel better. It is also recommended to walk barefoot here - this way you will quickly part with the accumulated negative energy and recharge with positive energy.
Well, the epicenter of this place of Power is the “Magic Circle”: this is the name of a stone composition in the form of a circle, in the center of which a giant column rises. Most likely, this is partly a man-made work: noticing the schematic outlines of a circle, locals once completed the work begun by nature, laying out a circle of small stones.
But be that as it may, it is believed that it is inside the "Magic Circle" that you can recharge your batteries and synchronize your bioenergetic rhythms with the rhythms of the Universe. They also say that the energy of the "Magic Circle" is so strong that within a radius of 10 meters from it, phones, cameras and other equipment quite often fail.
But do not be discouraged, after a while they will definitely earn. In return, you will get much more. After all, the Bulgarians themselves have a belief: if you go around the entire Stone Forest, and then go inside the circle, then luck will never turn away from you again.
FALL FOR THE MIRACLE
Almost every stone in the reserve has its own name or nickname: Elephant, Soldier, Devil, Watchman, Waterfall, Throne. Each is assigned its own, special properties, and sometimes a ritual that must certainly be performed next to it.
For example, a stone known as the Stork attracts women who cannot get pregnant and give birth to a child. The stork became famous as a symbol of fertility. To be honest, the people simply call it the Phallus - because in shape it most of all resembles this organ. It is believed that a lady who touches it will definitely become pregnant within a year. It is even more reliable if the married couple embraces the “statue”.
They go to the stone of absolution, in the center of which there is a narrow gap, you yourself understand why. It is also called the Eye of the Needle. From the one who manages to seep through the hole, all sins are removed.
A stone with a hole in the form of a heart has become a Mecca for lovers. They call it the Stone of Love. According to local legend, if lovers look at each other through this "heart", they will be inseparable all their lives. Well, for those who have not yet found their happiness in life, it will be enough just to put their hand on this stone, and they will definitely meet their love.
Faith Hope
