My walk today is in Strandzha village Brodilovo. So far, I have only passed by here to move to neighboring villages, but I had never entered this village and I was eagerly awaiting the day when I would do so.
And that day I managed to see a lot: I was in the center, walked the streets, reached the church, visited the "St. Panteleimon" chapel, and learned the starting points of several routes.
Here I am in the center of the village.
On the central square there is a recreation area and a stone fountain with a wooden canopy made in 2013.
There is a memorial plaque to the villagers who died in the Patriotic War.
Here is the "Exarch Antim 1" community center.
Around the square there are still large, massive buildings that are currently uninhabited.
You can see a building that is probably a shop and a local pub, but it was out of business that day.
There are no people in the streets, but there are cars parked in front of many of the houses, which means that the owners are here.
I reach the village church - Church "Saint Great Martyr Pantaleon", which is located in the northeastern part of the village. It is a massive building, it is locked and I can only look from the outside.
It was built in 1909. Three years later, in a building at the back, the first Bulgarian school in the village was founded.
"The church is truly unique not only in terms of energy - the largest collection of Nestinari icons is kept here, the oldest ones are from the 16th century."
sourse: bnr.bg
I continued to the next holy place located around the village - the chapel of "St. Panteleimon".
This chapel plays an important role during the traditional Nestinar rituals. The icons are kept there for several days, in special places for this purpose, and the ritual washing of the icons is performed in the nearby holy spring.
Stone stairs lead to the holy spring.
A little further down is the river, which has dried up.
Around the chapel there are wooden tables and benches for a picnic in nature.
I continued my walk through the streets of the village.
Although there are abandoned houses, most of them have well-maintained yards, and there are new ones that are being built.
There were banana palms in several of the yards.
This house had very interesting ornaments around the windows, and where there were no windows, they were painted.
More beautiful views from the village leading to unique routes in the mystical Strandzha Mountains. I hope to visit some of them next year.
