Perperikon

July 14, 2022

Day fifty-eight, Bulgaria. A ruined city in the south of the country, with Anthony, Mathilde and their daughter Hanae. The French family are on a road trip through southern Europe, taking a holiday from ordinary life.

Perperikon is a city cut into rock, put on a hill by people a long way back.

Heavy megaliths lie in the lowest courses. The masonry on top of them is much younger. Columns come out of the ground at angles nobody intended.

In places the rock of the mountain looks as though it was cut with a butter knife.

How did they do that.

Steps cut into the rock lead up between boulders and trees to Perperikon, Bulgaria — Up we go on steps someone cut into the hill long before us.

Walls of dressed stone blocks among large boulders and stairways in the ruined city of Perperikon, Bulgaria — Below, the rock of the first builders; on top, masonry that is far younger.

Large cut stone block on Perperikon overlooking wooded hills and a small lake in Bulgaria — In places the rock looks as if someone had cut it with a butter knife.

Looking down on rows of stone, boulders and grass among the ruins of Perperikon in Bulgaria — A plastic bottle between the stones is a reminder that time did not stop here.

Viewing platform with a Bulgarian flag above wall remains and column stumps at Perperikon — Columns rise out of the ground at angles nobody intended.

Wooded hills around Perperikon in Bulgaria, on the right a tower ruin with a wooden stair frame — Nothing but forest all round, and in the middle a city someone set on this hill.

Foundation walls on the summit plateau of Perperikon with a view of wooded mountains in southern Bulgaria — Of the houses, only the floor plans remain; the rest is rubble and dry grass.

Semicircular stone wall on the edge of Perperikon looking out over fields and hills in Bulgaria — One curve of stone, built for a purpose I don't know.

Rock-cut basin filled with green water behind a metal railing on Perperikon, Bulgaria — Those basin walls are so straight that I keep wondering how they did it.

Ruined tower with a wooden staircase above excavated foundations at Perperikon, Bulgaria — Only the wooden staircase is new; the tower behind it has seen rather more.

Frank in a hat and neckerchief below a stone tower at Perperikon, Bulgaria — How did they do it, I wonder, and the tower offers no answer.