A Wildflowers Festival in the Rhodopes is being organized by the Rhodopes Environmental Organization for the third consecutive year, June 20-28 in Smoylan and several of the pretty little villages nearby, their white houses scattered on the slopes of the mountain. Art workshops have been mushrooming here; there are botanical and cycling tours, local arts and crafts as well as folklore festivals, bazaars and practical aromatherapy and natural cosmetics seminars. Here is more about the flower festival from Antonia Chelikova, chair of the Rhodopes Environmental Organization.

“The event is part of the Wildflowers Festivals network in Slovenia, Croatia, Romania and Great Britain within the frameworks of PlantLife International’s Wildflower Europe project. Our festival is all about wild plants. We want to tell our guests all about them and to arouse their interest so they will come here, to the mountain. On the other hand the idea is to show local communities what kind of wealth they have here and to show them that this is a tourist resource that could attract more visitors in springtime, extending the tourist season.”

The festival targets people who enjoy the great outdoors, but also those who want to know more about Rhodope tradition and folklore. An array of different events that give guests a chance to taste, smell and see the beauty of the Rhodopes. The festival helps them find out everything there is to know about flowers, how important they are, what role they play in the lives of the local communities. It would perhaps be interesting to note that there are more than 20 species of flowers named after the mountain, among them Rhodope violet, Rhodope veronica, Rhodope goose-grass, Rhodope lily, Rhodope avens. The four botanical tours will take guests to see some of the really rare flowers here. Antonia Chelikova:

“It will be our pleasure to reveal the secrets of orchids. There are many different kinds of wild orchids in Bulgaria and to be more precise in the Rhodopes. They may not be as exotic as the orchids growing in the tropics but are no less beautiful. Orchids are a protected species in Bulgaria and are in the Red Book of Endangered Species. We very much hope that this festival will make people more sensitive of their conservation because it is essential that we preserve this wealth for the coming generations. Flowers are more than beauty. What would our lives be like without herbs and their medicinal properties! That is why we lay an emphasis on herbs as well. We have an aromatherapy seminar that reveals the medicinal power of herbs; we also have a wild herb bazaar.”

The Wildflowers Festival also includes two folklore fairs – in the villages of Mogilitsa and Smilyan. Mogilitsa will bring together local arts and crafts, traditions and customs in the Rhodope region that have been passed down from generation to generation; in Smilyan visitors will be able to see and hear singing and traditional instrument playing competitions with participants from different folklore regions of Bulgaria.

English version: Milena Daynova