Rhodope houses
White walls.
Rumensz — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Андрей Романенко — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Paulinabgbg — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Михал Орела — CC BY 2.0 · Михал Орела — CC BY 2.0
Shiroka Laka is a mountain village in the far south of Bulgaria, in the central Rhodope Mountains at 1,206 metres, about 15 km northwest of Smolyan in a straight line. It is a protected architectural and folklore reserve. The village is known for its authentic Rhodope houses set in tiers along both banks of its river, designed by noted local builders in the regional style: two storeys, projecting oriels, built-in cupboards and a small cellar. Thick white walls hide a small stone-paved yard, usually with a stone drinking fountain in the middle. The village is also known for its singing tradition and the kaba gaida, the large Rhodope bagpipe, and has had a secondary school for folk song and instruments since 1972. White houses with grey stone-slab roofs climb the green slopes, ringed by dense pine forest, and the river runs over rocks beneath old stone bridges. Stone fountains and houses painted with folk designs line the cobbled lanes. Visitors stroll the stone lanes among the old houses, cross the stone bridge over the river, and visit the village ethnographic museum. The village lies about 16 km west of the Pamporovo resort, so the two combine easily in a day.
White walls.
Over the river.
Rhodope bagpipe.
Shiroka Laka, Smolyan municipality, Bulgaria
The lanes, the stone bridge and the ethnographic museum.
Its Rhodope houses and singing tradition.