Period: March – November Trip Duration: 9 hours
| Price per person | ||
| 1 person | 2 people | 3 or 4 people |
| 110 euro | 65 euro | 50 euro |
| for more people - price is on request | ||
*Please note that all payments should be in Leva or in Euro only and are given directly to the driver after the trip is completed.
The sanctuary complex near the village of Nebeska is a complex with incredible rock formations, weathered over millions of years, isolated from trapezoidal niches and rock cavities. Observing the rocks, we are going to discover mushrooms, figures of animals and human faces in the stone. This place is filled with legends which enchant each visitor with its mysticism. Even to this day, locals speak of the great power of secret rituals floating in the air. The great Thracians would come here on horseback, they would spend the night in the Womb Cave and in the morning the young men would carve a cavity in the rocks. They would put gifts (bread or herbs) in the cavities as a way to worship the holy marriage between the Sun and the Mother Goddess. They believed the energy of God would seep through the cavities.
This amazing Thracian megalith - The Womb Cave was discovered in 2001. The temple is shaped like the opening to a vagina. It leads into a cave about 22 meters. It was also additionally shaped by hand into a place of conception constantly washed by water seeping through the walls. At the deep far end of the cave, a carved altar symbolises the womb itself. At midday as the sun approaches its highest point in the sky, its light seeps into the cave through a special opening in the ceiling and projects a perfectly recognizable representation of a phallus onto the floor. As the sun progresses further, and the light slants across the interior of the cave, the phallus grows longer, reaching out to the womb altar. Only during some months of the year, when the sun is lowest on the horizon, the phallus becomes long enough to reach the altar and symbolically fecundate the womb.
You start at 9 am. You ride along an easy mountain road for 1 hour and 15 minutes. After that, you ride for 30 minutes along a narrow picturesque road where you will see old abandoned villages. You park the car and walk for about 15 minutes to the Sanctuary complex. You explore the area for about 30 minutes. You walk back to the car and after a 30-minute car ride, you park again. You hike along an easy forest path for about 50 minutes and you arrive at the Womb Cave. You explore the cave for about 30 minutes. You hike back to the car. If you wish, after a 30-minute car ride, you can have lunch in a local restaurant built in a beautiful mountain lake. After that you drive back to Plovdiv for about 1 hour and 30 minutes.
