BULGARIA, Part 2: Taking the Rhodope Railway to Bansko in the Pirin Mountains

After a rather mixed and sometimes not very thrilling start in Sofia, I headed to Bansko for three days. To the Bulgarian tourist hot spot Bansko, which has now made a name for itself as a venue for World Cup ski races.

To get to Bansko from Sofia, you can take the famous and renowned Rhodope Railway with a unique transfer in Septemvri. This narrow-gauge line, which is often compared to the Mariazell Railway in Austria, has been known to me for many years from a picture book about Bulgarian railways by the former Spurkranz publishing house. Another, personal and private picture book from a friend who visited the Rhodope Railway more than ten years ago finally convinced me to undertake this trip to Bulgaria. The ascent of this railway from the Thracian Plain through the Tzepina Gorge into the mountains is indescribably fascinating. The railway meanders in loops and switchback tunnels, once clockwise and then against it, up to 1267 meters, before finally descending into the basin landscape near Bansko, at an altitude of around 900 meters.

The journey from Septemvri to Bansko takes almost four and a half hours. Four and a half long hours for ordinary mortals. Four and a half exciting and interesting hours for us immortal railway enthusiasts.