After a couple of days in Bansko we headed to Melnik. Melnik is known for it’s wine, history and it’s size.
I’ve been nearly a half dozen times but this is a town that never gets old. Or it does but it ages well. This tree is 800 years old and still going strong.
The town is super small. Melnik has 350+ people and a single main street. The street isn’t really paved. Mostly it is cobble stones and packed dirt. This time of year it means there’s plenty of mud around town.
Melnik used to be a very rich town. I think there was lots of trade and as such lots of money flowed through Melnik. The best examples of this wealth now are the homes and houses which line the main street.
One such home is now a house museum. It is at the far end of town and up on a hill. The house is large and looms over the town a reminder of the past and a link to the current wine trade.
The house is beautiful both inside and out and not to be out done there is also a huge wine cellar under the house. In fact a poster outside the museum claims this is the best example of the period architecture in Bulgaria. I tend to agree (and I think I’m allowed to do this 4+ years in).
Melnik is absolutely worth a visit, if not a long weekend.
It’s a really authentic place. As far as I can remember there were ruins of a church where you can still hear a whisper from one end to another.
The town is famous with the fact that it’s the smallest town in Bulgaria. There are smaller villages but not towns.