IMG_7779 - Rebuilding the Balkans led architects to play. Parts of the exterior of this Sirius Lighting building really are tilted.
IMG_7787 - The Knyazhevo tram station in 2019 and, painted on the building, in 1901.
IMG_7794 - The town of Pernik has become newly popular, being close to the mountains for recreation.
IMG_7795 - Pernik is on route E79 that is being upgraded as a main motorway to Greece, as required for these countries to join the EU.
IMG_7797 - Before communism Pernik was an important steel exporting area of Bulgaria.
IMG_7804 - From Pernik we drove south through this mountain-bordered valley toward Mt. Rila, the highest in Bulgaria.
IMG_7812 - The Bobov Dol thermal power plant, built in 1973-5 to burn brown coal from the local mines
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IMG_7823 - Time to leave the valley and head into those mountains
IMG_7825 - The town of Rila, gateway to the Rila mountains. Traditional grape vines and the modern touch of four satellite dishes.
IMG_7826 - Leafy awnings all along the street provide shade as well as grapes.
IMG_7827 - Obsina Rila, that is, Rila Municipality, thanks to my Bulgarian letter list and Google Translates.