Entrepreneurs from the Eastern Rhodopes made a Share of Experience Trip in Region of Stara Planina

 Fourteen entrepreneurs from the New Thracian Gold (NTG) network in the Eastern Rhodopes visited from 2 to 5 July the region of Stara Planina for sharing of experience with their colleagues from B&B's and farms.

The route of the traveling seminar passed through Troyan, Gabrovo, Bozhentsi, Tryavna, Elena and Zheravna.

The participants in the seminar, entrepreneurs in tourism and agriculture from the regions of Kardzhali, Ivaylovgrad, Madzharovo and Krumovgrad discussed with the owners and managers of guest houses and family hotels in Stara Planina the organization of their work, new trends in the tourism and the tourist attraction they offer.

As a result of the meetings, the entrepreneurs from the Eastern Rhodopes saw clearly one very strong side in their endeavors - their guest houses offer an accommodation and also organic and local dishes prepared from products from their gardens, Michaela Kircheva, coordinator on ecotourism in NTG summarizes. In the villages of Stara Planina, however, many authentic crafts such as pottery, weaving, carving are preserved and turned into interesting attractions for tourists.

This was the third in a raw share-of-experience seminar organized by NTG for entrepreneurs from the Eastern Rhodopes. In 2010, they visited Strandzha and last year – the region of Predela and parts of the Western Rhodopes.

Impressions of participants in he seminar:

Blagovesta  Vassilieva from the Wild Farm in Gorno Pole. Madzharovo Municipality:

Especially, I was impressed by the guest houses in Bozhentsi, restored according to their authentic architectural style. I was interested to see how the guest rooms in the houses of Zheravna were decorated with old rugs, carpets and household items. In the guest house "Zheravna"  was impressive to see the tavern and the interesting way how old items live together with old stuff.

Miroslav Huskov and Todor Mitkov, farmers from Pelevun, Ivaylovgrad Municipality:

We were impressed by the old houses in Bozhentsi,  the closest to the style and conditions and we want to offer our guests. Useful to us was to see the attractions that the eco villages in Stara Planina we visited offer and particularly, the organized outings on the ecotrails in the area and horseback riding. We exchanged information on courses for instructors for horse riding that we want to develop in our region.