Leshten

Built into the hillside around the road that weaves up through the Rhodope mountains, the village faces the Pirin mountain range so there are views of dramatic peaks and valleys everywhere around it. There’s a shop, a mehana, a sweet little art gallery, two churches, several hotels, and many summer homes. While everything looks quite new, the buildings have all been renovated in the traditional Bulgarian style: the lower halves in rough stone, the upper halves in wood. The most distinctive feature of Leshten - and this region in general - are the roofs which are tiled with thick, flat, stone plates.