St. Nicola Church
History of this amazing town od Melnik is described in many articles, books and Internet stories, and there is no need to repeat it.
Geocachers who will visit this town, hunting for other caches, will read much more about it in the listings.
When I visited Melnik in July 2013, I was completely astonished of it. The natural beauty of the sand pyramids is just breathtaking. It seems to me that this enchanted environment evokes a spiritual need for contact with the God. The richness of religious heritage of Melnik people (because churches and monasteries are built for people) seems to prove it. Data say that in the past “more than 70 churches, as well as 4 monasteries, were erected here”.
With all my respect and apologies to Bulgarian geocachers, I could not resist this challenge and I had to hide a cache here…
Remains of the church
About this cache: The Church of St Nicholas is a partially preserved medieval Eastern Orthodox church in the town of Melnik. Dating to the late 12th century, it stands on top of an ancient Thracian sanctuary and a 5th-century basilica. In the Middle Ages, the church served as the cathedral of Melnik's bishop. The interior of the church features frescoes of rarely depicted scenes, as well as a 13th-century inscription. Its bell tower used to house one of the oldest extant church bells in Europe, discovered by archaeologists in the 2000s.
The church bell
The Church of St Nicholas is a partially preserved medieval Eastern Orthodox church in the town of Melnik. Dating to the late 12th century, it stands on top of an ancient Thracian sanctuary and a 5th-century basilica. In the Middle Ages, the church served as the cathedral of Melnik's bishop. The interior of the church features frescoes of rarely depicted scenes, as well as a 13th-century inscription. Its bell tower used to house one of the oldest extant church bells in Europe, discovered by archaeologists in the 2000s. The church served as the town's cathedral until the construction of the similarly named Church of St Nicholas the Wonderworker in the 18th century. Although the medieval Church of St Nicholas was in use as late as the 19th century as a monastery church, it is only partially preserved today, with all but the eastern part entirely in ruins. After the Balkan Wars (1912–1913), Melnik was deserted by much of its population and the lack of maintenance resulted in the church's rapid structural decay.
Here you can find a “container” hollowed in stone, called “wishing well”. Visitors of this church drop small coins in it, hoping for health and good luck.
Bird's nest in the church wall
The cache is a small white plastic box.
How to get there: Start at the higher part of the town, at R1 point. The trail leads up, left behind a house and then uphill, on steepy terrain. After some 15 minutes a big blue info table will show you where to go (right). From here, after some 10 minutes of walk, you'll get there.
Please, be very careful when getting out, logging and putting back the cache, in order to protect it of Muggles! Thanks.
Sources: Internet. Photos: Internet, Original (by Galejnik)