Above the little town of Kalofer, the southern wall of the Balkan range rises almost vertically, cut by deep gorges with waterfalls and covered in old beech and fir forest, and up there lies the Dzhendema reserve, one of the strict nature reserves within Central Balkan National Park. The name is said to come from a Turkish word for hell, a fair description of its steep, wild terrain. Above the reserve, Botev Peak, the highest summit of the Balkan mountains at 2,376 metres, stands at the heart of the park. Bears, wolves, chamois and wild goats roam these slopes, and the old beech forests of the park are part of the transnational World Heritage site of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of Europe.
Kalofer has a special place in Bulgarian history as the birthplace of Hristo Botev, the revolutionary poet who died in 1876 fighting the Ottomans, and whose name was given to the highest peak. Karlovo, a few kilometres west, was the birthplace of Vasil Levski, the national hero of the liberation movement. Both towns lie in the Rose Valley, the broad valley south of the mountains, where fields of oil-bearing roses are harvested in late May and early June to produce rose oil, a precious ingredient for perfumes. In the early morning during the harvest, the scent hangs over the valley like a cloud.
The riding is excellent. The road through the Rose Valley, from Karlovo through Kalofer to Kazanlak, is a pleasant, gently winding route along the foot of the mountains, with views of the peaks rising above. From Karlovo, a road climbs north over the Troyan Pass, also called Beklemeto, through forest and open alpine meadows, with long sweeping descents and views on both sides of the range; to the east, the Shipka Pass, the scene of a famous battle in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 to 1878, crosses the mountains to Gabrovo. Surfaces vary, and in winter the passes can be snowy, sometimes closed.
Karlovo, about fifteen kilometres away, has fuel, shops and restaurants, and Kalofer has a few shops and guesthouses. Try banitsa, a flaky pastry filled with cheese, and shopska salad with tomatoes, cucumbers and white cheese, and buy a small bottle of rose water or rose oil as a souvenir.