Eastern Rhodope 2006

Probably the most magical place of the whole trek - the ghost hamlet of Латинка. We set up our tents right in the middle of one of the hamlets of Латинка. A shepherd told us that as many as five thousand people used to live in this and the nearby villages. Now that figure is dwindled a hunderdfold to mere fifty. All buildings are abandoned completely and seemingly at the same time, as if some catastrophic event sparked a mass exodus. The building on this picture was correctly identified as school by one friend. Facing it was another building but we had no clue what that may be. "Ah, that one used to be a mosque." said the shepherd. He also explained there were no money for both a minaret and a pub. The imam at the time was obviously a decent guy. When pressed by the youngsters he agreed on the money being spent on the building of a pub instead of a mosque. "God can hear you wherever you are." reasoned the shepherd. This night we all expected to hear the ghost imam's payers!
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