The tour to the first private rose oil distillery in Bulgaria and the beautiful complex is fabulous in late May and early June, but whenever you visit it - we guarantee you will be impressed by the magic and peaceful oasis that the owners have created.
Access from Plovdiv to Damascena is extremely easy on the Sub-Balkan Road. It is located about an hour and a half by car. Opening hours are from 10 am to 5 pm in the colder months and until 7 pm in summer. There is an entrance fee, as well as the possibility of paying extra for a guided tour. There is also a convenient parking lot available to visitors, so inside it is very suitable for a leisurely walk and children.
From the entrance you will come across the first place that is a must for taking a photo - the statue of the wife of King Seuthes III, Queen Berenice, which is located under a beautiful arch, loaded with many symbols. On the one hand, it depicts the past, consisting in the history and culture of our ancestors, firmly on the ground, and on the other, the future of the world - above, expressing the imperial ambitions of the "Great Powers", unhealthily wanting to conquer the world. A unifying element between the past, the present and the future is the inscription message: "There are no eternal empires, there are peoples who keep their history forever!". Next to it is the figure of Seuthes himself, mounted on his horse, in Thracian battle armor.
The next place to visit is the only rose oil distillery in Bulgaria, where you can see amazing murals telling stories about the past of our people and the path of the rose. In it, you can observe the process of picking and distilling the roses, from mid-May to mid-June, or enjoy the richly decorated walls and the fabulous bell tower.
The entire exterior of the complex is beautifully landscaped and enriched with ponds and mini waterfalls and fountains inhabited by swans, which create a real feeling of being one with nature and pleasant tranquility.
The Thracian cultural center is a unique architectural creation, which with its special symbols and signs recreates in a unique way fragments of the Thracian sanctuaries in the Holy Valley of the Thracian kings. At the very entrance of the Thracian Cultural Center, you will find the sacred symbol IYI, called the sign of the Thracians. It represents the Supreme Divine Power and is depicted on the wall in the central foyer. There you can see more artistic masterpieces depicting the ancient Thracian cities of Seuthopolis, which today is under the waters of Koprinka Dam and was the capital of the Odrysian kingdom, and Kabyle - the main center of the Odrysian kingdom and a city of special importance to Southeastern Thrace in the second half of the first millennium BC.
The rich culture of our ancestors is recreated through the unique frescoes and various fragments of Thracian mounds located on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria - Alexandrovska mound, Sveshtarska mound, Kazanlak mound and Ostrusha, near the town of Shipka. This rich cultural heritage allows us to better understand the details of life, customs, traditions and rituals that the Thracians observed and performed.
On the left is the shop to the complex, where you can buy a variety of products based on rose oil.
On the second floor is the covered part of the Damascena restaurant, which has direct access to the amazing view of the amphitheater. The menu is original, short, but extremely tasty and with special delicacies such as venison, wild boar, deer and products made from roses.
From the amphitheater you will directly find a part presented as an open-air ethnographic museum with an exhibition of various crafts typical of the area and magnificent arches strewn with roses, which will be fabulous during the flowering period.
There’s also something for the little ones - a small playground where they can have fun.
In the immediate vicinity you can visit the Damascena Biopark with a rich variety of wildlife, an ostrich farm and even to continue with a nearby walk to the Singing Rocks Ecopark and the Orlovo Gnezdo Eco-trail, which we’ve promised to be our route soon!
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