Gela Village

The village Gela is situated in the heart of the Rhodopes, at the foot of the peaks Golyam Perelik (2191 m.), Orpheus (2188 m.) and Turlata (1825 m). It is six kilometers away from Shiroka Luka. There are mainly two legends about the area's history. The first one is that here is the birthplace of Orpheus. He is the hero, who according to mythology, went down in the Hades' realm to rescue his beloved Evridika, through the nereby cave The Devils throat (Dyavolskoto garlo). The second one is about patriarch Evtimii. It is believed that during the Second Bulgarian empire patriarch Evtimii was buried in a secret place near the Bachkovo monastery after his exile. The monastery was demolished in the 17th century, but in the early 20th century local people decided to build a church on this area and discovered a grave. In it was buried a head of the Orthodox church - in a sitting position, holding a scepter in the form of the heads of two snakes and a golden necklace. Old folk claim to have seen the scepter before it disappeared. The claim that this is Evtimii comes from the fact that the last Bulgarian Patriarch was not found buried in the place of exile, which is 20 km from Gela. The person found in the grave, according to locals, wore the insignia of the Patriarchs. On Livingston Island in Antarctica there is cape Gela called exactly to this Rhodope village. (Photo: hotelgela.com)