Vitosha

Peaks: Maluk Rezen (2191m)
Area: Vitosha, Bulgaria
Vitosha may well be unique. Although there are other big cities dominated by a single large mountain (Yerevan springs to mind, perhaps Tokyo) I can't think of any like Sofia where the mountain is accessible direct from the suburbs. After a big day yesterday and a lot of travel, I wasn't sure I could be bothered working out the route to the peak, so initially tried to jog there from my hotel. This didn't work, and I gave up in the outer suburbs of Sofia, opting instead for a 6k jog back to the hotel. After a trip into the city centre, however, I walked down Vitosha Boulevard which, as its name suggests, is dominated by a view of the mountain (specifically, a view of Maluk Rezen). I couldn't resist, and had plenty of time before my flight, so got a taxi to the base of the Simenovo cable car and brought a ticket. This whisks you above the forests up to 1800m, way above the city, and was very relaxing after yesterday's exertions. I didn't have time for a long outing, so decided to make my way up to the two vague peaks that I could see from Sofia. The peak on the left had a huge tower on top, with hundreds of weekend walkers making their way along a broad track, so I went for the boulder-strewn summit on the right via a steep grassy slope to gain the very broad main ridge. From here, all of Vitosha appears as a vast plateau with various humps rising from it. Distant views were very hazy, with Sofia so far below as to be practically invisible - an incredible contrast. It would have been nice to see across to Musala and Rila from my highpoint at Maluk Rezen but it was too dank and hazy, so I went down to the Aleko hut for a slap-up lunch of Tarator, Mishmash and Bulgarian sausage.