Chokmanovo
Encyclopedia
The village of Chokmanovo, Bulgaria is in Municipality of Smolyan
Smolyan
Smolyan is a town and ski resort in the very south of Bulgaria not far from the border with Greece. It is the administrative and industrial centre of the homonymous Smolyan Province...

, in the Arda valley of the Rhodopi Mountain
Rhodope Mountains
The Rhodopes are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, with over 83% of its area in southern Bulgaria and the remainder in Greece. Its highest peak, Golyam Perelik , is the seventh highest Bulgarian mountain...

 range. It is 8km south of the town of Smolyan and 25km from the ski resort Pamporovo
Pamporovo
Pamporovo is a popular ski resort in Smolyan Province, southern Bulgaria, one of the best-known in Southeastern Europe. It is set amongst magnificent pine forests and is primarily visited during the winter for skiing and snowboarding. It is also a popular tourist place in summer. The hub of...

. The region is very sunny, and the village is near the top of a southern slope so it receives direct sun more than 300 days a year. It has 4 seasons, is snowy in winter and subject to spectacular thunderstorms in the late afternoons of summer.

In antiquity the Greeks regarded this as a fierce, uninhabitable area of rough terrain and intolerable weather. The Ottomans seemed to agree, Chokmanovo translates as ‘the untamable people”. The herdsmen of 100 years ago practiced an ancient pattern of pasturing. Large family associations moved their herds south to winter in the valleys near the Mediterranean, and split into smaller herds to exploit summer pastures in the valleys of the Rhodopes. Chokmanovo was a summer area, and some of the oldest residents still remember walking their donkeys to markets in Xanthi
Xanthi
Xanthi ; is a city in Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Xanthi peripheral unit of the periphery of East Macedonia and Thrace.-History:...

. Because it was on a through-o-fare area, the village was wealthy and the old stone houses are very well built.

When the Greek/Bulgaria border was created, the pattern was broken, and Chokmanovo became a time capsule. It is a smaller town now than 50 or 25 years ago, but has a strong local ethic emphasizing education, and has generated many renowned artists, writers, professors and judges.

There are an inordinate number of retired architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

s here. The original architects of the village created interesting, well sited houses, which have been well preserved. Some still have sighting holes so residents can shoot at anyone at his front door! Currently there are 180 full time residents, but that number swells at school holidays, when children flood into their grandparent’s homes. There is also an almost unique day of return in the village, where every home has a family re-union at the same time and the whole village throws a party. Every home is full, couches and spare rooms are all booked, as all the children return and strike up old friendships.

There is a mushroom
Mushroom
A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that...

 drying “factory” in the village, the orphanage
Orphanage
An orphanage is a residential institution devoted to the care of orphans – children whose parents are deceased or otherwise unable or unwilling to care for them...

 is closed now, and the facilities will most likely end up as a tourist house. The village is only 8 km from Smolyan, but has much nicer weather. Another 4 km south is the large village of Smilyan, which has a dairy making the most varieties of cheese in the country. There is an ostrich farm in Chokmanovo, and a paintball range.
The big news locally is and will be the opening of the road south to Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

, restoring passages that have been closed for 50 years.
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