Chokmanovo () is a village in the municipality of

Smolyan Smolyan () is a List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, town and ski resort in the south of Bulgaria near the border with Greece. It is the administrative and industrial centre of the Smolyan Province. The town is built along the narrow valley of t ...

, in the Arda valley of the Rhodopi Mountain range. It is 11 km south of the town of Smolyan and 30 km from the ski resort of

Pamporovo Pamporovo (, ''pronunciation'': /pam'porovo/) is a popular ski resort in Smolyan Province, southern Bulgaria. It is set amongst Norway spruce forests and is primarily visited during the winter for skiing and snowboarding. It is also a popular t ...

. 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 is 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 Ottoman may refer to: * Osman I, historically known in English as "Ottoman I", founder of the Ottoman Empire * Osman II, historically known in English as "Ottoman II" * Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empir ...

seemed to agree, Chokmanovo translates as "the untamable people". The herdsmen in the 20th century 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 is a city in the region of Western Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Xanthi regional unit of the region of East Macedonia and Thrace. Amphitheatrically built on the foot of Rhodope mountain chain, the city is divided ...

. Because it was on a main thoroughfare, the village was wealthy and the old stone houses were 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 before 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 An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

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 their front doors. 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 reunion 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 A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the n ...

drying "factory" in the village, the

orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or abusi ...

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 and a paintball range in Chokmanovo. The big news locally is the opening of the road south to

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, restoring passages that have been closed for 50 years.

References

{{Authority control Villages in Smolyan Province