A fifteen-kilometre journey through the pine-covered foothills of the western Rhodopes brings you to the turn-off for DOLEN , a mixed Christian-Pomak village nestling between pasture-covered hills a further 3km off the main road. It's another extraordinarily time-warped place, with barnyard smells hovering over a maze of ramshackle houses and unpaved streets. The oldest part of the village lies off downhill to the right as you approach the newer bit. With outsiders buying up properties with a view to converting them into B&Bs, Dolen has a promising touristic future, although there's no reliable accommodation here as yet. For now, it's a great place for a wander, and the locals - who you'll see sitting outside their houses in summer sorting the tobacco crop - are by and large a friendly lot. There's a wonderfully uncommercialized village store-cum-café in the lower part of Dolen - just ask for the kafene .