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The other day, I visited Kazanluk, known as the Valley of the Roses.
It is a small town in central Bulgaria.
It's located in between Stara Zagora and Karlovo, which is also the rose-producing area, and in the land of the basin-like surrounded by the Balkan Mountains and Suredona Gora Mountains. I was touched the beauty of rich nature such as the farming village, lavender field, damsk rose field, cherry and vineyard, mountains and a flock of sheep, which I saw from the car heading from Sofia to Kazanluk, and I travelled so many places.
Originally damask rose was brought from Middle East and North Africa, and by repeated breeding and mating, now has gorgeous and beautiful fragrance. Today, damask rose that has been produced in this area, is used for many famous fragrances.
The reason that the cultivation of damask rose's has been done here for over 300 years, seems to be because of this climate, rich and clean soil, and the influence of rain from the end of April to May and June.
It starts with clear sunny morning, then it rains in the evening followed by sunshine, it is like blessing rain.
I have heard from those who produce these roses, that
the temperature went higher than normal when they started the harvest this
year, therefore the time of rose flowering came earlier and distilleries were
operating at full capacity, but the weather became ideal from the beginning of
the second half of their harvest at the end of May.
Well, I also experienced the rose picking in Enina on the day of Rose Festival, from early morning.
On the day of the Rose Festival, people who dressed up in bright colors picks roses while singing a song that are handed down from ancient times.
In particular, girls were so pretty even though both
young and old were wearing the traditional costumes. Girls in the picture, were
all teenagers, but they were so adorable and very beautiful. I thought there
were so many beautiful women in Bulgaria.
Each costume has its unique embroidery depending on the village of origin.
What I found after my experience of picking,
the smell of damask roses does not come out immediately when picking them, but
from around noon the rich scent of roses begins to be in the air.
It is a fragrance that makes you feel happy, but it
also volatilizes rapidly, I realized the reason why immediate distillery is
necessary after picking in the early morning.
By the way, the flowering time of damask rose is only a short period of about 20 days in the year. Among them, it is only a few hours between 4:30am and the hours of the morning that we can harvest.
It is because if the temperature goes up when the sun comes out, the rose opens and its aroma component starts to leak.
The rose oil is extracted by steam distillation from the damask rose, a beauty effect can also be expected.
It is also recommended to use as a skin care, taking
the essence of Rose with Rose supplement, as it has skin toning and
moisturizing effects.
Now, the Queen of Roses will also be
elected in the Rose Festival every year. The Queen rose of 2013 went to Ms. Юлия
Попова. I bumped into her on the street on my way back from the festival, she
said hi with such a charming smile. I remember her as she was such a beautiful
woman. At the parade on the last day of the Rose Festival, she
was wearing the crown of the Queen, dressed up in a pale pink gown. She was
very gorgeous.
In addition, there was a contest to choose the Rose Queen for girls.
Children and girls who were looking at the festival looked also pretty wearing fashionable clothes. Some of them said "hello" and "please take a picture with us”♪
Next time, I
would like to introduce a rose water, distilleries of the roses, and how to use essential
oils of the Rose.