Lyutitsa fortress

The Lyutitsa fortress is often said to be the finest Byzantine fortress in the Eastern Rhodopes. The fortress was an impressive medieval town and a center of the episcopate in the 10th-18th centuries. It was built from marble which was very unusual construction material for the Byzantine period in Bulgaria. This is why the fortress is also called “The Marble town”. The fortress is hidden from the main road – it is perched on the hilltop south-west of Ivaylovgrad. 8 km marked walking path through an oak forest will lead you there. The panorama view is fantastic and if the sky is clear you could easily observe the Greek Rhodope mountains too.