2020 Perseid meteor shower

Hello Hivers,

Todays post will be all about my extreme climb on the top of a lift installation to check out the beauty of the falling stars, the so called Perseid meteor shower.

Every year in August there is this spectacular astronomic event where there is so much glare and speed of the falling stars that they are actually visible with the naked eye. So we decided that yesterday, we are going to do it. The sky was clear so we had the opportunity and we definitely seized it.

The location where we decided to watch the meteor shower was the emblematic Vitosha mountain TV Tower. It is situated high in the mountain but there is a road to it so we went by car a little after the sunset. You can see the tower and the attached satellites around it. The pictures will not be perfect as they are done with my phone. The tower actually has a nickname - Kopitoto or The Hoof. This nickname emerged because of the fact that this place is actually a bit separated from the other peaks and high areas of Vitosha. Built on a specific hoof like terrain, it is visible from any corner of the whole city of Sofia. Pretty amazing.

If we go a little higher in the woods, we can really appreciate a good view of the city. But I will show you a more zoomed and extreme view a bit later in the blog.

In order to get to the front of The Hoof where there is also an old lift installation that is out of order since decades, we had to use our flashlights on our phones or headtorches.

Basically, this is the lift. At least its end station. It was getting the people to The Hoof from the city.

There were a few companies around us enjoying the night view.

Time to begin with the crazy part. Me and my friend decided that the view would be much better if we could climb up the installation without falling.

And indeed it was. Much clearer picture of The Hoof.

Looks like a kind of a boat that we embarked. Actually being dark, it was less scary than if we would have done it during the day. We couldn´t really account for the height and see the dangerous chasm.

The headtorch was a key element in the climb and descend because otherwise we had to use our phones for light which means one hand to climb. Impossible...

We managed to carry up a photographic camera but unfortunately, we did not know the exact night settings for it to shoot. We tried different aperture, timing, and ISO but since we also lacked a tripod, it was a lost cause.

We went up to the edge of the lift installation. It is actually inclined and we had the sensation that it may fall at any moment.

Here is what we did to reach its furthest point. Just breathe and step one foot at a time.

Not bad for a phone picture right? Reminds me of Batman.

Some crazy guy had a very powerful green projector and was blinding us from the city center. It wasn't enough that my hands were busy shooting images that I had to balance for that too.

This was the furthest I could go, to shoot a picture of Sofia city.

Here is another better lighted picture of the installation. We went up to the end of it.

I would say that the height was at least 10 meters in the base point.

Well, we enjoyed the view, the falling stars, the city. Time to go down. Let's see if it is more challenging than the ascend.

My friend was first. We had to use our climbing skills along with the headtorch to descend safely.

We made it down, no sweat, but I couldn't really capture a falling star for the blog. Here is the best image of the sky.

And here are the shadows of The Three Musketeers. Looks more like 3 trees but oh well 😀

Well, thank you guys for viewing my blog. This was quite a rush for me. When I went home, I felt so exhausted that I literally died in my bed.

I hope that you enjoyed it!

I also posted a day blog like 2 days ago 😁 Going to another bare location on Vitosha. If you are keen, check it out. It is larger in volume and also had its adrenaline shades of black (By that I mean that I encounted black clouds but I will not say more not to spoil the blog ⛈).

Just click on this link 😎

Stay happy, be peaceful!

Namaste

If you decide to support the Bulgarian community growth you can do it by delegating some HP that will be used only for that!