King Ferdinand Road, Rila

The King Ferdinand Road, often referred to as the Kaiser’s Road, was constructed during the First World War after Bulgaria entered the conflict in 1915. The project was initiated under King Ferdinand with the intention of creating impressive mountain routes through the Rila region, partly as a demonstration of engineering capability and hospitality for visiting allied leadership, including German Emperor Wilhelm II. Two main routes were planned: one from Borovets through mountain lodges such as Chakar Voivoda and Zavrachitsa towards Belitsa, and another more ambitious route beginning in Govedartsi and crossing the Mechit and Kobilino areas, originally intended to reach the Rila Monastery but never completed.

Construction was carried out under difficult alpine conditions, reportedly involving Serbian prisoners of war who worked on cutting and shaping narrow paths across steep and remote terrain. Although the full planned network was never completed, sections of the road remain today as hiking trails, offering access to some of the most dramatic landscapes in the Rila Mountains. Over time, the road has lost its strategic importance and formal maintenance, but it continues to be valued by hikers and historians as a remnant of wartime infrastructure and early 20th-century mountain engineering.