FOOTWALK ROUTE TO SAINT CONSTANTINE AND SAINT HELEN CHAPEL

The start of the route is from the center of the village. The asphalt road leads to the skirts of the hamlet Kaykovska Mahala. In the hamlet you can visit one of the best samples of church architecture in the central part of the Rhodopy Mountain – St. Paul and St. Peter church. Next to the church is an old building, still not restored and for that reason not recommended to enter, but the external impression is memorable. It is the old parish school, founded by Stoyu Kalaydjiev from Shiroka Luka. He was the first teacher in this settlement.
Following the rout you leave Kaykovska Mahala and reach a road fork. One cannot miss it – next to it stands a transformer tower. Take a turn to the right. Not long after this turn the road reaches the St. Trinity chapel. Following the route, in some minutes in front of you appears a magnificent sight towards the Perelick ridge, the peaks Orpheus and Perelick. Further on the route you reach another road fork and proceed straightforward. The route enters the shades of a pine forest, the tall pine trees towering along both sides of the pathway, the air full of calm freshness, and not even a hint of the panorama that is about to stretch before you. The road slopes down, approaching ancient half ruined houses, in which decades ago some families used to spend the summer months. The road is climbing and the chapel comes into sight.
About 2 000 years ago a castle overlooked the place – there are suggestions that it was of Thracian origin but proof is insufficient.
A legend tells that long ago a local woman heard every evening the noise of horses galloping in the dark along the road to the place where the chapel stays today. This lasted for quite a time until one night she had a vision – a chapel should be built on this spot and dedicated to Saint Constantine and Saint Helen. Another legend tells that Saint Constantine and Saint Helen are son and mother (St. Helen was the mother of the Byzantine emperor Constantine, who made Christendom a state religion of the empire).
Such was the origin of the first chapel in this place. Later it was struck by a lightning and turned into ruins After some time the local people decided to rebuild it, but moved the place somewhat to the left. After some time the chapel fell down by itself.
In 1999 it was rebuilt on the original place – due to the efforts of Krustyo Stoev from Stoikite and Georgi Georgiev from Devin.