Chakalarovo is a village in Southern Bulgaria. It is located in the municipality of Kirkovo, Kardzhali Region.

The village is located 7 km north-west of Kirkovo, 51 km south of Kardzhali, 36 km south-west of Momchilgrad and about 291 km south-east of the capital Sofia city. 

It is situated in an area with hilly and foothill relief at an altitude of 610 meters. The climate is transitional-Mediterranean, winters are relatively mild and summers are long and hot.

Here live about 1400 people.

The village of Chakalarovo has a relatively good infrastructure, the main streets are paved and lighted, there are electricity and water supply systems. All mobile operators have coverage. Regular bus transport connects the village with the municipal center and the neighbouring villages.

There are a functioning town hall, primary school, community center and a kindergarten here. Besides, the village comprises a post office, a mosque, a forestry, a grocery store and a cafe. Medical care for the population is provided by one GP and one dentist and the nearest polyclinic is located in the village of Kirkovo. General hospital you can find in the town of Momchilgrad.

LANDMARKS AND TOURISM

The area of the village of Chakalarovo is part of the protected areas Gyumyurdzhinski snezhnik, which includes the areas of the villages of Gorno and Dolno Kapinovo, Shumnatitsa and Kremen as well to reach the national border with Greece in the south. There are primary sycamor, beech and beech-fir forests over 150 years old preserved here. Many of the spieces are even older - 300-400 years. 11 plant spieces are included in Bulgaria's Red book.

In Chakalarovo you can find a holly field - evergreen shrub or a small tree, uncharacteristic for our flora, included in Bulgaria's Red book rare spieces section as well.

Only 3 km in the south-west is situated Veykata Peak /1463 m/ - Bulgaria's most southern site, as well as the protected area Veykata, representing a mountainous area covered with mesophytic forests, including endangered natural habitats. From the top you can see the Aegean Sea.

In the village of Krilatitsa, 5 km in the south, you can visit a late ancient and medieval fortress in the Asara area, declared in 1996 to be an archaeological culture monument.

On the left bank on Varbitsa River near the village of Fotinovo /14 km in the north-east/ you can see six Thracian niches, ancient cuts, grooves and a rock tomb.There are also amazing rock formations resembling turtles that are carved in the rocks. According to the researchers thay were made by an ancient civilization that used to inhabit the Eastern Rhodopes.

At 19 km in the north-east, in the village of Stareyshino, can be visited the Dome tomb "Punar Kaya" which means rock well in Turkish. The water that rises from the tomb is collected in two stone basin carved into the rock before it. The tomb is revered among local people as sacred, as there is a belief that the place and the water flowing from the tomb, have curative power.

In the village of Benkovski, about 20 km in the north-west, you can see a few sites:

• the renovated mosque in the center of the village where Muslims from all over the region gather to pray;

• the venerable oak, over 200 years old, declared protected;

• a Thracian rock tomb in Veslets heighbourhood - carved in a rocky massive, with a semicircular shape. Today, there is a hole in the dome and it is honoured by the local people as a squeeze. After passing through the bushes around the stone they tie threads around to leave the disease there;

• a rocky area, where the elements have for centuries carved the huge stones in a variety of bizarre rock forms of animals and plants, the most interesting of which are "The Crocodile", "The Mushroom", "Lion's Head", etc.

Every year a traditional football tournament is held in the village of Chakalarovo.

Source:  http://www.kirkovo.bg, http://bg.guide-bulgaria.com
Photos:  http://www.panoramio.com, Internet