Devil's Throat Cave

Said to have inspired the tale of Orpheus descending to Hades to find his lover Eurydice, this exquisite geological wonder is undeniably myth-worthy. 

Located in the Western Rhodopes of Bulgaria, Devil’s Throat Cave is a popular attraction for tourists, spelunkers, and photographers as a subterranean paradise. Enormous and slightly malevolent, the cave descends straight in the depths of hell, with the waters of the Trigrad River plunging 137 ft. into “The Hall of Thunder”. The second largest cavern in the country, the Hall of Thunder houses a funnel through which the water escapes, flowing 500 more feet before joining itself with an underground river. It is this this underground river that presents the most interesting feature of the cave—nothing carried into the Devil’s Mouth Cave by the river ever surfaces from it on the other side. 

The curious have experimented with everything from pieces of wood to dyes, attempting to track the items (or colors as they make their way through the cave. Despite the fairly short distance, the fact that water seems to take more than 1 1/2 hours to make the journey form one end to the other supports the likelihood of underground streams beneath the river, a possible entirely different geological fascination. 

Visiting the cave requires a accompaniment by a tour guide, who will lead you through manmade galleries and staircases that lead up along the waterfall. Along the walls are carvings of men and demons, and leading you up and out of the natural entrance into the impressive flora that surrounds the cave’s diabolical mouth.