Мусински карстов извор

Musinski Karst Spring

Useful Information

Location:	5247 Musina. (43.1507270, 25.4274903)
Open:	no restrictions. [2026]
Fee:	free. [2026]
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	bring torch
Dimension:	L=532 m, A=230 m asl, T=13 °C.
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Musinski Karst Spring, 5247 Musina, Tel: +359-.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1872	article about the spring published in the newspaper "Pravo".
1963	cave explored and surveyed by the speleologists Nikolay Varbanov, Kiril Lazarov, Alexander Dikov and Stefan Ivanov from Veliko Tarnovo.
1972	spring declared a water source of special importance.
1978	cave explored and surveyed with the intent of building trout fishponds inside, cave developed as a show cave with trails, light and gates.
1986	second sump crossed by Milen Dimitrov and Ilko Gunov.
1990	show cave closed as a result of the political change.

Description

Мусински карстов извор (Musinski Karstov Izvor, Musinski Karst Spring) is the official name of the site, but this spring is actually a cave with a dry upper passage and a somewhat lower river cave. And yes, that’s a spring, with water flowing out of the cave, which is then collected in a large octagonal basin. This is called Roman reservoir, seems to be the remains of the first human change at the spring during Roman times. The spring was part of the water supply network of the Roman city of Nicopolis ad Istrum. There are the ruins of a former mill, including a water wheel, millstone and remains of the walls. Nevertheless, we classified this site as a semi-wild cave, and it is actually named Мусинска пещера (Musinski Pestera, Musinski Cave). That’s also only partly correct as this is an abandoned show cave. Independent of which name you use, both are derived from the village Мусина (Musina), where it is located. To the south is a karstified limestone hill, the village was built in the lowland to the north. The Spring is located at the foot of the hill where the water reaches the surface and forms a tributary of Негованка (Negovanka) river named Pestera river (cave river). Of course, all the numerous rivers which drain the Danubian Plain finally flow into the namesake Danube.

This cave and spring are well developed, there is a quite informative educational sign, hence only in Bulgarian. The area in front of the cave is a picnic area with benches and fireplaces, where you may have a barbecue. While the entrance area is quite impressive, and it’s also possible to have a look into the cave through the iron bars, a visit into the cave is preferable. The cave was developed around 1978 as a show cave with trails, electric light and was gated for its protection . It is unclear when the show cave was closed and for what reason, it was in the early 1990s and most likely the lack of visitors or political changes after the end of the Cold War. The site was neglected, vandalized and destroyed. But the area around the spring, the cave passages and ruins were cleaned and resored some years ago. Nevertheless, it is unclear if the cave is actually accessible today. Some pages tell the gate was open, but the cave was quite dangerous. This is obviously nonsense, as the former show cave is obviously quite easy to visit, all you need is good shoes and a lamp. Most likely the cave is gated in winter for bat protection, which is now a European law, but freely accessible during summer.

The cave has two parallel passages which cross the road 303 to Veliko Tarnovo underground. At the end is the highlight of the cave, the Blue Lake or Blue Pool. It is a sump, which leads to waterfilled cave passages. This part of the cave is rather dangerous and only accessible for cave divers. There were several dive attempts in the 1980s, which added about 150 m of passages to the cave.

There is a second entrance to the same cave system on the hill about 400 m south of the village. Two vertical shafts with an iron staircase which allows to descend to the floor of the potholes. Named Понорите (Ponorite, Abyss) or Пропастите (Propastite, The Chasms), it is actually a ponor where a small brook vanishes underground. The connection to the nearby cave is obvious, but has not been explored so far. The site is called a Geocomplex, we guess the

It seems this cave has several of the Smile Cave Legends to offer. The treasure, the far connection, and the mysterious rediscovery, as we called them. According to legend there is a treasure of Roman gold at the bottom of the sump. Near the village Dobromirka, which is 17 km as the crow flies, straw was dumped into a sink, and reappeared here in the spring some time later.

The water from the spring flows all year in a rather high amount, thus it allowed the creation of a trout farm. Right below the spring there is a series of rectangular basins in which trouts are farmed. The Рибовъдна ферма за пъстърва с. Мусина (Trout Farm in the Village of Musina) is operated by the company “Stormfish” Ltd. Trouts are quite sensitive and require clean, oxygen-rich water. To allow more fish in the farm they use aerators to enrich the water with liquid oxygen. The pools are stocked twice a year, and the farm produces 80 tons of trout annually.