Bulgaria's smallest town is huddling among frozen standstone pyramids immobile for millennia, 190km south of Sofia. Thracians, Romans and Byzantines have writen its history. Traces of it are preserved in unique monuments of old architecture, some of which are of national significance.

 
 During the 17th - 18th c. it become a flourishing tobacco and wineproducing center, whose fame spread to many European countries. Melnik's houses are spacious, whith wide eaves and towers, high stained glass windows, carved ceilings and large cellars where the famous Melnik wine matures.

  A single street leads to the finest example of the former splendour of this small souther town. The Kordopoulos House - with Venetian stained glass windows, spacious rooms and salons, ornamental murals, weaves and fretwork, a wrought iron gate and large wine-cellar from which caravans with the famous Melnik wine once left for Salonika, Athens, Vienna, Rome, and even Marseille and Spain