Have you ever travelled trough time? Imagine – you are walking along a busy European boulevard and you are entering the underpass. As you are walking trough, crucial scenes from the ancient Roman history become alive in front of you. As soon as you go out you are back in the present. You are in the middle of a wide and busy pedestrian street. The sun is setting behind one of the green hills. You are surrounded by many people, laughing and talking. They are all going somewhere. Follow them! Soon a strange song draws you away. It is not a song, it is a prayer and it has taken you to a beautiful old mosque. You go back to the crowd. All of a sudden you find yourself surrounded by beautiful old Bulgarian houses. Each one of them would tell you about the local traditions, emotions, art and history. You keep on walking, following a small paved street uphill. You reach the top. The crowd has stopped moving. There on the edge you are standing above the ancient scene of a Roman theatre, witnessing the magic of the modern art.
Bachkovo Monastery is an UNESCO world heritage sight. It is located in the Rhodope Mountains, near Plovdiv and the town of Assenovgrad. Founded in the 11th century, it is one of the oldest monasteries in the Balkan Peninsula. It was connected with three cultures: Byzantine, old Georgean and Bulgarian. It has preserved highly valuable monuments of architecture and painting, typical of Eastern Orthodox culture. It is unique in the entire Eastern Orthodox world. 10 meters from the monastery gate starts a picturesque Eco trail.
The town of Assenovgrad is situated 19 km south-east of Plovdiv.
After the Liberation, this was a small agricultural town, which remained within the borders of Eastern Roumelia as long as 1885. At the end of 19th century the phylloxera spoiled the vineyards and mass tobbacco planting and growing commenced thereon. The glory of Assenovgrad as a sacral centre, formed during the eneolite and existing as such until now, explains the presence of so many cult-related buildings in the town and its surroundings – 5 monasteries, 12 churches and more than 50 chapels.
Hisarya is situated in the southern slopes of Sredna Gora at about 360 metres above sea-level, and at 42 kilometres from Plovdiv. The mineral springs here were discovered 1,700 years ago by the Roman rulers. The balneological resort offers also new methods of treatment like massage with chocolate and honey, with volcanic stones, and aromatherapy.
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