This post sees us drive from Sofia to Koprivshtitsa in Bulgaria via the mighty Peperudata Waterfall (disappointing “trickle” by the side of the road !!!). The road to Koprivshtitsa was very straight and finally twisted its way through thick pine-covered hills - this region is know for its pine plantations and saw-mills.
Koprivshtitsa (Pop 2,410m, Elev 1,030m, Founded 15th Century) is a historic town 111km east of Sofia that preserves the atmosphere of the Bulgarian National Revival period of the 19th century. The town has a number of architectural monuments from the period, 383 in all, most of which have been restored to their original appearance and all made entirely of wood and stone. Collections of ethnographical treasures, old weapons, National Revival works of art, fretwork, household weaves and embroidery, national costumes and typical Bulgarian jewellery have also been preserved. It was here that the first shot of the April uprising against the Ottoman domination was fired in 1876 by local soldier and Captain Georgi Bentkovski - this is why the town is famous and why it is preserved by the National Government. There is a HUGE horse-mounted statue of Georgi overlooking the entire city. Bulgaria was finally liberated from the Ottoman Turks in 1906.
We had a very restful stay here for 2 nights and cooked up a storm on both nights in our outdoor kitchen in a little “Hansel & Gretel” house owned by a lovely old couple who took care of us like we were their own grandkids.
Rest up in Koprivshtitsa…
STOP PRESS ON THE BULGARIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH FOLLOWING OUR VISIT TO THE RILA MONASTERY:
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Orthodox jurisdiction, recognized as autocephalous in 1945 by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. It is the oldest Slavic Orthodox church, with some 6 million members in Bulgaria and between 1.5 and 2 million members abroad.
Christianity was brought to the Balkans by the apostles Paul and Andrew in the 1st century AD, when the first organised Christian communities were formed. By the beginning of the 4th century, Christianity had become the dominant religion in the region. However, it was not until the official adoption of Christianity by Khan Boris I in 865 that an independent Bulgarian ecclesiastical entity was established.
The Bulgarian Patriarchate was the first autocephalous Slavic Orthodox Church, preceding the autocephaly of the Serbian Orthodox Church (1219) by 300 years and of the Russian Orthodox Church (1596) by some 600 years. It was the sixth Patriarchate after the Pentarchy patriarchates of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem.
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