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Nature park in Bulgaria
Photo: Payakoff, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Nature Park Bulgarka (Bulgarian: Природен Парк Българка Priroden Park Bălgarka) is a protected national nature park in the central northern part of the Balkan Mountains near the Bulgarian towns of Gabrovo and Tryavna. The park has been protected because of its picturesque mountain landscapes, the variety of rare animals and plants, as well as in the aim of preserving traditional ethnic handcrafts and beliefs in the ethnographic open-air museum complex Etar and in the Dryanovo Monastery.
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Usually referred to as Etara, this is a recreation of a Bulgarian Revival Village similar to how Gabrovo was looked during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Built in the 1960s, the complex is home to a number of shops and crafts such as wood-carving, pottery, coppersmithing crafts, furriers, cutlery making, and needlework, to depict and preserve traditional Bulgarian handcrafts of the Bulgarian Revival era. There are also souvenir shops, an ethnic restaurant and a nearby three-star hotel with a bar and a restaurant.
A memorial park with an iconic monument in the honor of those who died for the liberation of Bulgaria during the battles of Shipka Pass in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. There are several floors inside the 31.5-metre (98-foot) high stone tower monument where one can find replica of Bulgarian military flags and other battle relics, while the top of the tower reveals a panorama of Shipka Peak and the surrounding area.
The Sokolski Monastery is a Bulgarian Orthodox monastery founded in 1833 and named after its founder Yosif Sokolski. It is in the Bulgarka Nature Park and is close to the Sokolovo cave. The whole monastery was built during the Bulgarian National Revival with the strong support of the people of Gabrovo and the local villages. The monastery also played an important role during the April Uprising.
This alpine meadow is a popular ski destination in the winter and summer activates include hiking, horse riding and bicycling. The area is home to a number of hotels, restaurants and ski lodges, an information center and the western station of mountain rescue services. The area is the geographical center of Bulgaria.
This man-made lake, which provides drinking water for Gabrovo, is a popular fishing destination.
This village, is the south-eastern portion of the park, is home to a convenient railway station, one of the few roads crossing through this portion of the park, connections to the B1 and K11 trails and is about 3 km from the Vikanata Skala area of Nature Park Bulgarka.
just north of the western portion of the park
Fast food restaurant, traditional Bulgarian cuisine.
160 beds.
20 beds.
53 beds.
located in Gornova Mogila village, just north of the western region of the park
By car
Convenient roads connect the park to many surrounding municipalities and towns, including Gabrovo, Kazanluk, Stara Zagora, Tryavna and Veliko Tarnovo.
By train
Railways provide access to the park from the cities of Stara Zagora, Tryavna and Veliko Tarnovo.
While there are a number of villages located inside the park, they are too small to have their own taxies, bus lines or marshrutkas.
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Plovdiv · International · PDV
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