Two weeks ago I decided to go to one of the most beautiful historical cities in Bulgaria - Koprivshtitsa. There are two ways to go there - by car and by train and after that you take bus to city. In this article I am going to tell you what I saw and I will tell you small part of history for the city.
The idea for trip came along with that I have never visit that city, connected with Bulgarian history. It was Saturday. The train I would get by depart at 7 am so I got up at 5 am. I had breakfast, prepare my luggage and went to Central Railway station in Sofia. The weather was cold and windy. The price of tickets for departing and returning were very cheap. The travelling with train continue about two and a half hours. During that trip you can see through window very beautiful views towards Balkan Mountains on north and Sredna gora on south. After that travel, in the railway station of Koprivshtitsa there is a minibus that waited for passengers from train.
About 10 - 15 minutes is travelling with that minibus from railway station to city of Koprivshtitsa. The minibus parks in the central part of the city.
After I arrived in the city I decided to look around. I was impressed by streets and houses dated back from Bulgarian Revival. The streets were cobblestone and the houses were coloured in different colours and well renovated.
In this paragraph I will tell you the most important things from history. There are theories about name of the city. One of theories is that name comes from plant Urtica (Bulgarian: коприва). In the past the surroundings of city were fulfilled with green plants.
Also miss information about why the city is created. One of assumptions is roads between Zlatitsa and Strelcha cross on place where the city of Koprivshtitsa is located. Traders from provinces came through Koprivshtitsa. Another fact I will mention is river Topolnitsa pass through Koprivshtitsa.
The city became the most popular with April Uprising started April, 20 and continued to mid-May 1876. Koprivshtista has played a important role during rebellion. Here is the place when the first gun fired to begin the uprising. The uprising has been extinguished by the turks in a brutal way which gave an echo in whole Europe. This has led to Russo-Turkish war (1877 - 1878).
The most popular historical figures born in Koprvishtitsa are:
- Lyuben Karavelov - Bulgarian poet, writer, journalist, ethnograph and national hero
- Todor Kableshkov - Bulgarian revolutionary and entrant in April Uprising
- Georgi Benkovski (real name: Gavril Gruev Hlatev) - Bulgarian revolutionary and one of the main figures in organization and leadership of April Uprising
- Dimcho Debelyanov - Bulgarian poet, also author of lyrical and satirical poems.
If you visit these homes you will see Bulgarian culture and how Bulgarian population has lived during 19th century.
There is more monuments of Bulgarian culture like The monument of Georgi Benkovski, The bridge First gun, Lyubchova fountain, The grave of Dimcho Debelyanov and etc. Also if you go to surroundings of city on high altitude there are a beautiful views to city and Balkan Mountains.
On that day I understand there is another thing. Thereupon we celebrate Saint Theodore’s day which religious holiday celebrated on the first Saturday of the Great Lent. One of most exciting things is race with horses. So in Koprivshtitsa there were a lot of people, come for that holiday.
Νο time was left for lunch so I look around a lot of landmarks and finally after I visit a lot of them I decided to go to restaurant but because of holiday almost all restaurants in central part were overcrowded. For luck I wore in my rucksack two homemade sandwiches and I ate them while time came for bus to come. The bus late with 5 minutes but was not a problem. I get in and when I arrived at railway station of Koprivshtitsa I waited another 10 - 15 minutes for train to arrive.
I will say that was one of the best trips I have ever made for one day. I strongly recommend this city for people who likes history and nature. There are so many cheap hotels you can sleep and cheap restaurants. So if you come one day in Bulgaria, don’t miss this city.
Cheers,
Hristo
