Georgraphy and Climate
The climate of the area is considerably influenced by the Black Sea and is predominantly transitional to Mediterranean. Major rivers in the area are the Veleka (147 km long) and the border river Rezovska (112 km long). Strandzha Natural Park, established in 1995 in the Bulgarian part of the mountain, is the largest protected area in Bulgaria, embracing 1,161 km?, or about 1% of the country’s total territory. 50% of Bulgaria’s flora can be observed in the park.

History and culture
Inhabited by the Thracians in antiquity, Strandzha is an area with a large concentration of ruins of Thracian sanctuaries and sacrificial altars, dolmens and other archaeological objects.

The mountains were the site of the Bulgarian Preobrazhenie Uprising of 1903 crushed by Ottoman troops. The current Bulgarian-Turkish border in the region was established after the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, when the northern part of Strandzha became part of Bulgaria.

Culturally, the Bulgarian part of Strandzha is known for the specific architecture that can be observed in Malko Tarnovo, Brashlyan and most other villages, the rich folklore and distinctive rituals, such as nestinarstvo (barefoot dancing on live coals), that preserve numerous pagan elements.

Antiquity and Middle Ages
Lom was founded by the Thracians under the name of Artanes in Antiquity. After them the Romans called the fortress and the town Almus, from where the name of the today’s city and of the Lom River comes.

There are no reports proving that there existed a big settlement in the Middle Ages. It was not until Ottoman rule that it enlarged but for a long time it was under the shadow of the dominant towns of Vidin, Nikopol and Silistra. It is assumed that the Ottoman village was founded in 1695 by Kara Mustafa and Murad Bey, who were defeated at Vienna in 1683 and who came here sailing rafts along the Danube.Ottoman rule and

Bulgarian National Revival
The name Lom Palanka was mentioned for a first time in 1704. The settlement then called “palanka” was something between a village and a town in size and importance. In 1798 Lom suffered from brigand raids. With the development of shipping along the Danube after 1830, the importance of the town grew. The road to Sofia contributed to its progress and turned it into a main export port to Vienna (Austria). By 1869 there were 120 shops, 148 trade offices, 175 food shops, 34 coffee bars, 6 hotels and 2 mills. The town was centred around the old Kale (fortress), which was entered through three kapii (gates) – Vidinska, Belogradchishka, Sofiyska. The tradesmen from Lom offered goods at the biggest fairs in the region and beyond. In 1880 there were 7,500 inhabitants in the town.

Lom is proud of its traditions from the period of the Bulgarian National Revival. In 1856 the first community centre in Bulgaria was founded in the town, the first women’s society in the country was also established in 1858 and one of the first theatre performances took place in the town. Krastyu Pishurka, a noted educator, also worked in Lom.

Until the Second world war it was a major market town. After the 1944 the industry developpes – sugar factory, can factory, grain industry. It becomes a port for the southwestern part of Bulgaria.

Thracians, Slavs, Byzantines, Romans, and Ottomans have shaped the town’s history.

The vicinities of Velingrad have breath-taking beauty, such as magnificent coniferous and deciduous forests, spacious flower-sprinkled meadows and crystal-pure waters. The most known localities are Yundola, Belmeken, Kourtovo, and Chernovruh. The dam lakes of Batak, Dospat and Belmeken are favorite spots for hikers and fishermen alike.
Together with the numerous mineral waters Velingrad takes pride in another natural phenomenon as well – the Kleptuza. This is the biggest Karst spring in Bulgaria with a flow of 570 liters per second.

However, the greatest treasure of Velingrad are the 80 mineral springs with temperatures varying from 22 to 48C, used for treatment of a number of diseases. The abundance of mineral springs and resort facilities, the mild climate and the beautiful surrounding areas make Velingrad a desirable destination.

The first written evidence of the existence of Topolovgrad dates to the 16th c. when the town, then named as Kavukli, was dominated by the Turkish Sultan Bayazid II. In the 18th and 19th c. the town and the region around it grew into a large vegetable-growing, animal-breeding, wine-producing and artisan centre. Vegetables produced here (onion, garlic, cabbage, etc) were sold in the markets of Odrin, Istanbul, Thessaloniki, Alexandria, Romania and Austria while each week, animal stock from the region was transported to the markets of Odrin and Istanbul.

The biggest tourist landmarks in the area are the so-called Dolmens, spread all over the region. These Thracian monuments are not only one-chambered, but also two and three-chambered, as is the case with the dolmen near the village of Hlebovo. Another historical sight is a Temple of the Sun, found in the Sakar mountain ridge between the town of Topolovgrad and the village of Hlebovo. The temple represents a 1.5km-long rock group in a fan shape, covered with more than 150 manmade circles, most of which are geometrically arranged into ensembles. The circles are all in relief with some of them being convex, and others – concave. A similar cult place of the Thracians in the region is Paleokastro. The Thracian fortress is situated 3km to the west of Topolovgrad and its natural rock walls to the east hold over 150 discs in relief that illustrate the Thracians’ cult to the sun. Finally, close to the Topolovgrad, tourists can visit one of the biggest monasteries in southern Bulgaria, namely the Holy Trinity monastery.

History
The town of Elhovo is situated along the valley of the Lower Toundzha River.
The favourable natural conditions made human presence possible in the region as early as the Neolithic (6000-4000 BC). Evidence for that are the discovered stone and copper tools and the hand-made pottery with carved ornaments.
The Bronze Age culture was that of the Thracians. There are preserved remains of Thracian fortresses, settlements and burial mounds. Most of the artifacts discovered in them are fragments of pottery, weapons, tools and votive tablets with the image of the Thracian Horseman. The Thracians also left interestingly built megalithic tombs called dolmens. It was the Thracians that built the first settlement near the present-day town, which was known as Orouditsa.
The region fell under Roman rule in 72 BC. They fortified the settlement and called it Orudica ad Burgum – a road station between Cabile and Adrianopolis. The Romans left many traces of their material culture, mostly fragments of pottery and structural ceramics, coins and bronze sculptures.
The town was known as Yoanitsa during the early Middle Ages. The Slavs settled permanently on the Balkan Peninsula in c. 7 AD. They pronounced the name of the town as Yanitsa.
The Elhovo region was annexed to the Bulgarian state, which was officially founded in 681, during the rule of Khan Kroum (802-814). A proof to that is the famous Hambarlii Inscription, which was found in the near the present-day village of Malomirovo.
The town was conquered by the troops of Timourtash Bey in 1373. That event was the start of the hardest period in the historical development of Elhovo – the five-century Ottoman rule.
The Elhovo region gave its modest contribution to the struggles for new Bulgarian education, an authonomous Church (from the Greek Patriarchate) and national liberation. The town’s first school was opened in 1833; and the townspeople drove out of town the hated Greek metropolitan Dionysius in the spring of 1874. The construction of a new church with a nave and two isles was finished in 1877/1878 to replace the small and half-built into the ground chapel.
The first form of resistance against the Ottoman oppressors was the haidout movement (more or less chaotic struggle by small groups of rebels) – especially popular among its leaders were Indzhe Voivoda and Kara Kolyu. An organized revolutionary movement was started in1872 with the foundation of a Secret Revolutionary Committee headed by the tailor Dzhenko Dimitrov. The town welcomed its liberation on 21 January 1878 at a great sacrifice of life.
The years at the end of c. 19 and the beginning of c. 20 were marked by the struggles of the Bulgarian people for the realization of its national ideal – a free and united Bulgarian state. The soldiers from the Elhovo region fought bravely and many of them died with the name of Bulgaria on their last breath. 103 inhabitants of the town were killed in the wars of 1912-1918.
The town gradually established itself as an administrative and economic centre in the following years. Its Turkish name Kazalagach of the Ottoman rule was replaced with the Bulgarian name Elhovo and it was legally acknowledged as a town with Decree № 86 of 18 march 1925.
A new stage in the historical development of Elhovo started in the 1940′s. The Fatherland Front came to power on 10 September 1944 and active preparation for participation in the Fatherland War started at once. The fallen in the war were 16 inhabitants of Elhovo, and over 100 inhabitants of the whole municipality.
The town changed radically in the second half of c. 20, affirming itself as a leading administrative and economic centre.
Overcoming the latest difficult period in its historical destiny, the Elhovo region today strives for a better future. There is a lot of work yet to be done for its becoming a well-developed and prosperous part of Bulgaria. This is the aim of all people who are connected with it and devoted to it.

Source: bulgaria.domino.bg

Important notes
Bankya is turning into part of the capital Sofia now. Being very close to the city, just 15-17 km from the ideal centre, more and more people are looking forward to moving and living permanently in Bankya. The population in Bulgaria has been living mainly in the urban areas of the country, to be close to their work places. As result the rural areas of Bulgaria are populated mostly by older pensioners. Things are quickly changing now: the young and mid-age professionals with families are moving in areas near the cities and towns, where they can enjoy the beauty of the nature, providing healthy living conditions for their families, lots of forests and green areas, places where they can build family houses with gardens, safe for children to play, etc. In general people in Bulgaria are now fed up of living in the busy, noisy and crowded cities and many of them are looking to move out. This process is already starting, but it is expected it to boom in the next 5-10 years, as the incomes of these families are increasing. We believe that it is now time for the wise investors to start purchasing plots in such areas and especially Bankya. There are many reasons why this small and picturesque town will attract the new settlers from the city:
- Bankya is only 17 km from the centre of Sofia;
- The climate here is exceptionally healty and mild
- Beautiful nature
- Bankya is easily and quickly reachable by car, train, public bus or taxi (onoy 20 minutes driving from the centre of Sofia)
- Bankya is very well provided with local amenities, shops, entertainments, beauftiful parks, resort infrastructure.
- The local price of the land is much lower than the similar areas, but much overcrwded and commericalised villages at the foot of Vitosha mountain: eg. Simeonovo and Dragalevtsi
- The whole town is supplied by gas propane netowrk for cheap heating and household needs
More and more nice built and looking properties appear in Bankya every month. This will attract even more newcomers from the city.
Source: myopera.com

From 1396 until 1878 the city was under Ottoman rule. In the 20th century Pernik developed rapidly as a centre for coal mining and heavy industry. During the Communist rule of Bulgaria it was called Dimitrovo between 1949 and 1962 after Bulgarian Communist leader Georgi Dimitrov. The Surva International Festival of the Masquerade Games is held in the city every January. Pernik has two football teams, PFC Minyor Pernik and FC Metalurg.

History
Pernik is a successor of the medieval town of Krakra. In the 4th century the Thracians built a fortress there. There is a rich collection of archaeological findings that evidence the existence of a Thracian settlement in the late Neolithic. The richest collection of pottery in the Central Balkans dates from that time. It is kept in the Historical Museum.

A wonderful exhibition of relieves and sculptures is kept there, dedicated to the health-giving gods Asclepius and Hygieia, held in reverence in this region because of the presence of mineral springs.

Bulgarians took advantage of the fortified spot and built one of the mightiest Bulgarian strongholds – Pernik. This name was first mentioned in the 9th century. It is associated with the Slavic god Perun. At the beginning of the 11th century the settlement was a fortress, impenetrable to the Byzantines. It was the seat of the legendary governor Krakra of Pernik, who played an important role in the time of the First Bulgarian Empire. Today, the fortress is one of the greatest historical sites of the city. In the time of the Ottoman occupation Pernik lost its significance as a fortress because it was located deep in the interior of the Empire. Until after the Liberation of Bulgaria Pernik was a small stockbreeding village, consisting of several scattered hamlets.

The beginning of Pernik’s modern history is set in the 20th century with the development of the rich coal-beds of the region. According to some scientists, the existence of coal was already known in the 10th and 11th centuries. Before their industrial exploitation started, the local people dug it up with picks and shovels and transported coal with carts and wheelbarrows. Pernik’s rapid development is associated with the large shipments of coal to the capital city, intended for household needs and for the railroad transport. Until then, coal for the railroads and the river and sea steamboats was delivered from as far as Cardiff in the United Kingdom.

As the first miners’ quarters were built on the terraces of the Struma River, the beginning of the miners’ settlement of Pernik was set, one kilometre to the east of the village of the same name. It is a town since 1929, and since 1958 – a regional centre. The coal output reached its apogee at that time. Pernik has been an energy centre of Bulgaria for a few decades.

Landmarks
* Palace of Culture
* History Museum
* Mining Museum
* Krakra’s stronghold
* Duhlata cave
* Church of St John of Rila

Famous Natives
* Georgi Dimitrov, politician
* Georgi Parvanov, president of Bulgaria
* Angel Malinov, writer
* Velizar Dimitrov, football player
* Zdravka Evtimova, writer
* Romel Ivanov, athlete, national champion 1500m., 800m.

Commerce
* Office Building “Elena”
* Hypermarket Billa
* Hypermarket Kaufland
* Supermarket CBA
* Supermarket T-market
* Mall – in processes of building. The Mall is going to be very big and luxurious. Many famous brands will place their stores in the new Mall of Pernik.

Geography and Climate
The climate of the area is considerably influenced by the Black Sea and is predominantly transitional to Mediterranean. Major rivers in the area are the Veleka (147 km long) and the border river Rezovska (112 km long). Strandzha Natural Park, established in 1995 in the Bulgarian part of the mountain, is the largest protected area in Bulgaria, embracing 1,161 km?, or about 1% of the country’s total territory. 50% of Bulgaria’s flora can be observed in the park.

History and Culture
Inhabited by the Thracians in antiquity, Strandzha is an area with a large concentration of ruins of Thracian sanctuaries and sacrificial altars, dolmens and other archaeological objects.The mountains were the site of the Bulgarian Preobrazhenie Uprising of 1903 crushed by Ottoman troops. The current Bulgarian-Turkish border in the region was established after the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, when the northern part of Strandzha became part of Bulgaria.

Culturally, the Bulgarian part of Strandzha is known for the specific architecture that can be observed in Malko Tarnovo, Brashlyan and most other villages, the rich folklore and distinctive rituals, such as nestinarstvo (barefoot dancing on live coals), that preserve numerous pagan elements.

The tomb is made of stone blocks, fastened together by iron clamps, and covered with lead. It consists of a southern parade stairway, two laterals, a passage, a main font, two chambers –a rectangular and a circle one.

There are many Thracian tombs in Bulgaria, but that in Starosel has preserved the spirit of the ancient Thracians and makes strong impression with its sumptuousness.

A settlement called Beroe was founded by the Thracians in the 6th – 5th century BC. Romans named it Augusta Trajana after the Roman emperor Trajan. Later Byzantines gave a new name to the place- Irinopolis but in 717, after being annexed to the young Bulgarian State, it was renamed Borouy. After the occupation of the settlement by the ottomans it accepted a new name– Eski Zagra. In the XIX century it had a Bulgarian name– Zheleznik and its present name Stara Zagora it accepted in 1870.

In the Revival period Stara Zagora was an important economic and trading center. Unfortunately during the Liberation war it was burnt down several times and lost a third part of its population. After the Liberation the city was rebuilt in chess board order after the design of an Austrian-Hungarian architect.

Today Stara Zagora is known as the city of the lime-trees and it is the third biggest industry center in Bulgaria. There are lots of parks and the most popular is the Ayazmo. Other places of interest are the ancient forum of “Augusta Trayana”, the antique mosaic floors from the end of the VI century, the Chilendar Covent, the memorial complex of “Defenders of Stara Zagora”, the temples of “St. Virgin Mary”, “St. Dimitar”, “St. Trinity”, the antique theatre,etc.

At a distance of 15 km is located the “Ladjite” balneological resort with its preserved Roman thermal springs.

In the place of Mechi kladenets (Airbunar) there are copper mines. In the area of the Ayazmoto park is situated the largest Bulgarian zoo.

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