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More accessible than Sedemte Prestola for those dependent on public transport, Cherepish Monastery lies near the halt of the same name, midway between the villages of ZVERINO and LYUTIBROD . It's also accessible from the Sofia-Mezdra road, although the turn-off is difficult to spot; the nearest landmark to look out for is the Han Cherna roadside cafe 100m to the north, which is also the only source of food and drink in the area. If coming by train, alight at Cherepish halt, cross the rail tracks towards a large ochre seminary building, and bear left along an asphalt track until you reach a T-junction. The monastery is down the hill to the left. Founded in the fourteenth century, Cherepish was sacked by the Turks almost as soon as it was built, and most of the current buildings date (at least in part) from the seventeenth century, when the monastery was refounded by holy man and artist Pimen Zografski. Faded fragments of Pimen's work, notably his Tree of Jesse , can still be seen in the monastery church , although much better preserved are the frescos completed by Tryavna master Papa Vitan in 1836. His frieze of early Christian warrior saints (including George, Demetrius and other martyrdom-hungry Roman soldiers) reveal the nineteenth-century Bulgarian Orthodox church's taste for images of steely-eyed resistance and suffering. The intricate woodcarving of the iconostasis - with gryphons and ears of corn exquisitely rendered by Debar masters - also stands out. There's a small museum outside the church displaying a few monastic vestments and icons, although opening times are unpredictable. Thousands of pilgrims descend on Cherepish for the Feast of the Assumption ( Golyama Bogoroditsa ) on August 15, when the monastery grounds are full of picnicking families. At such times the monastery's modest supply of rooms (no phone; US$9-18) is likely to be fully booked. Immediately northeast of Cherepish, the Iskar Gorge ends with a final geological flourish nicknamed Ritlite or the "Cart Rails": three parallel ribs of fissured rock up to 198m high which you'll see a few miles before the road and rail track enter MEZDRA . A useful transport hub at the junction of the Sofia-Vidin and Sofia-Pleven-Varna lines, Mezdra has little else to offer.
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