Lopushanski Monastery Travel Video Guide

Lopushanski Monastery Travel Itinerary

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Ten kilometres due east of Chiprovtsi is Lopushanski Monastery , situated in one of the area's prettiest valleys, the Dalgodelska ogosta. You'll find the monastery just beyond the village of Georgi-Damyanovo , lurking in a grove of pine trees - a tranquil location that provided Ivan Vazov with the peace and quiet he needed to complete several chapters of Under the Yoke . The monastery church is particularly noted for two icons by Samokov master Stanislav Dospevski, the Virgin and Child and Christ Pantokrator - both works showing an almost photographic realism. The monastery currently provides some of the best accommodation in the northwest region, with clean and simple rooms with shared facilities (US$9-18) and fancier quarters with ensuite shower and TV (US$18-36), all bookable through Odysseia-In in Sofia. There's also a traditional-style restaurant on the ground floor. It's an easy place to get to on public transport, with four daily Montana-Kopilovtsi buses passing the monastery entrance.

For a taste of the mountains, it's worth continuing west of the monastery to the village of Kopilovtsi , 17km upstream at the head of a northern branch of the valley. From here a badly potholed road continues a further 5km to Kopren , site of a few privately owned holiday villas and a (currently closed) rest home known as the Prophylactorium. Round the back of the

Prophylactorium a track leads to the start of one of the nicest short walks in Bulgaria, the well-marked and well-maintained Kopren ecotrail ( ekopateka "Kopren "; 1hr 30min one way). The trail - steep and boulder-strewn in parts - works its way up a wooded ravine, passing a waterfall and several smaller cataracts, before emerging onto a highland meadow ringed by looming peaks - the imposing 1964-metre Mt Kopren , marking the border with Serbia, is straight ahead.

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