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Forty kilometres beyond Kalofer, KAZANLAK is the capital of the rose-growing region, although you wouldn't necessarily realize that unless you pass through town during the first weekend of June, when the long-standing but fairly lacklustre Festival of Roses ( Praznik na Rozata ) takes place. Involving folk music, dancing, and the appointment of a carnival queen, this is basically a tourist event - the rose harvest itself takes place in villages far from town at unsociably early hours of the morning. Nowadays Kazanlak is enjoying a new lease of life as the centre of the Dolinata na Trakiiskite Tsare - the Valley of the Thracian Kings . Once an important area of Thracian settlement, the vicinity of Kazanlak is dotted with countless burial mounds, many of which are still to be excavated. Enough of them have been opened to the public, however, to make the town an essential stopoff for anyone remotely interested in the Bulgarians' ancient antecedents. The most famous of the tombs lies just outside the town centre and contains unique paintings, although only a replica of the tomb is accessible to the public. Further groups of tombs lie in the surrounding countryside, and can be visited by prior arrangement with the local history museum - so forward planning is essential. While there's a reasonable selection of accommodation in Kazanlak, the town's location at the centre of both north-south and east-west routes makes it a feasible day-trip destination from Plovdiv, Gabrovo, Veliko Tarnovo, or - at a pinch - Sofia. It also lies at the southern end of the Shipka pass road, one of Bulgaria's most spectacular cross-mountain routes.
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