General Information

Elena is situated in the central part of Northern Bulgaria –38km from the throne city of Veliko Tarnovo, 380km from the capital city of Sofia and 230km from the Black Sea city of Varna. Elena has a population of 7000. The settlement is situated in the hollow of the ´Elenska´ River, in the Balkan of Elena, close to the ´Iovkovtsi´ reservoir. The beautiful valley, the forests of the Balkan mountain, the numerous rivers and the architectural inheritance attract many tourists from all over the world.

Elena and its vicinity offer a wide range of accommodation options including hotels, guest houses, apartments and villas. A number of hotels and guest houses were built in the last few years making it possible for visitors to Elena and the region to enjoy their holiday. A number of privately owned villas and apartments also became available for rent directly from the owners. Please make sure that you check our listings of rental guest houses, villas, apartments and hotels in Elena.

 

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Sights

Elena offers the three renaissance temples and is significant for its population´s participation in the fight for ecclesiastical independence.

You can visit:

• The ´St. Nikola´ church is dated from the XVI century. It isdug in the ground so the enslaver isn´t irritated by it. It was built in secret. A legend tells that there numerous old books, written by parchment are kept here;
• The ´Uspenie Bogorodichno´ church which was built in 1800. It is situated close to the ´St. Nikola´ church;
• The ´Rojdestvo Bogorodichno´ church which is situated in the central part of the town;
• The watch tower which was built in 1812. It is a remarkable cultural monument;
• The ´Ilarion Makariopolski´ house-museum. It is a renaissance house of the famous church figure Ilarion Makariopolski. The ´Napredak´ (progress) library was founded in one of the rooms of this house. It is used as a picture gallery with temporary exhibitions today;
• The ´Popnikolovata´ house which was build around 1830;
• The ´Kamburov´ Inn which is dated from the time of the Renaissance and had the functions of a social building;
• The ´Razsukanovi´ houses which are 5 houses under one roof;
• The arts gallery is situated on the ground floor of Iordan Hadjipetkov´s house. It has the richest and most precious collections of old icons in the country – from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries;
• The ´St. Nikolai Chudotvorec´ and the ´Plakovski´ monasteries in the surrounding area of Elena;
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  ´Daskalolivnitsata´. It was built in 1844 and was created for the needs of the first Bulgarian pedagogical school by Ivan Momchilov. It is situated close to the ‘Uspenie Bogorodichno’ and ‘St. Nikola’ churches. The building has 2 floors and is built from stone. The floor was used only for educational purposes. The museum exposition ´Helena during the time of Renaissance´ is situated there. It follows the participation and the contribution of the settlement to the church and national fight for national education and national-revolutionary party. The writers Stoian Mihailovski and Petko Todorov were born in Elena.

History

The area was inhabited early during the late new Stone Age (6000 BC). It was crossed by important roads which came from the Danube plain to the Thracian lowland. Word for Elena was brought late during the 15th century. Many Bulgarians looked for shelter and protection in the Bulgarian mazes to save themselves from death and enslavement after the fall of the old capital city of Tarnovgrad to Ottoman Rule. Elena was an independent village in 16th century which appeared as a center of scattered neighborhoods. The local population participated actively in the fights of the nation for ecclesiastical independence and freedom. The village developed many crafts during the Renaissance:

• Homespun tailoring – the local tailors achieved fame in the whole Ottoman empire;
• ´Pottery factories´ which delivered pots for the whole Thracian area;
• Professional coppersmiths who produced coppers frying pans,
• saucepans, silkworm-breeding dishes;
• Silkworm-breeding and trading with cocoons and silkworm seed – 40 cupboards for silk grinding were built;
• There were 12 gold shops;
• Gardening provided self-sufficiency to the town´s population.

Massive houses, churches, bridges and fountains were built by merchants who grew rich. The town´s streets were stone and lighted by oil lamps. Water-mains were built too.

 

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Entertainment

You can enjoy:

• A walk around the town to enjoy the centuries-old deciduous mountain trees;
• Trips and mushroom gathering in the Balkan of Elena which is an ecological clean area;
• The cultural and historical monuments in Elena;
• The pleasant atmosphere in the restaurants and taverns. You can try the local round specialty /the swine round is cooked in a special way – it is salted and left to dry a couple of months after/; the home-made wines or the plum brandy.

Cultural events in Elena:

• The traditional feast of Elena – 21th May – Equal to the ´Apostles St. Constantine and Helena´. Exhibitions, concerts, football matches, ´Queen Helena´ contest, children´s festivals, direct broadcast on the ´Horizont´ program, etc. are organized;
• The ´Neiuvski´ fair. The renovated traditional fair at the ´Neiuvskata´ meadows with rich concert program is held on 1st May;
• The municipal fair of the national libraries – 24th May;
• ´The Balkan sings and tells´ – the festival of the Balkan towns Elena, Drianovo, Kotel, Triavna, Tvarditsa and Gurkovo which is dated from centuries ago;
• The worship to the ´Kapinovski´ monastery in July;
• The holiday of the Balkan of Elena which is held in two days in July;
• The day of the leaders of the Bulgarian national spirit – 1st November. A celebration is held for ´Daskalolivnitsata´ which was the first class school in Bulgaria /1843/;
• Holidays related to the names of the Renaissance figures – the Josif Bradati monk, Hadji Iurdan Bradata, Ilarion Makariopolski, Ivan Momchilov, Nikifor Popkonstantinov, Stoian Mihailovski, the Karshovski brothers, Petko Iordanov Todorow and many others are organized for the anniversaries with science conferences, exhibitions, recital and other cultural activities.

Excursions available to: Veliko Tarnovo, Jeravna, the ´Kilifarevski´, ´Plakovski´ and ´Kapinovski´ monasteries.

 

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Sports

There are sports facilities for:

• The ski sports enthusiasts:
• To the ´Chumerna´ hut – ski track /750m/, ski track ´Pomagalski´ and ski-wardrobe in the hut, To the ´Miikovtsi´ village – ski tracks and ski-wardrobe,
• To the ´Bukovets´ hut and in the ´Ushite´ area are created small ski tracks;
• The sports orientation enthusiasts. There are eight sports ranges.
• The rock climbing enthusiasts – close to the ´Bukovets´ hut;
• The pedestrian tourism enthusiasts. There are 9 pedestrian routes:
• Elena – Tarkasheni village – Darlevtsi village – ´Boaza´ hut – 4 hours;
• Elena – ´Markov kamak´ – ´Raev kamak´ – Elena – 4:30 hours;
• Elena – Valchevtsi village – ´Iovkovtsi´ reservoir – ´Kapinovski´ monastery -5 hours;
• Elena – Bagalevtsi village, the ´Slona´ tree – 3 hours;
• Miikovtsi village – ´Chumerna´ top – ´Chumerna´ hut – Miikovtsi village – 6 hours;
• Miikovtsi village – ´Chumerna´ hut – ´Bukovets´ hut – Miikovtsi village – 7 hours;
• Miikovtsi village – ´Goliama turla´ top – ´Haidushki kladenec´ – Kostel village – 3:30 hours,
• Miikovtsi village – Altartsi village – Miikovtsi village – 2 hours;
• The swimming enthusiasts:
• Two open-air and one covered swimming pools;
• The fishing enthusiasts:
• Can fish in the crystal clean rivers and the ´Iovkovtsi´ reservoir in the area of the Miikovtsi, Hanevtsi, Balutsi and Valchovtsi villages. You can sleep in a tent on the coast of the river which offer available camp sites and barbecue sites;
• The fishing and hunting enthusiasts:
• Can hunt wild boars, wolves, foxes, hares, roes and deers in the forests of the Balkan;
• Can fish mountain barbels, chubs and Balkan trouts in the clean waters of the rivers and the ´Iovkovtsi´ reservoir.

You can use:

• A stadium with a track-and-field track, volleyball playground, tennis court and training football grounds;
• A sports hall which is close to the stadium. You can train wrestling, judo, sambo, weight lifting with professional apparatuses and bars. A sauna is also located there;
• A combined sports ground in the center of the town. You can play basketball and football with small goals;
• A sports complex in the ´Ivan Momchilov´ school. It offers football fields, sporting ground, sports hall with artificial wall for rock climbing and covered swimming pool.

Sport events:

• Football with small goals – municipal tournament during the winter;
• Horseback riding races;
• National wrestling which are organized during the municipality´s festivals and celebrations by the Sports wrestling club Dan Kolov;
• Track-and-field competition during May;
• Excursions to the ´Kapinovski´ monastery in the end of July. There are three types available: pedestrian, cycle and excursions by car;
• The festival of the Balkan of Elena which lasts 2 days and is held in July. It includes tourist trip, funny games and competitions. On the second day a fair by the clubs of the pensioners ´South and North from the Balkan´ are held;
• A baton is held on 5th December in honor of the fallen for the liberation of Elena during the Russian-Turkish war and is historically connected with the mass leaving of the town´s inhabitants, which is known as ´The escape´.