Ihtiman

The next town is Ihtiman (pop. 11,500). Three kilometres north of which are the mins of the medieval town of Stipone. Eledjik Hotel, 2 stars, 120 beds, tel. 24-05. Ihtiman motel, 3 stars, 3 floors, 44 double rooms, a restaurant, night club, free shop and information bureau. Tel. 99-71-41 — 2301.

9 km from Ihtiman along the E-80 road is the Leshta Han restaurant, with its lentil speciality. A further 10 km to the left of the road is the Mirovo national inn. There are bungalows around it for use in summer.

Then comes Kostenets (pop. 10,500).

The mineral spring in the Momin Prohod residential area is 25ih highest in the world for radioactivity and its water temperature is 64.5°C. It is recommended for diabetes, ulcers, rheumatism and skm diseases. The town has an international specialist children’s sanatorium and other therapeutical clinics and rest houses private tour istanbul. Georgi Dimitrov balneological and climatic resort is open all the year round, the water temperature of the mineral spring is 46 °C.

Further on 5 km from Belovo is a camp site with a swimming pool containing mineral water. The camp site has a restaurant and a parking lot. To the right of Belovo a road leads to the mountain resort of Yundola situated between the Rila and the Rhodope Mountains at an altitude of 1,350 m.

Born in Velingrad

40 km further on is the town of Velingrad (pop. 25,000). The town’s 77 mineral springs have a round-the-clock capacity of 5 million litres. Water temperature is from 22 to 90.5°C. In addition to rheumatism, the waters are also used to treat diseases of the peripheral nervous system, gynaecological diseases, inflammatory processes of the respiratory system and the lungs. As a climatic resort Velingrad is also suitable for the treatment of bronchial asthma, chronic bronchitis, thyrotoxicosis, secondary anaemia, etc. Vela Peeva, a prominent partisan, was born in Velingrad and the town is now named after her. She was wounded in 1944 in a skirmish with the po-

lice but managed to escape and hid in the mountains for 37 days. She was discovered and after a five-hour struggle she took her own life. Her birthplace is now a museum.

The Kleptouza spring with a capacity of 900 1/sec. is in the Chepino quarter. There is a restaurant nearby.

Wood and wood-processing hold a prominent place in the town’s economy. The huge hothouses outside the town heated by hot mineral water, grow carnations, 80 per cent of which are exported to the USSR, Austria, FR Germany, Noway and even to the Netherlands.