Beautiful nature, cultural and historical sites, hardworking people, mineral water springs – all this makes the small Bulgarian mountain town of Strelcha an attractive place for people of all ages. The active economic activities a century and a half ago in Strelcha led to the rapid development of agriculture, rose production and trade in rose products.

A cooperative organisation, a church and a bath were built, and the rise of the population, the improvements in the town and the discovery of the healing properties of the mineral waters marked the beginning of resort business in Strelcha. Today, citizens of Strelcha are proud of the fact that in 1969 two state documents recognized their town as a city with the potential of a balneological resort and now it is among the actively visited Bulgarian SPA destinations.

Strelcha has three mineral springs as the warmest is 56 degrees Celsius. The healing properties of water have a beneficial effect on the nervous and musculoskeletal systems, helping in the treatment of gynecological and visual issues. Springs with similar healing characteristics in Bulgaria are found only in Sapareva Banya. Guests of Strelcha say that they can quickly feel the healing effect of water in combination with the clean air and calm atmosphere of the town. The winter here is mild and almost snowless, while spring and summer are cool because of the proximity of the mountains.

The flow of tourists does not stop throughout the year and Strelcha actively presents itself at all specialized tourist exhibitions in this country. For several years, the town has been witnessing a continuous growth of the number of guests of all ages, due to the skillful offering of spa tourism and cultural-historical tourism, combined with sufficient places for accommodation. The locals are patriots, who love their hometown and eagerly tell tourists about its history.

They say that they are tough people who have turned their stony land into a garden. Roses are planted on the slopes and grown with love. The town had been burned to the ground four times, but residents always rebuilt it from the ashes, stone by stone. Before they built their houses, the locals built an Orthodox church.

Nowadays, young people often go to the larger cities, because in the small town it is difficult to find a job. This is how the team of the Enlightenment 1871 Community Center in the town briefly describe the history of their town. Over the past 25 years, we have been through a very difficult time, but thanks to the hard work of people, we have been able to preserve the community center, its secretary Mariana Nyagolova says and adds:

“The holidays of Strelcha are the Day of the Rose and the Day of Strelcha, marked at the end of July. In the autumn we hold a folklore festival dedicated to singing and ritual folklore. The municipality stimulates amateur artists – we have a group for local folklore, for old town songs, we have a singing-theater troupe that focuses on the rituals and history of Strelcha. People from our community center are very ambitious. Mineral water, climate and rose production are the things that attract the most of our guests. In the past 50 years Strelcha has gone through many stages - there were industrial plants and greenhouses where mineral water was used. Many small production workshops were created, but they did not prosper and finally it became clear to everyone that the development of Strelcha goes through tourism. In the past 10 years a lot of hotels and guest houses have been built here; we have a tourist center, our museum has a very rich collection and presents our history at a very high professional level. There is still work to be done to improve infrastructure and water supply, but the local authorities are cooperating with the private business for the prosperity of our town,” Mariana Nyagolova, secretary of the Enlightenment 1871 Community Center in Strelcha says.

English: Alexander Markov

Photos: @Аз обичам Стрелча