Bozhentsi

Bozhentsi is a village of about a hundred houses in a wooded fold of the Balkan foothills, protected as an architectural reserve since 1964, and the whole settlement is of one period and one manner: stone walls, timber upper floors with projecting bays, and heavy roofs of stone slabs, set in gardens along cobbled lanes with no modern building allowed. It was a prosperous craft and trading village in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and declined afterwards, which is why it survived unaltered. Several houses are open as museums, others are guesthouses, and there is a church and a school building. Cars are kept at the edge. It is small, quiet and it takes an hour or two to walk.

What's there

• Stone slab roofs - the heavy roofing that defines the village.
• Timber upper floors - projecting bays over the stone ground storeys.
• Cobbled lanes with no modern building - the reserve status enforced since 1964.
• House museums - several dwellings open with their furnishings.

When to go

April to October, with autumn colour in the surrounding beech very good. Half a day. Weekends bring visitors and the guesthouses fill. Cars are left at the edge and the village is walked.

Good to know

It is small and two hours covers it. There is an entry fee for the village. Individual house museums are ticketed separately. It is busy at weekends and the few restaurants fill. Accommodation is limited.

Nearby

Gabrovo and Etar are south-west; Tryavna lies east.

Key facts