The portion of the Balkan Range around Elena enjoys unflagging tourist interest, with visitors coming from Bulgaria and abroad. Some even choose to stay and live here, blending in with the local colour. Over the weekend the hotels in Elena and the surrounding villages are full up. During holidays and on feast days so many tourists flock here that it is virtually impossible to find a place to stay. Hotels and guest houses have been multiplying here, and now number more than 250. “There is no town or village here without a family hotel or a guest house,” says Evdokia Okolova from Elena municipality.
“In the town itself there are seven monuments of culture of national significance. The Hilarion of Makariopolis museum house is very interesting, as are the clock tower, the first school, the Kamburov inn, where visitors can see the 19th century way of life and the traditions in Elena. The St. Nicholas church, with its unique icons is also well worth a visit. There are two more churches in the town – not for nothing was Elena called “the Bulgarian Bethlehem” in the time of the National Revival.”
There are so many things to do here – fishing in one of the many dams, horse-riding, mountain biking or outdoor hiking. In the boutique winery in Maryan village guests can taste of the local wine varieties with appetizers typical of these parts. But the most famous attraction of all that has come to be regarded as the hallmark of the entire region is Elena pork leg – the delicious dry-cured ham made here, and nowhere else, using old Elena recipes:
“The climate is the only thing that plays a role in its curing – the natural air currents of the Elena mountain region. But salting the meat takes real skill. 40 days after it is salted, the meat is placed inside a special kind of barrel, it is then taken out and left to the natural local climate. The Elena pork of leg is ready and sliced by May. This specific delicacy has made us a recognizable destination. In May 2023, we marked the 10th edition of the Elena pork leg festival,” Evdokia Okjolova says in an interview with Radio Bulgaria.
The municipality also relies on festival tourism and a diverse cultural calendar. The idea is to have at least one event per month presenting the typical Balkan traditions.
“At the end of April Elena’s chitalishte (community culture club) organizes a folklore singing and dancing contest on such a scale that the town fills with participants and tourists. In the space of 2-3 days, we get more than 1,000 visitors coming from all over the country. Another event that enjoys a lot of interest is the “Made in Elena” festival. This year, the festival will take place on 15 June, and all producers from the Elena portion of the Balkan Range will come here to sell their produce – organic honey, products from our mushroom farm, herbs, organic juice, yoghurt and dairy products from the dairy farm in Elena etc. Of course, the highlight will be pork leg Elena, and all kinds of cured delicacies like sujuk, lukanka etc., which go so well with the wine from Maryan village,” Evdokia Okolova says.
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Translated and posted by Milena Daynova
Photos:Veneta Nikolova, Elena municipality
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