Ottoman mills
The remains of water mills on the river around the falls.
Izvora — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Gitanes232 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Michal Valach — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Michal Valach — CC BY-SA 4.0
A waterfall dropping about thirty metres into a rocky valley near the village of Hotnitsa, a short distance from Veliko Tarnovo. What distinguishes it is the pool beneath: a relatively wide basin ringed by rock walls, in which local people swim in summer despite the cold water. The approach is short — about twenty minutes on foot from the car park on a path following the river. Around the waterfall are traces of several periods: the remains of Ottoman water mills, the foundations of a medieval monastery, and higher up the valley a Chalcolithic archaeological site — gold pieces recovered from it are among the oldest worked gold in the world. This region near Varna and Hotnitsa produced the oldest known gold treasures, which makes Bulgaria an important place in the history of metals. Access is free and the walk short, but the rocks are slippery near the water.
The remains of water mills on the river around the falls.
The site up the valley yielded pieces from the fifth millennium BC.
Locals swim in it in summer despite the cold.
Hotnitsa village, west of Veliko Tarnovo
A necropolis found by chance in 1972 near Varna, holding more than three thousand gold objects dating to about 4600–4200 BC — the oldest worked gold known in the world, roughly a thousand years older than the gold of Egypt and Mesopotamia. More important than its age is what it indicates: the gold was distributed very unevenly among the graves, which is among the earliest evidence of organised social stratification in a human society. The collection is displayed in the Varna Archaeological Museum.
The area west of Veliko Tarnovo holds several within short distances: the Hotnitsa falls, the Zarapovo falls near Vishovgrad, and the Emen falls at the end of the gorge trail. Two or three can be combined in a day by car. All are seasonal and weaken considerably in August and September — spring is the best time for all of them.
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