Mountains & Hot Mineral Water Attract Tourists in Bulgaria's Sapareva Banya

SofiaEcho, 10 Sept. 2007

The Rila mountains, hot mineral water, and the old Roman town Germaneya attract the tourists in Bulgarian resort of Sapareva Banya.

Sapareva Banya opened in 2006 an information tourism centre under the PHARE programme intended to provide information to tourists interested in visiting the sites on the territory of the municipality, Focus news agency reported.

The centre is located near one of the town's nature attractions; the geyser with the hottest mineral water in the continental part of Europe.

The temperature of the water is 103 degrees Celsius, Emilian Popov of the information centre explains.

The tourists are also attracted by the old Roman town of Germaneya. The town was excavated during the initial phase of the construction of a spa centre. Workers found a wall that turned out to be part of a Roman town.

Sapareva Banya municipality boasts many churches among which St. Georgi dating back from 19th century.

The mountains attract the tourists the most, Sapareva Banya's information centre representatives said. Sapareva Banya is one of the main routes leading to Rila lakes. One third of the municipality is part of the national park Rila.