Vakarel () is a village, away from

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

, the capital of

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

Population: 1984 people. It is situated in the

Sredna Gora Sredna Gora ( ) is a mountain range in central Bulgaria, situated south of and parallel to the Balkan Mountains and extending from the river Iskar (river), Iskar to the west and the elbow of river Tundzha north of the city of Yambol to the east. ...

mountains, within

Ihtiman Municipality Ihtiman ( ) is a town in western Bulgaria, part of Sofia Province. It is located in the Ihtiman Valley of the Ihtimanska Sredna Gora mountain range and lies in a valley 48 km from Sofia and 95 km from Plovdiv, close to the Trakiya motor ...

. The village is an important transport knot along the Sofia -

Plovdiv Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...

railway route. The

Trakiya motorway The Trakia motorway (, ) or Thrace motorway, designated A1, is a motorway in Bulgaria. It connects the capital city of Sofia, the city of Plovdiv and the city of Burgas on the Black Sea coast. The motorway is named after the historical region of ...

runs near Vakarel. Vakarel is 822 meters above sea level.
About away from the village is the

Vakarel Radio Transmitter The Vakarel Transmitter was a large broadcasting facility for long- and medium wave near Vakarel, Bulgaria. The Vakarel Transmitter was inaugurated in 1937. It had one directional antenna consisting of three guyed masts and another consisting of tw ...

. Near Vakarel is the Vakarelian Monastery 'Saint Petka'. The monastery is relatively new, established in the 20th century. Its yearly celebration is on 14 October.
Residential areas are also around Vakarel. Vakarel's name is of Aromanian (

Balkan Latin Common Romanian (), also known as Ancient Romanian (), or Proto-Romanian (), is a comparatively reconstructed Romance language evolved from Vulgar Latin and spoken by the ancestors of today's Romanians, Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Roman ...

) origin, from the word ''vacarel'', "cattleshed, cowshed" or with the Aromanian diminutive suffix ''–el'', "young cowherd", cf.

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

''văcar'', "cowboy, neatherd".

Gallery

File:St-Petka-Monastery-of-Vakarel.jpg, Vacareiian Monastery St. Petka File:Vacarelian-Monastery-Church.jpg, St. Petka Church of Vakarelian Monastery St. Petka File:Vacarelian-Monastery-Church-Interior.jpg, Interior of St. Petka Church in Vacarelian Monastery File:Radio-transmitter-antena-at-Vakarel.jpg,

Vakarel radio transmitter The Vakarel Transmitter was a large broadcasting facility for long- and medium wave near Vakarel, Bulgaria. The Vakarel Transmitter was inaugurated in 1937. It had one directional antenna consisting of three guyed masts and another consisting of tw ...

File:RIF-Ltd-Vakarel.jpg, RIF Ltd. - a construction materials company, based in Vakarel

Honour

Vakarel Saddle Vakarel Saddle (, ‘Vakarelska Sedlovina’ \va-ka-'rel-ska se-dlo-vi-'na\) is a crescent-shaped ice-covered saddle of elevation 1744 mI.M. Howat, C. Porter, B.E. Smith, M.-J. Noh and P. Morin. Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica (REMA). Pol ...

on Smith Island,

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands located in the Drake Passage with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the n ...

is named after Vakarel.

References

{{Ihtiman Municipality Villages in Sofia Province