Vakarel ( bg, Вакарел) is a village, away from

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

, the capital of

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

Population: 1984 people. It is situated in the

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

mountains, within Ihtiman Municipality. The village is an important transport knot along the Sofia - Plovdiv railway route. The Trakiya motorway runs near Vakarel. Vakarel is 822 meters above sea level.
About away from the village is the Vakarel Radio Transmitter. 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) 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, tradition ...

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

Honour

Vakarel Saddle on Smith Island,

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 1 ...

is named after Vakarel.

References

{{Ihtiman Municipality Villages in Sofia Province