Karlovo (population: 28.000) is a pretty town in Central Bulgaria located at 520 m above sea level in a fertile valley along the Striama River, at the foot of the Central Balkan Mountains. Karlovo is 141 km east of the capital Sofia and 58 km north of the second Bulgarian city Plovdiv. Situated in the heart of the Valley of Roses, Karlovo is famous as the birthplace of Bulgaria’s greatest national hero, Vassil Levski, the leader of the national revolutionary movement against Ottoman rule - the man who dreamed of and strived for “a pure and sacred republic”. The world-wide known quality rose oil, which is grown here is used for producing perfumery. Karlovo boasts some very good examples of typical Bulgarian revival architecture in its old part.