Stoikite

The village of Stoikite is located in a valley in the Central Rhodope Mountain, 5 km away to the west of the Pamporovo resort and 6 km to the southeast of the Shiroka Laka architectural preserved area. The favorable geographical position and the beautiful scenery make the village attractive for holiday. The average altitude is 1410 m. This is why the summer in Stoikite is cool, and the winter soft, making the village perfectly proper for all-season tourism. The vicinity of the village is amazingly various. The big corpus of the Perelik hill goes southeastwards crossing the Eshei Kulaki passage, Cherni vrah summit to the Snejanka summit. To the northeast there comes the continuation of the Chernatitsa mountain section – Kara tepe and Mechi chal, forming the catchment area of the Vacha and Asenitsa rivers. The village was mentioned for the first time in a written document in 1706. Historians suppose that the village was inhabited in 17th century during one of the converts to Mohammedanism in the Rhodope Mountain area. In the spring of 1870 the local men started building the school, which was opened the same year by the first teacher Stoyu Kalaidjiev from the village of Shiroka Laka. By the initiative of the local people the Plovdiv bishop Panaret got a permit for church construction and he was the one to start the building of the church in 1874. Later in 1900 the church board decided to build a belfry as well. Explorers came to an interesting find on the land of the Stoikite village – the discovered silver medal from the first Athens Olympic Games in 1896. Historians consider that it was won by a local man – the invincible Rhodope fighter Georgi Kapushev. He is believed to the be the first Bulgarian ever participated in Olympics and the first Bulgarian Olympic champion. https://maps.app.goo.gl/7epxqkGHZPe45gsx7