An hour's drive beyond Sofia the highway bypasses BOTEVGRAD , hardly worth a detour unless you're aiming for the E79 to Vratsa, Montana and Vidin, which heads north from here. Once a thriving market town, profiting from its position at the northern end of the (no longer used) Baba Konak Pass, Botevgrad is nowadays a sterile modern place whose main claim to fame is the Chavdar factory - makers of the buses that clatter their way across Bulgaria.

About 10km beyond the turn-off to Botevgrad, another minor road forks east to PRAVETS , a previously unremarkable village whose status as the birthplace of former dictator Todor Zhivkov made it into one of the most prosperous communities in Bulgaria. It's in places like Pravets that nostalgia for the certainties of the Communist era is at its strongest. When Zhivkov made a much-publicized visit to his home town in May 1995 (despite being ostensibly under house arrest in Sofia at the time), he was given an emotional welcome by thousands of locals, many of whom were in tears. Although his modest childhood home is no longer open to the public, other visitable aspects of the Zhivkov legacy will prove more lasting: most importantly, the holiday complex and artificial lake on the town's western outskirts. Complete with tennis courts, restaurants, boating, waterskiing facilities and fishing opportunities, this is a popular stopoff for travellers - fringed by the mountains of the Etropolska planina to the south, it's quite an idyllic spot. There's a motel (tel 07133/2754; US$18-36) and campsite by the lake, as well as the Shatra   restaurant , a curious pagoda-like construction jutting out into the water.