MONTANA - largely rebuilt in concrete - is a drably modern town with a revolutionary tradition. Originally called Kutlovitsa, the town was known as Mihailovgrad for much of the postwar period in memory of local revolutionary Hristo Mihailov, a leader of the Communist uprising of September 1923 . Socialist historians always overestimated the importance of the revolt - a short-lived farce that never enjoyed popular support - but the way in which the right-wing Tsankov regime put the uprising down, massacring 30,000 Bulgarians within a couple of weeks, ensured that it was remembered as one of the most bloodily heroic episodes in Bulgarian history. After a local referendum in 1993 the town was renamed, ostensibly because a Roman settlement called Montana existed here in the first century AD.

Montana merits little more than a fleeting visit, to use its onward transport connections to more appealing destinations in the shadow of the mountains, such as Chiprovtsi and Lopushanski Monastery. If you've time to kill between buses - the terminal is diagonally opposite the train station - head through the fruit and veg market next to the bus station to reach a park where you'll find a small history museum (Istoricheski muzei; Mon-Fri 9am-1pm & 2-5pm), housing Chiprovtsi carpets and local costumes. Of the latter, several belong to the Karakachani , Greek-speaking nomadic herders common throughout the western Balkan Range until the 1950s, when a combination of settled lifestyles and intermarriage with local Bulgarians hastened their disappearance as a distinct group (although they're still very much in evidence in eastern Bulgaria). There are plenty of cafés a block south of the train and bus stations on Montana's flowerbedded, fountain-splashed main square, where you'll also find a brace of hotels : the high-rise Zhitomir (tel 096/29186; US$18-36), which has comfortable but characterless ensuite rooms; and the slightly snazzier Ogosta , ul. Peyu Yavorov 1 (tel 096/42338; US$36-60), which has the edge in terms of comfort and service.