For some, the gates of Eden could be about a 40-minute drive from Sofia. There the village of Dolni Passarel hides between the mountains of Plana and Lozenska, on the left bank of the Iskar River. The village square sports an ancient poplar and its vicinity - the wild fields lined with a fragrant carpet of thyme and wild strawberries. Officially its population is 1300-strong, but its residents are about 2000, says Dolni Passarel Mayor Natalia Alexandrova.

Local researcher Nikola Yanev, a retired teacher, says more about the history of the village:

„The name Passarel is associated with Emperor Baldwin of Flanders taken hostage in 1205 during the battle of Adrianopole waged by the Bulgarian Tsar Kaloyan. After winning the battle Kaloyan displaced Baldwin's warriors across the Bulgarian lands. One of them was Baron Arel who settled in Lozenska Mountain. According to the legend the name Passarel derives from the root „pass“ and Arel's name and means Arel's Mountain Pass. The ancient village was found 2 km from today's one. The locality is known as Tsarkvishte (Church Place). Here the remains of the old church have been found on an area of 78 m2. Now there is a chapel there built with voluntary labor.”

When the village moved to its current location its residents built there a new church, Mr Yanev goes on to say:

„It was made of clay during the time of Ottoman rule. Bulgarians then were denied the right to build large churches and so it only stands a meter above the ground. Its frescos were painted after the 1878 Liberation by artists from the celebrated Samokov School of Painting. Frescos survive to this day though severely damaged by humidity.”

The retired teacher tells us that an ancient road passed by the village and was used by Thracians, Romans and Turks. Some archeological finds here are quite interesting. One can take a walk to the ruins of the Jewish and Ravulya castles. According to the legend, the Jewish Castle was given as a present by Tsar Ivan Alexander to his Jewish wife Sarah.

„During the reign of Tsar Boris III in the first half of 20 c. the Jewish Castle was a place that Sofia residents loved to visit for recreation and outings. The huge Iskar Dam that today provides water to Sofia was not built yet. The construction of the dam was a veritable tragedy for the locals. The then-village Gorni Passarel remained at the dam's bottom, and its population was dispersed in other regions of Bulgaria"

Walking in Passarel we come across a monument to pilot Captain Dimitar Spisarevski, a reminder of the American bombing of Sofia during World War 2. After his ammunition was depleted in an in air combat with American fighters Spisarevski sacrificed his life in order to prevent them from bombing the capital:

'Spisarevski made a battering ram just above the village. He hit one of the American fighters. There was smoke coming out of his plane and it fell two kilometers away from the village. The American fighter also fell - near the Urvich fortress. One of the American pilots managed to escape with a parachute. The whole village was out watching how the wind carried him to the mountain, where he landed successfully”, Nikola Yanev recalls.

English Daniela Konstantinova