Rupite is situated 12 kilometres northeast of Petrich/ The village is famed in Bulgaria as the home village and burial place of the oracle Baba Vanga. Legend has it that at the age of six, she witnessed an angel who offered her the choice between sight and clairvoyance, and she chose the latter. Vanga's subsequent prophecies and healing skills gained her a wide following (including Politburo members), and her vision of Varna engulfed by water was vindicated when it was discovered that the city stood upon an underground lake - from which day on, high-rise building was prohibited. In old age she had fewer VIP visitors but her predictions were still heeded.

After her death in 1996, Vanga was buried in the Sveta Petka Church, a post-modern fusion of Slav and Byzantine design, decorated with expressionist murals and icons by the contemporary artist Svetlin Rusev, and surrounded by an unusually well-watered and manicured park. Its location in the crater of an extinct volcano makes the place even more special for Bulgarian New Agers, who believe it's a powerful energy node - although the scruffy car park and grill-bars at the entrance to the site are unlikely to place you in a meditative frame of mind.

Getting to Rupite (and back) by bus from Petrich or Blagoevgrad is fraught with uncertainty, with only one or two services a day. A taxi here and back from Petrich shouldn't cost more than US$10.

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