On November 3^rd and 4^th an intergenerational trip to Lopushna and Zlatiza valleys was organized. First the group visited one of the most ancient religious places in the Berkovitsa region - the inner courtyard of the church “The Holy Ascension“ in the village Gaganitsa, where the students learned about the history of the church. The residents of the village welcomed the group with homemade pies and shared their memories of the village as they remembered it from their childhood.   

The next stop on the way was the venerable oak-tree, planted around 1600. In 1882 next to the tree the village of Kalimanitsa sprung up - the birthplace of Yordan Radichkov, a famous Bulgarian writer and playwright. In the 70’s the whole village was moved to Berkovitza and Montana. The branched, centuries-old oak marks the spot of the former megdan - or the village square. Every year on the 8th of September the former residents of the village of Kalimanitsa gather under the shadow of the 25m high oak-tree to honor their ancestors who lived together in this place.

The next destination of the hikers was the village of Bistrilitza – the birth place of Manchо Punin, known for the Manchovata Buna uprising in 1836.

 Then the group headed to the village of Kopilovtsi (Montana District), located in Northwestern Bulgaria on the Chiprovtsi Mountain - the highest part of the West Balkan Mountain..  Kopilovtsi dates back to 900-400 BC. It is part of Georgi Damyanovo Municipality. Kopolivci, a small village with a population around 600 is one of the most desirable and beautiful places in the Montana region. Four rivers cross the village- the rivers Leva, Dobrevska, Malina and Grafska. Kopilovtsi is located in the vicinity of the larger mining centre of Chiprovtsi and holds relatively rich deposits of precious metals - gold, silver, lead, copper and iron are found.

The group visited one of the tree waterfalls- Durchin skok, located under the peak of Kopren (2119 m) the second highest summit in the western part of the Balkan.

The tour concluded in the Lopushanski Monastery “St. John the Baptist,” located about 1 km from the village of Georgi Damyanovo in the north-west part of Bulgaria. It is believed that the monastery had existed during the 10th century, but it had been situated near the village of Pomezhdin in the locality of Manastirishte. The participants were very warmly welcomed and had the pleasure to hear the history of the monastery from Jeromaonah Hristodul, to pet the little dear that lives in the monastery household and received as a gift a bible for children.