Rivers & Springs - The River Zlatna Panega | Lukovit - Natural Sights

Zlatna Panega is a river in Northern Bulgaria, springing immediately next to the village of Zlatna Panega. The spring is Karst and is considered to collect its waters from underground caves of the River Vit. That's the biggest Karst spring in Bulgaria.

Zlatna Panega is not a river of Iskar, Maritza or Tundja's scale, it is not marked with thick lines on the map so that you can find it there with just one glance. It is a small but picturesque river. We can easily trace the spring if we go by the central northern railway line and if we get off at the station Cherven Bryag. The spring of Zlatna Panega or Glava Panega is located at a triangular mountain. Here three valleys are gathering - from the east Golyamo-Breshenski dol, from the south Suha Koritna and from the west Oreshenskata dolina. The gorgeous spring of Zlatna Panega, with the light green branches of the old lime trees hanging over it, has attracted the people's attention ever since old days. The legends for its mysterious origin and the stories for its healing properties have been known by the ancient Thracians, Hellene and Romans who had been living not only at these places. That's why the sick people coming from different parts of the ancient empires have built on the bank of the stream two millenniums ago a temple in honor of the god of medicine Esculap, and the river named after his beautiful daughter Panaca.