Sopot ( ) is a Bulgarian town situated in the fertile sub-Balkan mountain valley of Karlovo (which is the western part of the famous Rose Valley), immediately below the steep southern slopes of the Troyan Balkan Mountain (Central Stara Planina). Sopot is part of Plovdiv Province and is the administrative centre of a municipality with the same name. Geography It lies 2 km west of Karlovo, 136 km east of Sofia, 63 km north of Plovdiv and 61 km south of Troyan. It is the birthplace of arguably the best known and most renowned Bulgarian novelist, Ivan Vazov. Sopot is also a machine building centre. History According to Konstantin Jireček, the toponym is of Proto-Slavic origin, as indicated by the large number of identical placenames all around the Slavic world. There is information about the locality dating back to the Ottoman rule. During the Bulgarian National Revival (18th and 19th centuries) it was called "Golden Sopot" because of its flourishing development in the crafts and trade. The citizens of Sopot manufactured homespun, braids, fur and leather of high quality and traded predominantly round the Ottoman Empire. During the struggle for liberation in 1877 the town was largely destroyed by fire and its population was slaughtered or expelled. The town was named Vazovgrad between 1950 and 1965 after which it obtained its present name again. The pioneering Bulgarian educator Nedelya Petkova (1826–1894) began her career a student at the monastery school of the "Holy presentation of the Blessed Virgin" convent in Sopot. Population The population is almost exclusively Christian, mostly Eastern Orthodox but with some Evangelical and Roman Catholic families. According to the 2011 census, 7,973 out of 8,754 inhabitants declared their ethnicity. Around 96.2% of those, or 7,669 people, are ethnic Bulgarians. There are 145 Roma people (1.8%) and 20 ethnic Turks (0.3%) living in the town of Sopot. Religion The population of Sopot professes mostly Eastern Orthodox Christianity. There are several families Roman Catholics and evangelicals. No Muslims . Sopot monastery "St. Spas" or Sopot monastery for men "Vaznesenie Gospodne" (Ascension Day)(in its present form since 1879 ), in which on 7 December 1858 Vasil Levski became a monk. – The exact date of the occurrence of the monastery is not known. It is believed that was founded in the 13th century. Most likely "St. Spas" is the successor of the previous monastery in the Sopot area – "St.