Kyupriya Shepherd – The Bridge of the Odalisques – Vidin

The Kyupriya Shepard Bridge is located at the old entrance of Vidin town in Dunavtsi town. It is built by Bulgarian masters of stone. It is declared a cultural monument, of which the legend says: it was spring. On the road from Vidin to the Balkan Mountains there was a beautiful carriage. In the carriage was the Prince of Vidin Pasha Osman Pazvantoglu. In the carriage next to him was his only nineteen-year-old daughter whom he loved so much, because it resembled him not only in the exterior appearance, but she had inherited his severity, disobedience, courage and determination. The storm started. The carriage was approaching Vidin and the minarets of the mosques were beginning to see. They had to cross the river in front of them. But its waters swelled and came out of the river, they were dark, cloudy and flowing with great speed. Their carriage was beginning to sink.  The horses were firing huge efforts and the hooves broke. The Pasha was screaming in anger. Aid came, but they failed to do anything. Somewhere the sad notes of a flute were heard. Nearby they saw a young shepherd who was with the sheep to graze. They asked for his help. The shepherd has arrived. He motioned everyone to withdraw. He grabbed the carriage with his strong hands. He pulled the carriage on the opposite bank, took it safely and invited him to sit down. As a thank you, the Pasha ordered that a bridge be built on this spot. While the bridge was being built, his daughter fell in love with the shepherd. But this beautiful and pure love was observed by all shepherds and bridge builders. Bad people told him about their love. He frowned at a dark cloud and ordered the shepherd to be killed. His head to be buried under the bridge. His girlfriend found out, took the bag which she had filled with gold, sat in the carriage and flew on the dusty road. Reaching the abundant waters near the bridge, Sefade pulled the strains of the beautiful horses. They entered as a storm in the water, but they overturned.

The place where the horses overturned with the carriage and where the odalsique drowned is now called Davi Vir and the bridge that the old man made on the river is called the Kadanin Bridge. The years passed, the Pasha died, the bridge that crosses the river that comes from the Tsarpetrovski hills and flows into the Danube, near the old Vidbol village, which today everyone calls Shepard Kyupriya, and the bridge on the Kerachitsa river – the Odalisque Bridge.