Anyone who has seen this secret and spellbinding place has become its voluntary captive. Nestling in the hills of the southwestern Rhodopes, the village appears unexpectedly behind a bend in the winding road. The strings of swallows perched on the live wires, the goats on the fences, the glow-worms in the summer evenings recall a distant and lost world. Springtime the entire village turns white with the elders in bloom and is steeped in the thick shade of huge walnut trees in summer. Every piece of land here has been won with much hard work.

     Kovachevitsa, a creation of the Bulgarian National Revival genius, is an architectural wonder in stone – the narrow lanes, the walls of the amazingly tall houses, the greyish roof tiles along which one can go from one end of the village to the other. Kovachevitsa houses are solid and austere, with natural beauty, blending with the powerful mountain surroundings. What is beautiful here is also useful. The covered yard, paved with large stone tiles, is level with the ground and leads into the cattle shed. A wooden staircase leads to the upper floor, which has a high ceiling. The far end contains the living quarters, a room with a hearth for baking bread and something unusual for its time – a toilet with sewerage.
     Although Kovachevitsa houses resembled each other, they are all different. Dishlyanov's House is still a puzzle and a challenge to modern architecture. The belfry of a large brightly painted and skillfully carved church rises in the center of the village. This is where the less than 50 remaining inhabitants who are part of the village décor still find comfort and solace.