Places

SOFIA

The capital of Bulgaria is the biggest industrial, administrative and cultural centre in the country. There are various types of architecture: Greek, Byzantine and Bulgarian. There are more than 250 monuments from the past in the city. Among them are: the St. George Rotunda, the St. Sofia Church (5-6 c.c.), the St. Petka Church (19 c.), the Boyana Church. The symbol of Sofia is the “Alexander Nevski” Memorial Cathedral of Neo-Byzantine style, whose subterranean crypt has been transformed in a medieval and revival Bulgarian art’s museum, fascinating with its abundance of gold, marble, crystal, mosaics, murals and icons. In the National Museum of History the visitors can see the famous “Thracian Treasures”- numerous gold and silver pieces with exceptional value. The National Palace of Culture is one of the fine examples of the modern Bulgarian architecture. The proximity of Vitosha Mountain offers the unique opportunity to get from the city centre up to mountain peak 2290 m in height within an hour.

 

PLOVDIV

Plovdiv is one of   the oldest towns in Europe and the second largest city in Bulgaria. It was among the most fortified and urbanized towns in the Thracian province of the Roman Empire and its capital on the Balkan Peninsula. The visitors can walk along the narrow cobbled streets. They can see the ruins of the town walls and the well preserved Roman amphitheatre , the picturesque houses and buildings from the 17 c., the St. Marina Church and Saints Constantine and Elena Church, the Ethnographic museum, etc.

 

VARNA

The Pearl of the Black Sea Coast with its moderate climate, beautiful nature, lovely sandy beaches and mineral springs represents a first-class resort. The visitors can enjoy the Seaside Garden, the only one Dolphin Show in the country and also to visit its museums and theatres.

 

VELIKO TIRNOVO    

Beautiful city and one of the most ancient locations. Its houses are built one above the other up the steep slopes of the banks of the river Yantra. Its history began in the first half of the third millennium BC. However, its glorious times were 1187-1393, when it was the capital of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom. The palaces of the King and the Patriarch of the Bulgarian Church on the Tzarevetz Hill were surrounded by a thick stone -wall with numerous towers. A wooden draw-bridge over vertical rocks led to the fortress. This medieval capital was famous for its school of literature -one of the most influential in Slavonic literature. Two works from this school have survived throughout the centuries: the Manasii Chronicle kept in the Vatican Library and the Tetraevangelia of King Ivan Alexander, kept in the British Museum. Special tourist attraction is the audiovisual show “Sounds and Light” with laser a ray (which is organized on previous request) over the walls, illuminating the hill and accompanied by Bulgarian medieval music. The town of Arbanassi, authentic jewel of the Bulgarian Revival architecture, is situated at only 3 km from the city. We suggest for the organized tourist groups the wine tasting of sparkling wine in the city of Lyaskovetz, at 9 km from Veliko Turnovo, the unique place in Bulgaria where this wine is produced.

 

ROUSSE

The largest and most beautiful Bulgarian town on the Danube River. Several parks with fountains, sport facilities and entertainments are successfully added to the diversity of architectural styles: baroque, renaissance and secession. Rousse is famous for its cultural traditions. It has a theatre, an opera-house, a symphony orchestra, etc. The March Music Days Festival is held there annually.

 

PLEVEN

The town becomes famous for being a key Turkish fortress taken after five months of hard siege by the Russian troops in the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878. Pleven Panorama’s vast mural paintings (115 m length and 15 m in height) portray the whole battlefield of this decisive action, while ground features and equipment in the foreground and indirect lights foster an illusion of real spaces. Today Pleven is a modern industrial centre famous for its wine industry. A secondary school in wine growing and wine industry was opened there as early as 1890. Two years later the biggest one wine cellar of the Balkans was opened there. Wine-tasting of red and white wines is organized for the tourist groups.

 

GABROVO

This city is situated in the North slopes of Balkan Mountains, in the valley of the river Yantra. It was founded during the Turkey’s domination by emigrants of Veliko Turnovo. Here was created the first school in 1835. In Gabrovo is located the House of Humor and Satire. At 8 km from the city the visitors can see the famous open-air Ethnographic Museum “Etara”, unique in its type in Bulgaria. At 20 km from Gabrovo is situated the cultural and historical complex “Bozhentsi”, where a visitor can see the unique Bulgarian architecture typical for the Bulgarian National Revival Period.

 

VIDIN

Situated on the banks of the Danube River, this town is the first Bulgarian port and one of the centers of chemical industry in the country. The visitors can see here the almost fully preserved medieval Bulgarian castle -the Baba Vida fortress. The Magura Cave, inhabited by the pre-historic men at the beginning of the Bronze Age (2750-1900 BC), and the Belogradchik Rocks, unique odd statues molded out of rock by wind and water.

 

LOVECH

Narrow, cobbled streets and National Revival style houses with the typical verandas in the Varosha quarter of the town, testify to the original skills of Bulgarian builders. The most famous monument here is the Covered Bridge, built in 1871-1874 and restores in 1931.

 

SMOLIAN

In the South of Bulgaria, in the Rhodope Mountains. It is as a cultural, industrial and tourist centre in the Rhodopes. The visitors can see the Ethnographic Museum, the Planetarium, the typical old houses with the original architecture in the centre of the town.

 

SANDANSKI

Is located in the South-West part of Bulgaria on the slopes of Pirin Mountain. The legend tells that in these place was born Spartacus, the leader of the biggest slave’s rebellion in the ancient Rome. The town arises around the medicinal mineral springs. The combina-tion of the Mediterranean climate, the mountain’s air and the mineral water has turned this city into a famous balneology resort.

 

BELOGRADCHIK

A town is 52 km South of Vidin. According to the legend, its name is connected to the medieval Bialgradezh Fortress. Here can be seen the ruins of a Roman fortress, which was built in the 1st century for the protection of an important route. The fortress was rebuilt during the 14th century. The famous Rocks of Belogradchik, an exceptional creation of the Nature, are situated next to the town.

 

BANSKO

The town is situated in a valley between three mountains: Rila, Pirin and Rhodopes. It appeared about 9th - 10th c.c. on the place of an old Thracian town. During the Bulgarian Revival in Bansko were built many houses with original architecture. Very interesting are the St. Trinity and St. Virgin Churches. The perfect ski slopes and other winter sports facilities make Bansko an excellent mountain and ski resort.

 

MELNIK

 The smallest town in Bulgaria lies in the South-West, near to the Greek border. It offers a picturesque combination of beautiful National Revival style houses and magnificent sand pyramids over 100 m height. Melnik is famous also with its wine cellars and its well-known red wine “Melnik”.

 

TROYAN

At 35 km South from Lovech, in the Balkan mountain, this town is famous with its ceramic and the typical “rakia” - a plum brandy. Near to the town, is situated the village of Oreshak, where can be visited the museum of Artistic Craftsmanship’s and Applied Arts. The Troyan Monastery, founded during the 14th century is in the third biggest in Bulgaria, after the Rila and the Bachkovo monasteries. The icons in the Monastery’s church were painted by Zahari Zograf (1835), a famous revival artist from the town of Samokov, famous for its school of art painting.

 

PLISKA

Is situated at 25 km North-East of the town of Shoumen. Only at 2 km from Pliska are preserved the rests of the first Bulgarian capital, with the same name (681-833), which was built with concentric fortifications on 23 km surface.

 

SOZOPOL

The ancient Apollonius is the most antique city on the Bulgarian seaside in the Black Sea. It was founded by Greek emigrants from Mellitus about 610 BC. It is located in a small rocky peninsula. Its flourish was during 5th -3rd c.c. BC, when it became an important travel and port centre. Latter on, during the Byzantine domain, the city was named Sozopol (the City of Salvation). Now it is an important fishing centre and well-known resort in the Bulgarian seaside.

 

KAZANLAK

This town is situated in the Roses Valley, sheltered between the Balkan Mountains and Sredna Gora. The Bulgarian rose, whose oil is an essential ingredient of top-class world famous perfumes, has been blossoming here for more than three centuries. Its season begins at the second half of May and ends in June. The Rose Festival, on the first Sunday in June, draws thousands of experts of the Bulgarian Rose from all over the world. Besides the Museum of Rose visitors must see the Kazanlak Cupola Tomb -a unique record of Thracian art dating from the 4th c. BC. The tomb is included in the UNESCO’s World Cultural Heritage.

 

NESSEBAR

Ancient Messembria is picturesquely located on a peninsula in the Black Sea. It was surrounded both of sea and land by thick stone-walls. Merchants from all over the Mediterranean area gathered here to take part in the festivals held in the local theatre and the temple of Apollo. Once an independent state, the town minted its own coins as early as the 5th c. BC. Legends say once there were 41 churches. Some of them have survived. The town is included in UNESCO’s World Cultural and Natural Heritage Program.

 

BLAGOEVGRAD

Blagoevgrad is the biggest industrial and cultural centre in South-West Bulgaria. At 46 km to the North-East of the town, sheltered in a mountain valley in the middle of thick pine forest, is located the Rila Monastery, the biggest and the most important monastery,  centre of Bulgarian culture and literature during the National Revival period.

 

MADARA

This historical-archeological reserve is included in UNESCO’s World Cultural and Natural Program. It is situated at 17 km of Shoumen, on the plateau (tableland) of Madara. This place was inhabited in the early Neolithic and latter on by Thracians, Romans, Slavs and Bulgarians. They had left many monuments: the Big Cave, the Madara Horseman, the big Rock’s Monastery, the fortress on the plateau and a Roman villa. The Madara Horseman is the most interesting monument, dated to 7th - 8th c.c. It is a unique monument from the early Middle Age, carved in the rocks at 23 m above the ground. It pictures a nearly life-size horseman piercing a lion and followed by a dog. The bas-relief symbolizes the military and political might of the First Bulgarian Kingdom. There are some reminders of Bulgarian victories over Byzantium written in Greek on the bas-relief. The Madara Horseman is included in the UNESCO’s World Cultural and Nature Program.

 

ZHERAVNA

This town had its development during the Revival period. It is situated on the East slopes of the Balkan Mountain, at 8 km from the town of Kotel. There are preserved many of the “Zheravna’s houses”, which are remarkable cultural monuments due to the peculiar style of these wooden houses with rich wood-carvings, inner and external ornaments. Nowadays Zheravna is considered as a National Archaeological Monument.

 

KOPRIVSHTITZA

Situated in a small depression at the slopes of Balkan Mountain it was founded in the late 14th century and succeed in conserving its Bulgarian character during the 5 centuries of the ottoman domination. On April 20th 1876 a year before the Russian- Turkish war, started the biggest rebellion against the Turkish Empire. This city is well-known by the peculiar architecture of its houses; the oldest of them were transformed in museums. This town has been declared National Architectural and Historical Museum.

 

SHIROKA LAKA

This town is considered a national monument with its architectural, historical and folklore values. There is a school for Bulgarian typical musical instruments.

 

 

 

PAMPOROVO

One of the famous resorts is situated in Rhodopes Mountain, and offers perfect conditions and facilities for touring and winter sports. It is situated at 15 km to Smolian.

 

 

BOROVETZ

This world-wide famous Bulgarian mountain resort and the biggest in Bulgaria are located at 70 km to the South of Sofia at 1300 m above the sea level. The mean annual temperature is 5, 5 C. The snow holds more than 100 days a year. There are 14 ski runs of varied length and difficulty, 3 cross-country tracks, a ski-jump, a gondola lift, two chair-lifts and 10 drag-lifts. Borovetz is the start point for excursions to Musala Peak (2925 m above sea. level.), the highest peak in Rila and in the Balkan Peninsula as well.