A great palce to visit in Bulgaria (Veliko Tarnovo)

Member Name: REALTRAVELLER

Product:	Veliko Tarnovo
Date:	01/08/09 (28 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very nice

Disadvantages: None

I visited Veliko Tarnovo last year in May.

Veliko Tarnovo is considered by many the most romantic city in Bulgaria, I have been to quite a few, and I must admit that it would be hard to find a better city for that award.

Veliko Tarnovo was inhabited since 5000 BC, when Neolithic people settled on the hill where you now have the fortress, the hill of Tsarevets. Then came the Romans, then the Empire of Constantinopole and then basically centuries of fights between Turks and Bulgarians, until when in 1879 the Bulgarians got independence and their first constitution was written here.

It is said that the best University in the country is still the one of Veliko Tarnovo, and there should be a relatively large student population, however, I must confess that I did not realize this when I was there, may be because I only stayed for one night and 2 half days and because there are many tourists around.

If until few years ago Veliko Tarnovo was pretty much unknown to the masses and only backpackers knew about it, things have now changed. There is a also a relatively large population of expats, with a good percentage of Brits.

I arrived there from Sofia, we drove early in the morning since I was staying in Bulgaria with local friends and my boyfriend and we went out partying until 6am and then drove to Veliko Tarnovo! I slept in the car, then we arrived there and we went to sleep in the house of the parents of one of our group.

We kind of woke up in the late afternoon and set to explore the city, or better, to show me the city, since everyone else including my boyfriend had already been there before.

It is very easy to go around the city, since there are only 2 roads, and they follow the river Yantra. I hear that in winter or autumn it can be sometime foggy, but when I was there it was a fine day.

The main attraction is the fortress, you cannot miss it, but if you face yourself towards the flow of the river, you will find it at the end of it.

Part of the original structure is now lost, there are crumbling walls and great views. As I said, there are now many tourists flocking to this city but there are no guided tours in English. What stroke me the most was the remains of the Palace of the Kings, which in the old days must have been a huge area.

Back to the oldtown, we wandered around the area of Samovodoska Chursh (by the way, there are quite a few churches to be seen and an Archeological museum) and we entered few of the shops selling books or antiques. Most of the shops are now modern and stuff speak decent English.

I was still a bit tired because we had not slept the night before, but that was the only night in town, so we had to make the most of it.

We had dinner at Restaurant Rich, a medium sized place whith a great view on the valley and the river. It is better to reserve even during the week. We had done so from Sofia and we were happy we did, because otherwise it would not have been possible to have a seat for a party of 7 as we were.

After that, it was party time!

We joined a group of local guys in their 30s. Salaries are very low in Bulgaria, but people seem to have money to spend and to dress well, particularly women.

We did a bit of Pub crawl, I do not remember the name of the places we went to, and then around 2 pm we headed for Spyder Nightclub.

Unfortunately I was really tired and so was my boyfriend, but the local crowd was clearly there to have a good time. Unfortunately we had not reserved a table at the club, and it was quite packed, so we had to stand all the time.

At 3.30 I threw the towel and I went back home. Taxis are extremely cheap by UK standards, however, if you are not with locals they will try to rip you off with the "minimum night fare" 10 levas (around 4.50 Pounds) Since there are plenty of them, make sure you point your fingers to the meter and make sure it works. If you want to ask why it is not working (the meter) just say "ne rabotia?" (Is it not working?) and they will turn it on for you.

The day after, was spent in bed, I woke up at 2pm, and we had to be back in Sofia in the evening, we took a bit of a detour to see a couple of villages on the way back, of which I do not recall the name.

If you have few days in Bulgaria, I really recommend you make Veliko Tarnovo your first port of call after Sofia (you cannot fly any closer than Sofia or Varna to Veliko Tarnovo)

Summary: Recommended