Veliko Tarnovo
A visit to Veliko Tarnovo is a lifetime memorable experience you will never regret. Veliko Tarnovo is a very old indeed and is one of the most ancient Bulgarian towns. The city is rich for its amazingly beautiful panorama as well as for its interesting cultural and historical monuments and facts. You will be amazed by the tremendous beauty and splendour of the town.
Veliko Tarnovo is a place under the sun where the future meets up with the past and they work together as a team to build up the present. As the town is linked with the past there are lots of remarkable architectural monuments. The adoption of the first Bulgarian constitution in 1814 and the second Bulgarian Kingdom's apogee in the 12th and 13th centuries AD - all took place here and that's why it is so popular and every Bulgarian knows in details its history. Here is the cradle of the Bulgarian spirit and self-conscience. During the 15th-19th centuries Tarnovo was a leading centre of the cultural independence campaign as well as a stronghold of the Bulgarian national spirit.
After the liberation from ottoman domination (in 1877)the town used to be an important administrative, trade and industrial centre until the cruel wars in 1912-1913 and 1915-1918. Tarnovo played a significant role in the political, administrative and cultural formation of independent Bulgaria. The 1st, the 3rd, the 4th and the 5th Grand National Assemblies were all held in Veliko Tarnovo- that happened in 1879, 1887 and 1911. Nowadays all travellers describe Veliko Tarnovo as the most beautiful town in Bulgaria and they have a reason for saying so, as the town has it all.
Things to do
There are lots of things to do and see in Veliko Tarnovo here is just a few:
-Tzarevets - a historical hill of 12 hectares in the eastern part of Veliko Turnovo,Here you will See Palace Tazarevts the place from where Bulgaria was ruled while Veliko Turnovo was the capital of the country. From there you can see the whole city. The view from the hill is incredible - you must see it with your own eyes! In the summer this is the place where you can see the spectacle "Sound and light".
-Veliko Tarnovo is known as the "City of Tsars", and the fortress above the town is a reminder that Veliko Turnovo was the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire, between 1185-1396
-Take a walk around the cute little streets in the old town
-Monument of the Assens This huge monument commemorates the founders of the second Bulgarian Empire, the brothers Assen and Petar aswell as 2 of their successors, Next to the monument sits the large State Art Museum
-For small shops of local artisans and craftsmen, go to the ul Rakovski and the adjacent Samovodska Charshiya Complex.
