Plovdiv is the second largest city in Bulgaria and is situated in a fertile plain. It boasts many industrial enterprises and cultural institutions, but of greater interest for tourists is the old part of the city, called The Three Hills, which has the status of a historical reservation. In Roman times The Three Hills were known as Trimontium. Few cities in Bulgaria possess such picturesque corners, preserved from the National Revival period. On both sides of the cobbled narrow streets rise the tall stone walls of old houses, painted housefronts, bay windows and vaults, eaves curved like yokes, massive wooden gates bound with large iron nails, stone walls and courtyards steeped in grass. Let us mention just a few of the architectural monuments which one should not miss: Lhe Kouyoumdjioglou House, in which the Ethnographic Museum is now housed, the Georgiadi House, the Alphonse de Lamartine House, the Nedkovich House, the churches of St Marina and St Nedelya with iconostases which are veritable masterpieces of the art of wood-carving. The Archaeological Museum contains valuable exhibits from the time of the Thracians, an ancient Hellas, from Roman Trimon- tium and from ancient Bulgarian culture. The well-known Panagyurishte Gold Treasure is kept here.
In the city there are several first-class hotels:
Trimontium, Maritsa, Bulgaria and Trakia, with over 1,000 beds in all. Maritsa Motel is situated on the E-5 Highway, 9 km west of the city, and Chaya Camp Site is 11 km to the east of it ephesus daily tour.
ZHERAVNA
Not far from Kotel (about 18 km) in the mountains is situated the well-known village of Zheravna which is renowned as a museum of Bulgarian architecture. Its wooden houses have broad eaves, high stone walls with heavy iron-bound gates. In the street rapid streamlets flow through the grass growing there. The village was founded at the beginning of Ottoman rule – about the 14th century. In the 17th-19th centuries the population's livelihood was stockbreeding, mainly sheepbreeding, and the crafts. The spacious and impressive wooden houses date from that period. The inner walls of the rooms are decorated with wood carvings and are furnished with gaily coloured carpets and tufted rugs.
An exceedingly interesting house dating from the 17th century is the one in which Sava Filaretov, a Bulgarian enlightener from the National Revival period, was born. The house has a wide open terrace and a very interesting living room with a wood-carved ceiling, representing the sun. The house in which the great Bulgarian writer Yordan Yovkov was born is in Zheravna. It has been turned into a museum.
To reach Zheravna one takes the road to Kotel and at the 32nd kilometre continues along the sideroad leading to the village, which is 6 km away.
VELIKO TURNOVO
This is a town in which every corner recalls the glorious past of Bulgaria. A capital of the Second Bulgarian State (1187- 1396), the town was surrounded with powerful, tall fortress walls with towers and embrasures which reinforced still further its natural inaccessibflity. On Tsarevets Hill nowadays stand the ruins of the former royal palaces, fortress walls with tall fighting towers and the once impressive building of the Patriarchate and of several churches; on Trapezitsa Hill one can see the ruins of the boyar palaces and of more than 17 mediaeval churches, and on Sveta Gora Hill was the famous Turnovo Literary School — it was here that gospels were ;copied, Bulgarian icon-painters were trained, etc. The old Turnovo houses stand as if perching one above the other on the slopes of the Yantra River, lending the town a unique fascination. Worth visiting is the Archaeological Museum, the Museum of Bulgaria's National Revival, which is housed in the building of Nikoli Han, a building erected by the talented mas ter builder from the National Revival period, Kolyo Ficheto; and do not fail to peep into the old Church of the Forty Holy Martyrs, where there are unique stone inscriptions from the time of Khan Omourtag, King Ivan Assen and others.
From Veliko Turnovo one can visit the historical village of Arbanassi, which is also an architectural museum where the visitor can find several old churches, monasteries and houses. In the Preobrazhenski (Transfiguration) Monastery, there are well-preserved frescoes and icons done by the famous Bulgarian icon-painter Zahari Zograph. 18 km north of Veliko Turnovo, Veliko Turnovo Bozhentsi near the present-day village of Nikyup, lie the ruins of the ancient Roman town of Nicopolis ad lstrum.
In Veliko Turnovo tourists may stay at the leading hotels Yantra (1st class, 171 beds) with restaurant and Etur (1st class, 243 beds) with restaurant, or Trapezitsa (3rd class with 50 beds), and Orbita (3rd class) with restaurant. At the entrance to the town, coming from Sofia, is the Bolyarski Stan Gamp Site and on Sveta Gora Hill — a motel of the same name with 100 beds and bungalows for 100 more.
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