Veliko Tarnovo: the tsars' capital perched above the Yantra

Veliko Tarnovo almost never appears in those European "things to do before you're thirty" itineraries, and yet one glance from the centre is enough to understand why it deserves a place on them. The city clings to three hills that the Yantra river has carved into narrow, deep bends, and the Ottoman houses seem stacked one on top of another, wooden balconies suspended over the void. The sunset light sets them ablaze in ochre and rust, and there is hardly anyone about.

The historic core is the fortress of Tsarevets, built on the hill of the same name and for centuries the seat of power when Veliko Tarnovo was the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire, in the Middle Ages. You climb on foot among walls, towers and the patriarchate at the top, from which your gaze takes in the whole valley. Do not expect crowds or queues: often you will walk the ramparts almost alone, with the wind and the sound of the river below as your only company.

Below the fortress lies Samovodska Charshia, the old craftsmen's street, where potters, blacksmiths and weavers still work in tiny workshops. It is worth stopping without haste, buying something directly from the maker and then seeking out a mehana for a bowl of tarator soup or a grilled meal, washed down with a red wine from the region. Prices remain low and the welcome is genuine, free of that tourist veneer that flattens everything elsewhere.

From here you can easily reach the museum village of Arbanasi, a few kilometres away, and the monasteries scattered among the hills. To truly enjoy it, it is best to move on foot and at a slow pace, to sleep in a family-run guesthouse and to give your own small contribution to a local economy that still lives by hands and crafts, not by mass flows.

How to get there

Veliko Tarnovo lies more or less equidistant from the airports of Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna, all a couple of hours or so away by road. Arriving by train, the reference railway hub is nearby Gorna Oryahovitsa, a few kilometres from the city, from which you continue by local bus or taxi. From Sofia there are also direct buses, and by car it is easily reached on the motorway.