{"id":7540,"date":"2020-04-28T23:55:59","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T23:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mircorp.com\/?p=7540"},"modified":"2021-04-23T14:04:00","modified_gmt":"2021-04-23T14:04:00","slug":"veliko-tarnovo-bulgaria-royally-remarkable-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mircorp.com\/veliko-tarnovo-bulgaria-royally-remarkable-town\/","title":{"rendered":"Veliko Tarnovo: Bulgaria\u2019s Royally Remarkable Town"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Bulgaria<\/a> might not be a country you typically associate with empire, but that\u2019s only if you don\u2019t know your swashbuckling, bloody, battle-hardened Bulgarian history. It\u2019s as packed with glory and tragedy as Game of Thrones<\/em>, but without the dragons. And Veliko Tarnovo is its epicenter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dancers in Bulgarian national dress in Veliko Tarnovo. Photo credit: Michel Behar<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Enjoy our travel guide to this singular city. From its history as the center of an empire, to its architectural masterpieces and its modern day markets, Veliko Tarnovo is unparalleled \u2013 and unknown to most travelers. <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Why You\u2019ll Love Veliko Tarnovo<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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When you walk the winding cobbled streets of the Old Town, overhung with timbered \u201cgossip rooms\u201d that nearly touch overhead, you find living evidence of the buoyant Bulgarian National Revival from the late 19th<\/sup> century.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Winding
Winding streets of the Old Town in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria. Photo credit: Martin Klimenta<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Make your way to the top of Tsaravets Hill, where the Bulgarian Tsars ruled the land from the Royal Fortress for hundreds of years<\/strong>, and feel history in your bones. Admire the modernist frescoes covering the interior of the reconstructed Patriarchal Cathedral, soaring majestically from the top of the hill, and take in the synthesis of old and new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Royal Fortress on Tsarevets Hill. Photo credit: Michel Behar<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Golden Era \u2013 The Rise and Fall of an Empire<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The First (7th<\/sup>-11th<\/sup> centuries) and Second (12th<\/sup>-14th<\/sup> centuries) Bulgarian Empires at certain times nearly covered the Balkan Peninsula from the Adriatic to the Black Sea. Battles with the Byzantines and various other principalities raged over the region for hundreds of years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tsaravets Hill in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria. Photo credit: Alexander Tour<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A golden era began in 1186, when Veliko Tarnovo was named the capital of the newly-declared Second Bulgarian Empire. By the 14th<\/sup> century<\/strong>, the apogee of the empire, the city was considered the \u201cNew Constantinople,\u201d and Bulgarian literature, art, and spiritual life flourished.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ottoman Turks laid siege to Tarnovo in 1393, bringing down the Bulgarian Empire and subjecting the country to 500 years of isolation and oppression.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Royal Fortress, Evocative Symbol of Bulgaria<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Up on Tsaravets Hill overlooking Veliko Tarnovo is the pride of the town, the Royal Fortress.<\/strong> Its powerful 11-foot-thick walls enclose the medieval inner city where the Royal Palace housed 22 successive Bulgarian tsars, and the Patriarch ruled over the Bulgarian Orthodox faithful from his nearby residence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Entrance
Entrance to the Royal Fortress on Tsaravets Hill. Photo credit: David W. Allen<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The ruins of hundreds of homes belonging to nobles and high-ranking citizens line the restored stone walls, and the spire of the reconstructed Patriarchal Cathedral crowns the summit of the hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Foundations of old merchants\u2019 and nobles\u2019 houses within the walls of the Royal Fortress. Photo credit: Liz Tollefson<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

From the 12th<\/sup> to the 14th<\/sup> centuries, when the Ottomans attacked it, the Second Bulgarian Empire\u2019s primary fortress was impregnable, and is still an evocative symbol of Bulgaria<\/a>. You can feel the pride that Bulgarians take in their fortress, even as you travel the rest of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n

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