Bulgaria
On our grand tour of Eastern Europe and the Balkans we headed to the historic national of Bulgaria that has the oldest name associated with a country in Europe that hasn’t changed since 681 AD. It’s a country with many UNESCO World Heritage Sites, amazing food and culture and natural beauty. The language and culture are very different than Romania, but the welcoming and friendly nature was still there!
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How to get to Bulgaria and Transportation
We visited the more rural Northern part of Bulgaria and arrived by river cruise on the Danube River. If you are in Romania, you could drive as there are two bridges over the Danube. The quickest way would of course be to fly to one of the four international airports. If you are coming from the United States, there are currently no direct flights from the US to Bulgaria. The major European airlines such as British Airways, Lufthansa, LOT Polish and low-cost airlines like Ryanair and Wizz air fly to the largest airport which is Vasil Levski Sofia Airport. The flag carrier of Bulgaria (Bulgaria Air), Middle Eastern airlines like Qatar and Turkish and smaller Eastern European airlines fly to Sofia (the capital of Bulgaria in the West of the country. Bulgaria has its state-run railroad that does go to surrounding nations but is said to be of slower speed than other nations but that is improving.
As for transportation, buses are heavily used and in Sofia there is a Subway System and trams. In the larger cities there are trolleys and city buses. I personally would book guided tours while in Bulgaria as they use the Cyrillic Alphabet that is very different from ours, but they do have English on many signs.
Ruse Transportation
Country Information
Bulgaria is a very old country that has been ruled by multiple different empires and nations. The Ottoman Empire of Turkey ruled Bulgaria for nearly 500 years, and they also were a Monarchy until the 1940s. Bulgaria was allied with Germany for much of World War II but switched sides in 1944. It became an Eastern Bloc Communist nation until Modern Bulgaria came into being in 1990. Bulgaria is a new member of the European Union and as of January 1st, 2026, it will be part of the Schengen Zone and part of NATO. When I visited in November of 2025, the currency was the Bulgarian Lev which as of that time 1 USD = 1.69 Lev. On January 1st, 2026, they will begin using the Euro. The language is Bulgarian that uses the Cyrillic Alphabet that differs from the Latin Alphabet. Countries like Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Serbia and others also use the Cyrillic Alphabet. English was widely spoken where we visited but some did not speak English we encountered. When we visited it was generally cool and rainy, but it was during the fall, and the weather will vary with warm and sunny summers and cold snowy winters. There are Black Sea resorts frequented during the summer. A peculiarity is in Bulgaria if someone shared their head side to side that means yes and a nod or shaking your head in a Yes motion for the West that is No. We found Bulgaria to be safe and crime in general is low with pick pocketing the main issue. Do be vigilant as normal but we had no issues in the areas we visited.
Kaloyanova Fortress
The first stop in Bulgaria was the Northern city of Ruse that is just across from Romania on the Danube River. Its Bulgaria’s largest city on the Danube at over 100,000 citizens and its architecture gives it the Nickname “Little Vience”. We drove through the city on the way to our first stop at Kaloyanova Fortress. While the name might sound like an old building its a modern event center that looks like a Medieval fortress in the time of Tsar Kaloyan (statue of him is in front of the fortress) who ruled Bulgaria in the 12th and 13th century. Inside it reminds me of a throne room. Inside we took a little time to try Bulgarian snacks, coffee and deserts. It was a nice and restful stop before we headed to our next stop.
Ruse Tour Options
Tours to Ruse from to Bucharest
Tsarevets Fortress -Крепост Царевец
We headed to the city of Veliko Tarnovo that is home of Tsarevets Fortress that was the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1393) and home to the Tzars of Bulgaria for several hundred years. It’s a sprawling fortress over hills and has steep Cliffs down to the Yantra River. It made it an imposing fortress and inside a second fortified area was the Royal Palace. A particular gruesome area is Execution Rock where people were pushed off a cliff to fall to their death. The fortress was besieged by the Ottomans for 3 months before it fell in 1393 which ushered in nearly 500 years of Ottoman rule. We didn’t have time to tour this massive fortress but we did learn about it and view it from the outside.
Old Town Veliko Tarnovo
After our visit to the fortress, we walked through the quaint and cobblestone streets of the old town. There were many great and unique shops that represented Bulgarian culture. We went into a shop that sold paintings of the area that an older couple ran. The husband and artist did not know English but still signed and drew a special drawing for us. Down from that was a traditional handmade wooden sculpture shop where the owner burned Bulgaria into some beautiful wooden cats for us. There were plenty of shops selling one of the big souvenirs representing Bulgaria, Rose Oil. From there we headed out to have a traditional Bulgarian Lunch!
Veliko Tarnovo Tours
Church of the Nativity of Christ
We headed back to the small city of Abranasi to visit a stunning church that is known by some at the “Sistine Chapel of the Balkans” due to its extensive frescos inside. From the outside it just looks like a humble and low building made from stone. It was built in stages from the 16th to the 17th century due to Ottoman rules keeping churches humbler than mosques. Inside it’s amazing and completely different than the outside. It is decorated from ceiling to floor with elaborate fresco paintings. It’s a large building inside and has famous paintings like “The Wheel of Life”. Pictures are strictly prohibited inside to protect the fragile frescos. We were very surprised at the beauty in this church that is now a museum.
Konstantsalieva House Museum
We walked over to our last stop in this region of Northern Bulgaria and that was to the Konstantsalieva House Museum. It’s a historic home that was built at the end of the 17th century and over many years was added on to. Inside it’s furnished with period furniture and you can tour its 2 stories. Having been to Istanbul and Kusadasi, we could see the Ottoman influence in the home with beds that reminded us of smaller versions of beds in Topkapi Palace. We also saw their interesting indoor toilets that were small triangle holes in the floor. There is a nice gift shop on the bottom floor and across the street you can taste the National drink Rakia that is strong and has a unique licorice flavor. After our time at the museum we headed back to our ship now docked in a different city. We passed through the nice Bulgarian countryside and headed up the Danube to our next stop in Bulgaria.
Vidin, Bulgaria
We headed up to the extreme Northwest portion of Bulgaria to visit the ancient city of Vidin. It is a city that has been around for nearly 3,000 years and has been a Celtic, Roman, Byzantine, Bulgarian and Ottoman city over the years. It’s not a large city with just over 30,000 people. At one point in its history, in medieval times it was its own state. It’s home to the only fully preserved Medieval fortress (once was the capital of the independent state) and just outside the city there are plenty of other amazing sites to see including a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Vidin Tours
Belogradchik Rock
Our first tour was to the natural wonder of Belogradchik Rocks and the fortress there. We woke up to a rather foggy day in the area and headed out to the rocks. The rocks are huge pillars of stone in interesting shapes atop a mountain. While not an official UNESCO World Heritage Site it is on a list to possibly become one in the future. It is also an ingenious fortress where they used the pillars that are impossible to climb and different levels of walls to make a very imposing defensive structure. It began its construction in stages starting with an outpost for the Romans all the way back in the 1st – 3rd centuries and then the Bulgarians and then the Ottomans built additional fortifications. There are three gates and three courtyards in the fortress. To get to the second and third gate you climb steep stairs. To the second gate you climb stairs carved into the rock. To get to the citadel you must climb steep metal stairs. Each stone pillar or rock has a name and a legend such as Madonna. The view is said to be amazing from the top!
The fortress has had its share of battle including an uprising by Bulgarians against the Ottomans that ended in many beheadings inside the fortress walls. The rocks have also been in a wide variety of movies, including a recent Netflix film called “Don’t Move”.
When we arrived, we visited the visitors center and watched a historic film about the site. From there we headed through the fog to the rocks. While the visibility was poor, it gave the rocks and fortress a very mythical or mysterious look to it. We climbed up to the second gate or fortress wall after exploring the first gate and courtyard. At the high second gate we explored the walls including gun ports and climbed some of the somewhat slippery rocks due to the fog. We unfortunately couldn’t see the gorgeous Balkans mountain rage views or the fall foliage but as I say in Travel “You win some and you lose some”. We have been places with rare, beautiful weather where the locals told us, “You are very lucky as this kind of weather never happens this time of year” and others like this time when the views just didn’t work out, but we still had an amazing time there and had a more mysterious view that was unique. We decided not to head to the very top up the steep stairs as we wanted to save our energy, so we headed down and saw a sculpture garden with the sculptor there and just outside the fortress we visited a few nice gift shops with unique gifts. After that we headed back through small towns down to our ship for lunch.
Baba Vida
In Vidin along the Danube is another historical marvel. The Baba Vida Fortress is another Fortress with a very long history having also spanned from the 1st century with the Romans, to the Royal Palace of the independent state, to an important fortress for Bulgarians that was besieged by the Byzantines, to Ottoman control and modern military use until it was preserved as a museum. It’s the only remaining fully preserved medieval fortress in Bulgaria and is in a nice park in the city today. We toured the fortress and could see stone cannon balls in the center. You can visit different rooms and chambers that have exhibits about the fortress and Bulgarian history throughout the years. It’s a nice and well-done exhibit. You can also climb a ramp to the top of the castle (can be a bit slippery) to see the great views of the Danube and the city. There are towers and everything else about what you would think of when visualizing a Medieval Castle. Outside the drawbridge moat there was a few souvenir shops open braving the misty and cold weather and the main visitors center had a nice shop open and had an ATM where I got some Bulgarian Levs for a souvenir before they are gone on January 1st, 2026. We had one last stop in Bulgaria to try something you don’t really think of Bulgaria having.
Dos Alamos Vineyard
The Vidin region is a wine making region with its mild climate and sandy fertile soil from the Danube makes for very balanced wines with grapes such as Rubin that is a Bulgarian variety of grape. The Dos Alamos Vineyard is a family run, local Vineyard that supports the small community outside of Vidin. We sat down at tables fashioned from wooden barrels and the owners told us the story about their Vineyard and Bulgarian wine. We had snacks to pair with the wine including Bulgarian cheese and olives. Their wines were not overly bitter due to the well-balanced taste. My parents don’t usually like wine but really liked the Bulgarian wines. We enjoyed our candlelight wine tasting at the Dos Alamos cellar and we recommend heading there for sure and getting some of their wine!
Leaving Bulgaria
After the vineyard we headed out of Bulgaria after visiting the Northern part of the country. Ruse is a large city but for the most part the Northern part of the country is beautiful countryside and quaint cities. The food we had there was all great and was influenced by a variety of cultures. We would like to visit the Capital of Bulgaria Sophia someday to see all there is to see in the more central region of Bulgaria. It didn’t take long to get to our next country in Eastern Europe as we were nearly to the border with Serbia as we left Vidin, Bulgaria!
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Sofia, Bulgaria Tour Options
