One day in Bulgaria – 5 places you can visit

[:en]Ivanovo Monastery[:]

If you have a free day in Bucharest and you want to do something, explore new places, maybe one of the destinations below will make you go to Bulgaria.

Ruse

Ruse is an industrial city in northern Bulgaria, near the Danube River. Although the first impression you get is not the best because of the communist tower blocks, the downtown has a special vibe. A very large pedestrian center full of cafes, monuments, an underground church. Can you guess what we like the most here? Correct answer: food, traditional Bulgarian food.

It is the perfect place to discover and, why not, to fall in love with traditional Bulgarian food. The only downside is that we must fill our windscreen and pay each time the vignette worth 15 leva that is valid for a week if it wasn’t for that we would come more often. Our favorite restaurant we discovered because of a friend and we recommend it to you too is Chiflika, and if you want a real show order the Tarska spaga (the regal sword).

Basarabovo Monastery

With over 300 sanctums dug in cliffs in Bulgaria, only one is still functional. If you are curious to see how such a church looks, then you should visit the Basarabovo Monastery.
It is 80 km away from Bucharest, in the Basarabovo village, being visited by buses full of pilgrims, we were lucky we visit it between two such waves of people and were able to walk and discover this place in our own rhythm. It is a quiet, modest place on the banks of River Lom. What conquered our heart was a little kitten that we met here. PS. There is no entrance fee.

Ivanovo Monastery

The Ivanovo Stone Monastery differs from other churches due to the murals that have been preserved since the 14th century.

The same short trail that leads you to the monastery continues to the left to a panoramic point. In just 5 minutes, it opens up in front of your eyes a view to the surrounding green hills, with incredible.

Cerven Fortress

We arrived here right after sunrise, so we were the only people there and we could walk freely through every corner of the fortress.

The fortress is on the hill near the village Cerven and we left the foot of the hill where there is a parking lot and where we paid the entrance fee of 5 leva/person. And from here we went up the hill, on a path that snakes through the forest and with so many steps that we lost their number.

The fortress itself doesn’t differ much from any other fortress that we have visited so far. There have been dug up some defensive walls, houses, a church, and two towers. What is special about it, is the area where is located, having a view over the village, surrounding hills and to a canyon.

Hotnitsa Waterfall

The road to the waterfall was a real adventure because the wonderful Waze decided to surprise us and took us on a road that crossed through an active stone quarry. So be careful when you’re going to this waterfall to take the right road with impeccable asphalt. (because there is such a way). If you hit a concrete road, with pits and narrow, prepare yourself for an adventure. 😀

Hotnitsa Waterfall is a true oasis. Nothing prepares you for what you are about to see being “hidden” after a row of trees. But once you get to it, you’ll find out why it deserves your time. The waterfall is flowing into a small and light blue lake, making you wonder if it is real or not. (the color of the water is influenced by weather, if it rains that day the color will be brownish, due to alluviums).

After you’ve finished taking pictures, the gorge invites you to go through it. The entire trail is well-defined and is provided with steps and railing, to be easily accessible to anyone. You have about an hour or two to walk through it and then you go back the same way. We have not found an endpoint of the route, we got lost and decided we’ve seen enough: D.

Other places you can visit in Bulgaria:

What other destinations in Bulgaria would you recommend?

Adriana