Medieval capital on a clifftop — Bulgaria's most dramatic city
Veliko Tarnovo drapes itself across three hills above the Yantra River gorge in one of the most dramatic townscapes in Eastern Europe. The Tsarevets fortress — a medieval hilltop citadel that was the seat of the Second Bulgarian Empire — dominates the skyline, with the reconstructed Patriarchal Cathedral perched at its peak. Below it, the Asenova quarter's medieval churches cling to the river cliffs, and the old merchants' district of Samovodska Charshiya has artisan workshops still operating in Ottoman-era buildings.
Veliko Tarnovo was the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire from 1185 to 1393 — when the Tsar Asen II ruled here in the 13th century, Bulgaria controlled territory from the Black Sea to the Adriatic and its empire rivaled Byzantium. The city fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1393 after a three-month siege, and the Patriarch's Church on Tsarevets Hill was destroyed; its spectacular ruins and the nightly sound-and-light show projected on the fortress walls tell this story to visitors today.