Alex Bivol takes a Danubian road trip from Vidin to Silistra

Having crossed the Danube dozens of times, the mighty expanse of water long ago became just another marker of progress on my travels hither and there. Sure, its beauty has long been sung in verse, prose and music – even if its waves are no longer quite as blue as Strauss would have us believe. But after some time, it ceases to amaze and just slots back into the background, which clearly does not do it any justice.
So how does one go about seeing all the sights that the Danube River and its valley have to offer without embarking on an expensive cruise that the fall of the Iron Curtain made possible and that carry tens of thousands up and down the river every year? A good place to start would be clearing one's schedule for a week, making sure that one has enough time, as my research for a Danube-themed road trip shows.

From Vidin, ho!
Vidin, 150km north of Sofia and some 20km from where the borders of Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia meet, is the natural place to start. Getting there from Sofia takes a little longer, however, since one has to take a detour through Lom to avoid a tricky stretch on the E79 European motorway after Dimovo. Of course, this means that the first encounter with the river starts a bit earlier than thought, and the first stretch of the journey that I have planned would be against the flow of the river. If you have never been there, another small detour to the rock outcroppings and fortress of Belogradchik, open every day, is fully worth the time spent on it. Should you do choose to do so, chances are you will arrive in Vidin just before dinner.
Vidin itself has not taken well to the changes that followed the fall of communism, I hear, but its impressive Baba Vida castle, the only fully preserved mediaeval fortification in Bulgaria, is reason enough to drop by. Also known as Babini Vidini Kuli (the Towers of Grandmother Vida), it dates back to the Roman era, although it was built up and extended to its current size by the end of the 14th century, when it became the last Bulgarian town to fall to Ottoman rule. The fortress walls that surrounded it (Kaleto) have been destroyed, but most of its gates still stand in the park that separate the old town from the rest of the city. The castle has been turned into a museum and can be visited daily. Other places of interest include Krustata Kazarma, an 18th-century barracks shaped like a cross; a mosque and library dating back to the came time, built by Ottoman governor Osman Pazvantoglu, who often raided what is now southern Romania and is still remembered in Romanian folklore as Pazvante; the Saint Dimitar cathedral, the second largest in Bulgaria; the ruins of the synagogue, now being restored; and, of course, the park sprawled on the Danube's bank.
Accommodations can be found in the town itself, with three-star hotels charging 25-35 euro a night and family hotels ranging from 15 to 30 leva a person, but villas in the villages near Vidin also offer plenty of opportunities for rural tourism. Silky Holidays offers a week-long tour of the Vidin region with stops in Vratsa, Chiprovtsi, Chouprene, Belogradchik, Magura Peshtera (cave), Vidin and Bozhouritsa from spring until autumn. Prices range from 290 euro a person for groups of eight to 361 euro a person for groups of five.
The next leg takes me to Svishtov, passing along the way through Kozlodui, best known for its nuclear power plant; Nikopol, the last seat of Bulgarian tsar Ivan Shishman, conquered by the Ottomans in 1393, and the site of the last major Crusade three years later, which saw sultan Bayezid I defeat a joint force of Hungarian, French, German and English knights; and Belene, the future location of another nuclear power plant, but also of Belene Island, which forms the bulk of the Persina natural park along the Danube.

On to Svishtov
At just more than 250km from both Sofia and Varna, about 80km north-west of Veliko Turnovo, Svishtov a small but vibrant town that boasts a long history, all thanks to its location on the southernmost bend of the river. Emperor Vespasian chose the place for the Legio I Italica and the ruins of its fortified camp (castrum) and the town of Novae can still be seen near Svishtov, but the town itself is not built on Roman ruins. A small academic town, it is the home of the first Bulgarian chitalishte (a library that doubles as a community centre), built in 1856, and several churches, including the Saint Dimitar dating back to the 16th century and the St St Peter and Pavel church from the 17th century. It is also the birthplace of Aleko Konstantinov, the writer credited with introducing organised tourism to Bulgaria in the late 19th century, when he founded the first tourism society, and the creator of Bai Ganyo, the most famous fictional Bulgarian.
Svishtov goes quiet in summer, when up to a third of its residents leave after the end of the academic year, but by no means does it lock down once the students are gone – there are still things one can do here during those months. Just several kilometres south-east of the town is a small monastery, the Uspenie Bogorodechno (Assumption of the Holy Mother) – although it hardly holds a candle to the bigger monasteries Bulgaria is known for. The Manastira Hotel next to it looks like a good place to stop over for a day or two. In addition to the traditional mehana and its own wine cellar, as is to be expected in one of Bulgaria's bigger wine-growing regions, it even boasts a conference centre and offers preferential prices for river trips on the Danube. Three different one-day trips are available – to the Persina natural park, along the smaller Danube islands and to the Pametnitsite area, where Russian troops crossed the river in 1877 during the war that led to Bulgaria's liberation from the Ottoman Empire. Special trips with wine tastings or picnics in the Persina park can also be arranged. The hotel has only 13 rooms and apartments, so making reservations well in advance would be a wise precaution.
If my summer Danube-themed trip takes me to Svishtov at the end of June, an additional treat awaits me, since the town will host what is branded as the first European festival of Rome – for three days, members of 18 historical re-creation organisations from 14 countries, including Italy, Hungary, Germany, Spain, the United States and Bulgaria, will converge here to re-enact the life of a Roman border town. A total of 250 Roman legionaries and more than 120 locally recruited extras will take over down town Svishtov, milling around in the slave market, performing Roman dances, celebrating a Roman wedding and parading in full legion colours. The staple of Roman entertainment – gladiator fights – are also scheduled, every day as a matter of fact, since it would hardly feel like a proper re-creation without them. Every day, the legionaries will also battle 300 barbarians, surely an sight unspoiled even by the knowledge that the outcome has been decided in advance – barring any surprises, the legion will march in triumph to wrap up the festival. The event is organised by Legio I Italica historic re-creation society from Italy and Svishtov municipality on June 27 to 29.

Down the river to Rousse
Some 50km downstream from Svishtov is Rousse, once Bulgaria's largest town and another settlement that rose to prominence in Roman times as part of the empire's defences against its unruly neighbours. Destroyed and rebuilt on several occasions throughout history, it is now well-known for its mix of 19th- and 20th-century neo-Baroque, neo-Rococo and neo-Classicist architecture, which earned it the description of a "small Vienna" in the first half of the 20th century. My planned sightseeing tour of Rousse includes landmarks like the Dohodno Zdanie Theatre and Concert Hall, built in 1898/1902 to provide additional revenues to the local education board and restored recently; the monument of freedom, raised to commemorate liberation from the Ottoman Empire; the Pantheon of national revival, the final resting place to 39 famous Bulgarians, many of whom played a key role in the fight against Ottoman rule; a walk on the Danube embankment; and the television tower, which at 201m is the tallest in Bulgaria and one of the tallest on the Balkans. A rather sedate plan worth of a day's leisurely stroll.
In fact, thousands of tourists from Romania made the trip across the river last year, taking advantage of the eased requirements to enter Bulgaria and the fact that Bucharest is only an hour-and-a-half's drive away, spending the day sightseeing and shopping. The town also offers an adequate supply of overnight lodging, especially if one wants to sample the nightlife, which is described as quite lively.
What makes Rousse such an interesting destination, however, are the numerous fascinating sights that are located nearby. Just south of the town is the 3400ha Roussenski Lom natural park, named after the river that passes through it and flows into the Danube in Rousse itself. The park is one of the few remaining wildlife preserves in the Danube plain, and offers plenty of things to see and do for tourists. The canyons of Roussenski Lom are a perfect setting for a canoe trip – European Union funding has been allocated to set up the necessary infrastructure, which according to reports became operational last summer, although I could find no information about it online. Perhaps a visit to the tourist information centre in the village of Ivanovo, 15km south of Rousse, will clear up matters.

From Ivanovo forward
Ivanovo is on my travel map anyway, for its network of churches and monasteries hewn into the rocks that overlook the Roussenski Lom. Founded around 1220, it flourished over the next century and a half, largely due to its ties to the Bulgarian royal court in Veliko Turnovo. At its peak, it is believed to have had around 40 churches and chapels, housing 300 monks, many of them anchorites that found the rock cells a fitting setting to pursue a closer relationship with the divine through constant prayer. In five of the surviving churches, mediaeval frescoes dating back to the 13th and 14th century can still be seen and the entire complex is a Unesco world heritage site. The rock-hewn chapels are no longer used by monks and the complex is nowadays a tourist attraction mainly, easily accessible via a road from the village of Ivanovo.
Not as well known as its neighbour, the Bassarbovo monastery some seven kilometres south of Rousse dates back to the same period and still serves as a place of worship – the last remaining rock-hewn church in Bulgaria where religious services are held regularly. Its name comes from Basarab I, founder of Wallachia and father-in-law to Bulgarian king Ivan Alexander in the 14th century. It was also the abode of Saint Dimitur Bessarbovski, who is known in Romania as St Dimitrie cel Nou ("the new one"), the patron saint of Bucharest since his remains, reported to have healing powers, were taken there in the 18th century. The monastery was partially restored in the 20th century, when it was outfitted with a new iconostasis of the saint and a museum in the ossuary, and more rebuilding has been carried out in recent years, to repair the damages wrought by the sporadic floods of the Roussenski Lom.
Upstream on the river, before the Cherni Lom (Black Lom) and Beli Lom (White Lom) combine to form the Roussenski Lom proper, are the villages of Nisovo, Tabachka, Cherven and Pepelina. In Nisovo, where Malki Lom (Small Lom) flows into the Beli Lom, there are several walking routes that showcase the beauty of the natural park; near Pepelina lies the Orlova Chouka cave, Bulgaria's second longest at more than 13.4km, although only 870m can be seen by tourists every day from 9am to 5pm; overlooking Cherven from the top of massive limestone cliffs are the ruins of the mediaeval fortress, the seat of a mediaeval Bulgarian bishopric, which guarded the key trade route from the Danube to the Stara Planina range in the 13th and 14th centuries, where the remains of the inner city, the feudal palace, a guard tower and 13 churches can be seen. All of these can be easily reached from Rousse, but for those that seek a combination of rustic charm and modern facilities accommodations are also available in the nearby villages of Tabachka (Villa Hristo Karachorov) and Bozhichen (Villas Bozhichen, Bozheniya and Valdes), with prices in the 10 to 25 euro range. Buses from Rousse and back are circulating throughout the day.

Celtic-Turkish Silistra
Some 120km east of Rousse, the Danube leaves Bulgaria at Silistra, yet another town that owes its existence to the Danube, having been settled by Celts as Durostorum. Romans built it up in the first century CE and it became an important part of the empire's defences on the Danube, growing into a city by the reign of Marcus Aurelius in mid-second century. After Bulgarians settled south of the Danube, it became a key fortification with control over it sought by both Bulgarians and Byzantines, but also Svyatoslav I of Kiev in the second half of the 10th century. Through centuries of Bulgarian, Byzantine and Ottoman rule, it remained one of the biggest and most important towns in the lower course of the Danube, which was constantly fortified, most recently in the 19th century with the Medjidi Tabia Fortress south of the town, which still stands. Roman ruins, including a basilica and burial chamber can be seen in down town Silistra. Next to the ruins is the large town park, which follows the flow of the river.
Some 15km west of Silistra is another Unesco world heritage site – the Sreburna nature reserve, spreading over 600ha around the eponymous lake. One legend claims its name comes from Khan Srebroun, or Srebrist perhaps, slain in battle on its shores. Another hints at a boatload of silver hidden somewhere under its waters. But the most romantic, and probably closest to truth, is that moonlight reflected on its waters makes them appear as if wrought from sterling silver. The reserve is located on the Via Pontica bird migration route between Europe and Africa. Its museum can be visited from May to end-September, 8am to noon and 2pm to 6pm, where one can watch the images of nesting pelicans broadcast from a camera in the heart of the swamp. A walking route around the reserve has observations points for bird-watchers.
Finding accommodation in Silistra appears easy, if one is willing to pay for four-star service – Danube Hotels & Resorts charges 41 euro for a single room and 72 euro for a double, while Drustur Hotel in the city park does not quote prices on its website. Both hotels offer private tours of the river, the first by boat and the second by plane. Smaller hotels in and around the town, like Hotel Zlatna Dobrudja (25 euro for single room, 45 euro for three-bed room), offer a more affordable alternative. Staying overnight in Silistra looks the wiser option, since the drive back to Sofia is about 440km, but Varna is just 145km due south-east, in case you plan to cap the Danube trip with a day or two at the beach, like I do.

Information Guide
Baba Vida castle
Open daily from 8.30am to 5pm on weekdays, 10am to 5pm on weekends.

Silky Holidays
Tel: 02/ 962 22 13; silkyholidays.com
Week-long tour of the Vidin region. Prices start at 290 euro a person.

Hotel Complex Manastira Svishtov
Two kilometres south-east of Svishtov
Tel: 087/ 831 67 02, 089/ 682 87 48; manastira.com
Room prices from 23 to 55 euro

European festival of Rome
Re-enact the life of a Roman border town
June 27 to 29

Orlova Chouka cave
Tel: 082/ 825 002 (Rousse Regional History Museum)

Villa Hristo Karachorov
14 N Palaouzov Str, Tabachka
Tel: 0815/ 6256, 089/ 795 75 74, 089/ 991 81 15

Villa Bozhichen
Bozhichen, Ivanovo municipality
Tel: 08116/ 2845, 082/ 278 465

Park Centre Bozheniya
13 Rila Str, Bozhichen, Ivanovo municipality
Tel: 08116/ 2845, 088/ 722 08 81; 0886 844075; bojenia.com

Medjidi Tabia Fortress
medjiditabiq.hit.bg

Sreburna Nature Reserve Museum
Open: May to end-September, 8.00-12.00 and 14.00-18.00

Danube Hotel & Resorts
Silistra
Tel: 086/ 877 700; danube-hotel.com
41 euro for a single room and 72 euro for a double

Zlatna Dobrudja Hotel Complex
1 Dobroudja Str, Silistra
Tel: 086/ 821 357; tour-istar.domino.bg
25 euro for single room, 45 euro for three-bed room

Source: Month2Come