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24 hours in Plovdiv, Bulgaria

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Exploring the small streets and coffee shops in the Old Town

Plovdiv is a city we do not visit very often and I actually do not know why is that. It is close to Sofia; it is a wonderful city offering great opportunities for tourism but somehow we always pass by it. However, last weekend we decided to spend our weekend exactly there. Unfortunately, we had only 1 day and it proved completely not enough to explore and enjoy Plovdiv thoroughly.

Glavnata does not need any introduction. It stretches from the Trimontium hotel and the Central square through the ancient Roman stadium remains to the pedestrian bridge above Maritsa river in the north – almost 2 km. This long and wide street is full of shops, cafes, restaurants, fast foods, fresh points, even a theater. It also keeps the memories of thousands of local people and tourists – about wild nights in the clubs, or about calmer romantic nights, or even memoryless nights. Everyone who has ever visited Plovdiv has a memory about Glavnata. It has been the meeting point of Plovdiv people for decades and today it is still a lively place full of people and emotions every evening. In the summer evening Glavnata is particularly popular – even at 11 pm it is crowded with people of every age – from babies in strollers to old men and women. During summer days it is a little bit lonely because it is so hot that few people would dare to take the walk.

Glavnata is so famous that it has its own page in Wikipedia. It deserves is glory – not only because the memories and emotions it keeps, and not only for the numerous coffee shops and restaurants. Today’s pedestrian zone lies on the remains of the ancient Roman stadium. The stadium itself is a major attraction and a central part of Glavnata. Everyone interested in history and ancient culture can go down to the remains of the stadium, have a seat on the ancient benches, read about the story of this place and watch a movie projected down there. For the tired tourists there is a café just above the stadium where you can have a refreshing drink while enjoying this great site.

The Stadium of Trimontium in Plovdiv

Glavnata is also an open-air museum offering great views of the architecture of the 20th century. Most of the houses were built in the early 20th century and the architecture has elements of classicism, secession and postmodernism. Most of the buildings are now renovated and if you have some imagination you could successfully go back in time to the years when there were no phones, no internet, no cars, no TV and Glavnata was the only place for social and cultural life.

Glavnata is also a starting point to the other attractions of Plovdiv – the renovated art district of Kapana, The Old Town, Tsar Simeon’s garden, etc. But of you had the walk through Glavnata, you might be already hungry. So were we and we decided to find a nice restaurant to have lunch.

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Dzhumaya Mosque

Tourist guides strongly recommended Hemingway restaurant, located in the beginning of Glavnata, in front of the fountain. At first we did not like it and decided to look for another place. After a short walk we found ourselves behind the mosque in the lovely district Kapana (literally The Trap), with is a wonderful pedestrian zone with many bars, coffee shops and sweet houses. Restaurant “Amsterdam” is located just behind the mosque, almost on Glavnata but in Kapana at the same time. It is located on a quiet pedestrian street and offers a nice and interesting menu, different from the traditional menus in most Bulgarian restaurants which are mostly serving ready-to-cook food. It proved a delicious place with wonderful service and we had a long lunch before we continue our walk.

I could write and talk about Kapana a lot – maybe even more than about Glavnata, In 2013-2014 it was renovated and became the Kapana Creative District, hosting many art festivals and workshops. Once Kapana was neglected and full of cars but today it is a lovely pedestrian zone where you can have a quiet walk and even leave your kid play unattended.

You can hear many stories about Kapana from local people. Girls say that they often go to the shops in Kapana, like something, go back home to take money and then they cannot find the same shop anymore. This time we wanted to find a nice café to have a lemonade and coffee but there were so many nice places that we could not pick just one. First we had lemonade at a nice sweet house and then sat for a coffee in the neighbouring coffee shop advertising home-baked coffee. The coffee was really good, actually. On the second floor of the coffee shop there was an Armenian Culture center where you can probably sit and have your coffee in the winter among Armenian books and traditional garments.

Kapana catched us in its trap and we didn’t want to leave it for a long time. We shared the opinion that is looks like the Ukrainian city of Lviv and the Old Bazaar in Skopje – both places with a lot of energy and history.

I can write about Kapana more and more but no matter what I write, you should really go there and feel it. So let at least 30 minutes for a coffee there if you do not have much time.

The Old Town is one of the main attractions of Plovdiv, together with the Roman remains. It stretches on three of the hills in Plovdiv – Nebet Tepe, Dzhambas Tepe and Taksim Tepe. It is suggested that Plovdiv is one of the oldest cities in Europe, together with Troy and Mycenae, older than Rome and Athens. It is thought that people fisrt lived here 8000 years ago. In ancient times it was inhabited by the Traces who built a sanctuary there. The first fortress walls were built by Phillip II of Macedonia. From the Roman times are preserved many structures like the Roman Stadium, Roman Theater, ancient Forum. When Philip II invaded the city its name was changed to Philippopolis. The city was quite famous in the ancient world and the Greek writer Lucian called it “The largest and most beautiful of all cities”.

Archaeological works on Nebet Tepe

View from Nebet Tepe to Danov hill, Bunardzhika and the Youth hill

Today the ancient glory of Plovdiv lives next to the memories of other ages, most notably the times of the Bulgarian National revival in 19 ^th century. A notable part of today’s Old Town are exactly the houses with traditional Bulgarian architecture, bearing the spirit of the Liberation war (1876-1878) and the decades before it.

Едно от най-известните места в България, Хисар Капия, къщата на Димитър Георгиади и Куюмджиевата къща , Старият град на Пловдив

I can write a lot about the Old Plovdiv but it is again a place that needs to be visited and cannot be described thoroughly. To feel the atmosphere best you might want to stay in any of the numerous hostels in the Old Town. Plovdiv is maybe the city with most hostels in Bulgaria.

Tourists who are interested in such attractions need to let enough time, a day or even more, to explore the Old Plovdiv. One of the best ways to see the Old Town is taking the Free Plovdiv Tour. During our walk we met the group of tourists led by a nice girl a few times and she was always telling something very interesting about this beautiful place.

If you went to Plovdiv with a kid, one of the funniest places to take it is the Children Railway. The small train goes around the Youth hill on real rails, over bridges and under a tunnel. Once there were even real train stops where children could get on and off. Today there is just one station from where the train starts its journey. The ride lasts about ten minutes to Panorama stop and then turns back. Children’s songs are being played inside the cars and the kids are really enjoying the experience. The ticket is just 1 lv. (Google Maps)

Tired of walks, trains and coffees, we wanted to have a nice dinner in central Plovdiv. This time we decided to give a second chance to “Hemingway” and it did not disappoint us. It proved to be a wonderful restaurant with delicious meals and perfect service. And again located on a quiet pedestrian street where our daughter was playing free. Later we asked some friend to recommend a nice restaurant in Plovdiv and they recommended exactly “Hemingway”.
Another restaurant we wanted to try was Pavaj in Kapana district but we had no luck with it. In the evening there were no free tables and on Sunday morning it was closed.

If you have decided to visit Plovdiv as a tourist, you made the right choice. I would recommend you to allow enough time. Exploring the Old Town could take hours, Kapana too, especially if you are tired and want to just sit, drink beer or coffee and eat pie or pancakes. You will definitely get tired after passing by the whole length of Glavnata. Walking around the city you will definitely find many other interesting places so even if you stay there for a few days, you will not get bored.

So for your trip to Plovdiv take a few days, if possible. Another good feature of the city are the numerous hotels and hostels with very good prices. We stayed in a 4-star hotel near the city center for just 30 EUR a night for a double room. If you prefer a hostel, they are much cheaper and many of them are located just on Glavnata. If you are traveling by car you might not want to stay in the middle of the center because it is a pedestrian zone and you will have trouble parking. 

Какво четем:

🔴 Велко Кънев – любимецът! Спомняме си за рано отишлия си актьор, който днес щеше да навърши 68 г.

🔴 България е велика

🔴 Дават 900 лв на първите тризнаци в Стамболийски

Източник: andrey-andreev

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