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Plovdiv and Central Bulgaria |
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Bulgarian regions are diverse in character. Plovdiv and Central Bulgaria shows another beautiful face of the country. Plovdiv was first founded in 432 BC and is the second-largest city in Bulgaria. This museum town is split by the Maritsa River and has an old quarter section and the new commercial section. The old part consists of many buildings dating from 18th and 19th-Century Bulgaria and some going back even earlier, many in typical "Bulgarian Renaissance" style. 
| If you walk along the narrow cobbled streets you will see Roman ruins, including an impressive amphitheater. The picturesque medieval houses and 17th-Century buildings with their upper sections hanging over the street almost touch those opposite them.
The archaeological Museum has an array of gold Thracian artifacts and the Ethnographic Museum is also worth a visit. Also worth a view are the churches of St Marina and St Constantine & Helen.
|  | About 8 km from Plovdiv is the Batchkovo Monastery from the 11th-Century. It has some rare frescoes, icons, manuscripts and coins used at the time. Batchkovo is situated within the area known as Thrace which encompasses part of the Rhodope Mountains. Many items of archaeological interest have been discovered here including the now famous Thracian gold treasures.
|  | Kazanlak. a town with a Museum of Rose Production and is the mainstay of Bulgaria's export of roses. The valley of itself has many archaeological and historic treasures including Greek, Roman, Thracian and Ottoman.
Veliko Tarnovo, a treasured ancient capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire is another museum town. It is placed on three hills surrounded by the River Yantra. It also contains astonishing collections of historic works of art, including church relics. The town has fine examples of houses built in the "Renaissance" style many of which were designed by a master builder called Kolyo Phicheto. The buildings appear to sprout out of the steep slopes either side of the river. The Preobrazhenski Monastery is close,as is the open-air folk museum at Etar, close to the town of Gabrovo.
|  | The picturesque village of Arbanassi holds a museum located 4km from Veliko Turnovo. This is wealthy merchants' settlement established between the 16th and 18th-Centuries and is noted for its stone-built houses. It also has two monasteries called St Nikola and Holy Virgin. Not to be missed are the beautiful murals of the St Elija Chapel.
8 km northwest of Plovdiv is the museum town of Koprivshtitsa being one of Bulgaria's best-preserved towns. This town may well be best known for its Great Koprivshtitsa Folklore Festival which is held every four years. Other museum towns to the east of Plovdiv include Tryavna, again with many examples of houses in the "Renaissance" style.
The place called Kotel which is found in a small valley in the Balkan mountains is famous as a center for carpet making and although a good tourist attraction remain unspoilt by this fact.
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