A Tour of VELIKO TARNOVO, BULGARIA; Is it Worth Visiting?

Hey there, how's it going? A nice day here in Veliko Tarnovo, which I know I'm not saying exactly right, but if you saw my last video then you'll know that that is getting better at least. And I'm now going to walk towards the castle, which I forget how to say that. It's like Sarrets or something like that. It's like a 15-minute walk up this way. Nice day for a walk. I've been here for a few days. Really cool town. There's a nice market back down that way, and so I'm going to go visit the castle first. It's like three in the afternoon, and then I'll head back and see a bit more of the town and see if that market is happening. Give you a taste of Veliko Tarnovo. It's a Saturday and a lot of people out and about today. Live jazz. Red Hot Chili Peppers. No way. On the 7th of March at nine o'clock. What the hell? That's like either today or tomorrow. I can't believe the Red Hot Chili Peppers are playing here. It might be the day. It's either the 7th or the 8th or the 9th, I think, so I'll have to check that out. And so I just remembered I think it's like the 11th of March, so too late for the Chili Peppers. That would have been really cool. All right, now I've got to figure out if the castle is straight on this way or down that way. What a perfect Saturday in March. It is warm, man, for still being winter. I think I'll just walk on this way and it looks like a nice walking street here. Classic cobblestone. Strange looking creature there. Wow, this is really nice indeed. Okay, Tsarevets. That's what I was trying to say. The castle. And there it is. Wow, that is quite a sight. And so I can see from here what I gotta do. Looks like I gotta walk down that way and it'll curve around and then there's a road there and that goes right into the castle. So I guess I was supposed to take the right hand junction. But anyway, this should get me there. And so you can see there the Bulgarian letters. It's Cyrillic. The script that they use is the same as the Russian script with some letters that are similar or the same as the Roman alphabet. However, that doesn't mean that they have the same sounds. You can see they're M-A-H-B-O, but they won't necessarily be the same sounds that go with the letter. Whoa, almost missed this one. And so this is actually a separate thing right there from the Tsarevets castle. Looks like I won't be able to get right there. Tickets are six Bulgarian lev, which is about four dollars. Drone up there. That would be cool to see some shots from up high. Pretty cool, this narrow little ridge looking down at a river on both sides. Here's a map of the entire area. That is that other little section that is separated by the rivers or river. Oh, this is the same river even on this side. Check that out. It just totally wraps around. And so I guess I'm right there. And so this was the royal palace, a fortress for the Bulgarian royal family, the, you know, king and queen of the Bulgarian empire from the 12th to the 14th centuries. And so I was just thinking about those dates of the castle here being abandoned, I guess, in the 1300s, the late 1300s. That is around the time period that the Ottomans took over this area. And so my, you know, history of the Bulgarian empire and everything is practically non-existent. But that seems to make sense, that that would be the reason that it was no longer the Bulgarian royal family's residence at that time, because the Ottomans must have come during that time period and taken over. Because otherwise, why would they abandon it in the 1300s after only 200 years? You know, castles weren't outdated in the 1300s. And so that must be the reason why it was only the Bulgarian royal family residence for 200 years, because it's obviously still in perfectly good condition. From 1185 to two centuries, it was the center of spiritual and political life of the second Bulgarian kingdom. Archaeological studies have revealed the remains of 470 residential buildings, public buildings, 23 churches and four monasteries. The palace of the Bulgarian kings and the patriarchal complex are situated in the central part of the fortress. The patriarchal church of the Ascension, which is located on the highest point of Zarevets Hill, was destroyed during the conquest of Ternovo by the Turks in 1393. The Turks, 1393, the Ottomans. Monumental contemporary murals represent the rise of the political and cultural developments of medieval Bulgaria. And so the guy that was also talking about the cliff of death, which I guess is on the back side over here, and it was where executions were held. A big massive cliff, I guess, going down to that river there, and it pushed people off it. And so that is showing what this would have looked like. That little church was right there. The river snaking around that hill and then around like this. What an amazing sight. Really captures the life that you would have lived here at that time. Mountains and with knights and castles and public executions. I'm not sure where that cliff of death was. Didn't see any other signs about it. No doing yoga on the wall. Okay. All right, well, I'm going to head back into town and go look at that market area, see if it's happening today on a Saturday afternoon. Veliko Tarnovo is definitely an amazing spot worth a visit, that's for sure. And so check this out. This is a map of the Bulgarian Empire. Here's Greece, Bucharest, Romania, Belgrade. That is Serbia. And so this is showing the old boundaries of the Bulgarian Empire. See right there, it says 927 jar. I think that means the year 927. Yeah, that's what I thought, because I saw this 927 is the same as Simeon the Great, so he was the last king. No, it's not the last king. One of the kings. This is the only great king of Bulgaria, Simeon the Great. I see, I see. Yes, and now the border is like this. Yeah, because you have Bucharest, Belgrade is Serbia. Belgrade has been Bulgarian much longer than Serbia. I see. It's the capital of Serbia. Yeah. This is the ethnic borders of Bulgaria. Without Serbia, this is our ethnic borders. That's why Serbia was not actually part of Bulgaria, I see. Wow, really fascinating. And this is Turkey. This is Turkey now. Today, this border is very, very old. More than 1,000 years. You're from Veliko Tarnovo? Ah, I'm going to Varna tomorrow, I think. What's your name? My name is Rossen. Rossen. Can I ask you... You're from? United States. I've been there five months in Texas. I've been to Austin. Can I ask you, how do you say hello in Bulgarian? Yeah, it's hard to say. Because health is zdrave. Be healthy. Ah, okay. I see. And thank you? Oh, you can say it in French. I see. Cool. Cool. Thank you so much. Have a nice day. And so this is that market area. Not as happening as it was when I was here before. And then down here is a grocery store that I went to a couple of days ago and did a bunch of shopping for breakfast stuff. CBA. There it is. Back in there. Alright, so that is Veliko Tarnovo. Cool town. Great place to stop for a couple of days. Stay tuned. Tomorrow going to Varna on the Black Sea. See ya.