In the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria

 “Travel does what good novelists also do to the life of every day, placing it like a picture in a frame or a gem in its setting, so that the intrinsic qualities are made more clear.”-- Freya Stark

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(in Bulgaria) One of Europe’s oldest inhabited cities, Plovdiv is the second largest city in Bulgaria. Inhabited since 4000 BCE., beginning with a Neolithic settlement, Plovdiv has been conquered many times throughout its history, including by the Greeks and the Romans, which is evident in the ancient ruins found across the city. Some of the highlights include the Ancient Stadium of Philippopolis (an old name for Plovdiv); the Roman Amphitheater, which still hosts major events; and the Ruins of Eumolpias, a Thracian settlement from 5000 BCE.

+ Found n the south-central part of the country, Plovdiv lies along the Maritsa River and is situated amid several hills that rise from the Thracian Plain to a height of 120 meters. Called Pulpudeva in Thracian times, it was renamed Philippopolis in 341 BCE after its conquest by Philip II of Macedonia. From 46 CE, it was called Trimontium and was the capital of the Roman province of Thrace. Plovdiv repeatedly changed hands during the Middle Ages until 1364, when it was taken by the Turks, who called it Philibé. After the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78), it became capital of Turkish Eastern Rumelia, which united with Bulgaria in 1885. (It officially assumed its present name after World War I.)

+ With an easy grace, modern Plovdiv mingles invigorating nightlife among millennia-old ruins. It is best loved for its romantic Old Town, packed with colorful 19th-century mansions that are now house-museums, galleries, and guesthouses. Yet, cobblestoned lanes and National Revival–era nostalgia are but part of the story. Plovdiv is the cultural capital of Bulgaria and was the European Capital of Culture in 2019. It is quite an important economic, transport, cultural, and educational center. (Plovdiv joined the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities in 2016.) Its music and art festivals draw increasing crowds, while renovations in the Kapana creative quarter and Tsar Simeon Gardens have given the city new confidence. Once an amiable waystation between Bulgaria and Greece or Turkey, the city has flowered into a destination in its own right -- and one that should be on any itinerary through central Bulgaria.

+ There are many preserved ruins such as the ancient Plovdiv Roman theater, a Roman odeon, a Roman aqueduct, the Plovdiv Roman Stadium, the archaeological complex Eirene, and others. Plovdiv is host to a variety of cultural events such as the International Fair Plovdiv, the international theatrical festival ("A stage on a crossroad"), the TV festival ("The golden chest"), and many more novel festivals, such as Night/Plovdiv in September, Kapana Fest, and Opera Open. The oldest American educational institution outside the United States, the American College of Sofia, was founded in Plovdiv in 1860 and later moved to Sofia.