Plovdiv

As mentioned in my previous review of the tWHS of Plovdiv's Roman mosaics, that tWHS combined to this tWHS in my opinion would make more sense and would stand a better chance at getting inscribed as a positive cultural representation of a city with 8,000 years of history. I covered the Roman mosaics quite extensively in the review of Plovdiv's other tWHS. Instead, in this review I'll focus on the various Ottoman houses worth visiting and on the Church of St. Constantine and Helena and the Metropolitan Church of St. Marina.

The area around the remains of Nebet Tepe is very similar to Safranbolu, Turkey or Berat/Gyirokaster, Albania. I wasn't impressed so much by the restored exterior of the Ottoman houses but the interior of the Houses of Klianti, Hindlian, Balabanov, Nedkovich, Kuyumdhiev and Georgiadi in my opinion are worth their entrance tickets. The Nedokovich House is a Renaissance palazzo. The Georgiadi House houses the Museum of the Bulgarian National Revival. On each of its three floors, there are typical wood carved ceilings and closets, a-la-franca recesses and different colour designs in each room. Its exterior and its location were among my favourites in Plovdiv and warranted repeat visits at different times of the day.

In fact, the area surrounding the ancient gate to the fortress of Hisar Kapia is one of the most picturesque sites in Historic Plovdiv. Apart from the Georgiadi House, the other highlight of this ensemble is the Kuyumdzhiev House which houses the Etnographic …

Plovdiv is one of several cities that claim to be the world’s oldest. I visited Bulgaria’s second largest city before the community meeting 2018, covering a bunch of TWHS on the way. The Bachkovo Monastery, the Alexandrovo tomb, the Neolithic Dwellings in Stara Sagora and Kazanlak WHS are all close.

It’s certainly not the worst place in Bulgaria. The old town is small but very nice, with some traditional houses. The Roman theatre is still occasionally used for shows and theatre performances. The new town has a rather communist flair, but offers a good variety of restaurants and shops. Further, there is a second TWHS within the city, the Bishop's Basilica and Late-Antique Mosaics of Philippopolis. None of the sites is a real highlight, but the ensemble of sites at least justifies a visit to Plovdiv.

The town is best reached by car. It’s on the A1 between Sofia and Burgas.