..Oldest City in Europe..
Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second-biggest city is Europe’s oldest continuously inhabited settlement – over 8 thousand years old!
Habitation in the area can be traced back to the 6th millennium BC when the first Neolithic settlements were established. The city was subsequently a Thracian settlement, later being conquered and ruled also by Persians, Ancient Macedonians, Celts, Romans, Byzantines, Goths, Huns, Bulgarians, Thraco-Romans, Bulgars, Slavic tribes, Crusaders, and Ottoman Turks. (Wiki)
An interesting and complicated history of a city!
..European Capital of Culture..
Plovdiv was crowned the European Capital of Culture in 2019. Yes, some things have changed and not everything necessarily to the better since 2019 but the efforts which have been put into that year of cultural celebrations can still be seen and have left a lasting memory.
The old town within the inner wall of the city, which is high above the rest of the city, features the distinctive Bulgarian renaissance architectural style from days long gone.
To save taxes, which were based on the footprint of a house, the upper floors were built outwards. Apparently, for the too greedy houseowners this didn’t always work out well as it was not unknown for houses to collapse because of the heavy overhang!
In the area of Kapana, there’s still a lot of street art visible and art & craft shops and museums are plentiful!
Plovdiv also features many small and larger parks, often with lovely water features within them. The ‘Tsar Simeon Park’ designed by Swiss landscape architect Lucien Chevalas in 1892, which features the ‘Singing Fountain’ is a lovely place to sit, relax and eat ice cream!
Plovdiv is also known to be the city built on seven syenite hills. Because of these hills, Plovdiv is often referred to as the ‘City of the Seven Hills’.
..Politics..
And as we are here in Plovdiv, political parties are getting ready for the next general election, rallying for their candidates and policies. We have been told, this will be the sixth general election in 3 years!
Apparently, the coalition government of the corrupt lead party ruling together with the anti-corruption party didn’t work very well! So it was decided to have a fresh start!
Quotation of our tour guide Nenko: "On 01st January 2007 we woke up and couldn't believe it! We became a member of the European Union. How did this happen??
Never a dull moment here!…
..Roman Masterpieces..
But that’s not all Plovdiv has to offer!
The ancient Roman Stadium of Philippopolis (as it was called during the Roman imperial period) is dating back to the 2nd century AD and is a gigantic 250 meters long and 50 meters wide and had a capacity to accommodate 30,000 spectators (total population of Philippopolis was 60,000)!
The remains of this masterpiece of Roman construction can still be seen and adored now!
And, as we are talking about the Romans, there’s also the ancient theatre of Philippopolis, which is still now being used for concerts and other performances.
And if this isn’t impressive enough and nothing of the above has taken your fancy to head over to Plovdiv, what about strolling on the longest pedestrian street in a European city? 1,800 meters long – shopping & ice cream galore!...
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