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Plovdiv walking tour

Plovdiv walking tour

During my trip to Sofia last August, one of the out-of-town trips I wanted to do was in Plovdiv: a city overflowing with Roman history and which, in its way, has much to tell. To get to Plovdiv, from Sofia you have two alternatives:
Municipio di Plovdiv 1) Train: trains leave the central station every day, which are somewhat “slow” and take 4 hours; some days of the week there are also fast trains, which take only two hours;
2) Buses: depart from the central bus station, whose building is part of the same of the central train station, and it takes two hours. The station is small, but well equipped with clean bars and bathrooms (they cost 50 cents). Me and my mother, we took a bus from Vitosha Bus company: from Sofia to Plovdiv there is a bus every hour from 7:00 to 19:00; from Plovdiv to Sofia there is a bus each hour from 13:00 to 20:00. You will have your seat allocated at the time of ticket purchase, and we have paid 18 leva in two (with the return. Around € 9 in total). We left at 8:00 am to arrive in Plovdiv before 10:00 am because we wanted to take part in the Free Plovdiv tour that starts every morning from the city hall, to make the most of the only day we spent in the city.
Ascoltando la guida A couple of useful information:
-> The tour starts in front of the town hall, every day, at 11:00 and at 18:00;
-> The duration is about 2h and 15 (in my opinion we have walked even 2 and a half hours);
-> You do not have to book to participate, but merely present yourself at the town hall;
-> there is no ticket to pay, but you can make a free donation at the end of the tour (and if you want you can also leave nothing);
-> The tour is organised by the 365 association, the same as the Free Sofia Tour and the communism tour in Sofia;
The day I did the tour, the guide was Dani, and we start from the city hall, built in “new” baroque style. Plovdiv’s history begins roughly when Sofia’s story begins,
Miljo: personaggio cittadino 6000 years ago at the arrival of the Thracians in that part of Eastern Europe which today is Bulgaria. The development of the city also continues under the Macedonians and the Romans. When the Roman empire splits into two parts, the town of Plovdiv is located in the Byzantine part. In the ninth century come religion and the alphabet. We move a few steps, in front of a green corner where there is a shield near the town hall: this shield shows the city symbol, consisting of a crown, lions, six hills (Plovdiv stood on six slopes) and a river. The main street of the historical centre is utterly pedestrian, and there is the statue of Milo. Milo was a citizen of the last century who became famous not to be good at something, for some innate ability, but only because it was a kind and extrovert person to the point of stopping to greet and chat with everyone! It was said that seeing him on the street, “in his usual place” would bring good luck (if you want to try, today it is said that touching the knee of the statue will bring good luck in love). It seems, however, that a certain “dowry” had it, but apparently today it is not known
Anfiteatro romano whether it is only a story or it is the truth. The pedestrian street is one of the longest in the world, and it was made pedestrian to support the discovery of the remains of the Roman era. At the end of the street are the remains of the ancient Roman stadium: this was very large, came from an extreme to ‘ more of the way and you can see other rest in the basement of the vast H&M store not far away. Along the two short sides there was an aqueduct but, unfortunately, it went lost over the centuries. Exactly behind the stairs of the stadium, there is the Plovdiv mosque: it is one of the last in Europe to have been built by the Ottomans and is called “Friday mosque”.
La zona di Capana The next stop we do in the district of Capana, which we can translate into English with “trap”: the name was given to the area in 1680, when it was a bazaar and, therefore, represented a sort of “trap” for travellers. The houses were built of wood and did not live there because it was an area dedicated to trade (and in 1906, in fact, a fire destroyed the area). With the advent of communism the area became state property; with the end of communism, the new government had the idea to give back the houses to the owners, but many unfortunately were dead and, to date, the owners are very few (4 or 5 for the whole area).
Plovdiv: centro storico In 2012 the district of Capana became an arts district and to entice people to come to live here, the municipality gave them free rent for one year. The tour then moves in the old part of Plovdiv: as the area is located in the hills, under the domination of Thracians and Romans had a defensive purpose; the houses have been built, over the centuries, in oriental style outside and “Eastern Europe style” inside. People of many nationalities live here, a real melting pot of different cultures and languages.
Campanile di San Costantino
The bell tower of the church of Saint Constantine comes out from the walls surrounding the church until you come to a door (of these walls) that goes back to the Macedonian era and is one of the best preserved because it was destroyed and rebuilt several times over the centuries. Behind the opposite wall is the Plovdiv ethnographic museum, located in what was once a residential house (private house).
Panorama da una collina cittadina Towards the end of the tour, the guide took us to the top of the highest hill of the original three on which the ancient city was built (for this reason the military control of the territory was concentrated on this mountain). Today this hill is used as a meeting place, to come and play, relax, have a beer. From the top, the view is quite good, and you can see all the other city hills and all that characterizes the city “profile”.
From a distance, you can also see a clock tower, which is still working, even if wrong
Anfiteatro romano (the typical clock that marks the right time only twice a day, to understand). Before the last stop of the tour, we stop in front of the statue of Sasha (Alexander in Bulgarian). Sasha was a Bohemian violinist nicknamed sweetheart, who studied music abroad and then return to Bulgaria to play; he had a strong sense of humour, and because he lived under the communist regime, this side of his character was not well seen by the system itself.
Giardino del centro As I said at the beginning of this post, Plovdiv is rich in history, and ancient Roman remains. The last stop of the tour is the old theatre of Philippopolis: ancient Roman theatre built in the second century, still used today for different types of shows (such as, for example, for ballet and opera). In the city, there are still many other things to see, like all its small museums besides the ethnographic one, and if any of you still have any doubts about it, remember that it is no coincidence that Plovdiv is a UNESCO heritage and European capital of culture 2019!

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