Why You Ought to Go to Shumen & Get Off The Beat Path In Bulgaria

Shumen, Bulgaria, is the proper metropolis to expertise actual Bulgarian customized, away from the vacationer bubble and traps. Try my information to the town and begin planning your journey!

One summer season season, I stayed all through the Shumen home for months. All by that point, I took half in archeological excavations in Veliki Preslav, the capital of the First Bulgarian Emp.

Then I went on to go to quite a few cities in Bulgaria and neighboring areas: Veliki Preslav and Shumen, in reality, nonetheless furthermore Madara, Sofia, Veliko Tarnovo, Pliska, Varna, Sunny Seashore & Nessebar, Athens, and Bucharest.

Shumen is a metropolis situated in northeastern Bulgaria, an hour away from Varna. It is not going to be the primary metropolis to pop up on a typical vacationer itinerary, nonetheless that’s exactly why it’s so express. It’s a hidden gem capable of be found.

Personally, it’s the excellent metropolis to expertise actual Bulgarian customized, away from the vacationer bubble and traps. In case you’re searching for a base for quite a few weeks, it’s the proper spot: it’s reasonably priced, you presumably can maintain like an area, and the cherry on prime – to your following areas, you’ll uncover easy bus journeys to Romania, Greece, and Turkey.

Moreover, if you happen to occur to wish to be taught relating to the early days of the First Bulgarian Empire, the Shumen province is the place for that.

All in all, Shumen is a wonderful place to go to in Bulgaria.

Greatest Time To Go to Shumen

Shumen is gorgeous year-round, nonetheless among the many greatest time to go to is through the spring and summer season season, as a result of it should permit you to study from the attractive nature all through the metropolis.

Extreme Sights In Shumen

You’ll uncover on this information my ideas for among the many greatest areas to see and vacationer elements of curiosity in Shumen:

Factors To Do In Shumen

1. 1300 Years Of Bulgaria Monument

Let’s begin with perhaps basically essentially the most visited monument in Shumen and with perhaps basically essentially the most well-known monuments all through the nation.

The 1300 Years of Bulgaria monument, as you maybe guessed, commemorates the 1300th anniversary of the Bulgarian state. Born out of the brutalist motion, the monument retells the historic earlier of Bulgari in cubist and modernist designs, representing totally utterly completely different durations over the previous couple of centuries. The sheer dimension of the monument alone makes it an awe-inspiring sight, so undoubtedly undoubtedly well worth the detour.

It’s situated on the intense Shumen Plateau, so have the power to climb to get to the monument.

The Plateau may be an stunning park with many climbing trails, and it’s the starting line for paragliding expeditions. In case you ask me, it’s the proper outside prepare!

2. Madara Nationwide Historic & Archaeological Park

A couple of kilometers east of Shumen, solely a quick drive away, is the Madara Nationwide Historic and Archaeological Park, by which you’ll uncover the Madara Fortress and Madara Rider (or Madara Horseman), depicting a knight triumphing over a lion immediately carved on the Madara plateau, correct proper right into a 100-m-high cliff.

This carving entered the UNESCO World Heritage itemizing, as it’s the solely medieval rock work of its choice with no utterly completely different parallel in Europe. The inscriptions all through the rock help retell obligatory occasions of the First Empire and its ki,ngs Tervel, Kormi,sos, and Omurtag.

The park may be dwelling to fairly just a few landscapes, from forests and meadows to caves and waterfalls. There are limitless alternate choices to hike the Plateau, bike, and even bird-watch alongside the paths!

3. Shumen Fortress

Perched on prime of a hill overlooking the town, the Fortress is a vital monument as accurately. It dates as soon as extra to the early Coronary heart Ages, all through the eighth century,y and because it has been witness to many battles and sieges, its ruins are an web website of curiosity and 100% worth a go to.

This stunning place affords an intriguing peak into Bulgaria’s earlier and a big ranging view of the town and the encircling countryside.

4. Tombul Mosque

Inbuilt 1744, the Tombul Mosque might be going one among many largest and most stunning Ottoman mosques in Bulgaria and a masterpiece of Islamic building.

The gorgeous inside and peaceable courtyard are fantastic for quite a few hours of solace while you want them.

5. Biserna Cave

It’s possible you’ll assume visiting a cave is a somber affair. Appropriately, not the Biserna Cave.

Due to the lights put in and the sparkly stalactite formations, the entire place is glowing. It’s undoubtedly an attention-grabbing sight, with the stalactites dripping water, the underground river, and the echo that each noise makes.

6. Regional Historic Museum

This museum reveals the wealthy historic earlier of Shumen and its province. It offers good notion into the ability of the First Empire, with artifacts and objects of curiosity from surrounding cities equal to Veliki Preslav, Pliska, Madara, and so forth.

The doorway value to the museum is spherical 2 to three euros.

7. Tasting The Native Delicacies

Shumen is the proper metropolis to mannequin actual, native meals Bulgarian meals, as a result of the town, for perhaps basically essentially the most half, wouldn’t obtain and wouldn’t cater to vacationers. Having visited quite a few cities in Bulgaria, I discovered that consuming places in Shumen are the closest you are going to get to my Bulgarian mates’ do-it-yourself meals.

In case you’re there, don’t overlook to try the Banitsa, a filo pastry you can eat for breakfast.

My private favourite, Kavarma, is a meat stew slowly cooked to carry out the flavors. Totally implausible; I terribly advocate it.

In case you’re courageous, give Shkembe Chorba a try: it’s a soup produced from tripe and flavored with garlic, vinegar, and chili – two years later, I’m nonetheless scale back up on whether or not or not or not I remorse consuming it or not!

And via scorching summer season season days, it is going to be biggest to eat Tarator, a chilly soup produced from yogurt and cucumbers – type of like Tzatziki nonetheless as a soup. One small uncover: make sure that to ask for lots a lot much less salt as folks there could make it fairly salty, in my expertise.

Lastly, you MUST try Rakia, the Bulgarian alcohol which will make your head flip. No journey to Bulgaria could very nicely be full with out testing it. In case chances are you’ll someway get ahold of do-it-yourself Rakia – and likewise you may, for a lot of who make mates in Shumen – even bigger!

Day Journeys And  Areas To Go to Shut by

The fantastic thing about Shumen is that it’s a hub for buses and truly accurately related by observe as accurately, so you could have gotten entry to utterly completely different good cities merely.

From there, I managed to comprehend utterly completely different good areas equal to Varna, Veliko Tarnovo, Sunny Seashore, Athens, and Bucharest.

Pliska

Half an hour away from Shumen is Pliska, the primary capital of the First Empire, the place you’ll be able to uncover the stays of the Grand Basilica, actually one among many largest early Christian church buildings in Europe.

Veliki Preslav

Veliki Preslav, the second capital of that very same Empire, usually is a mere 30 min away.

Gratifying actuality! Veliki Preslav is the place the Cyrillic alphabet was invented through the reign of Simeon The Good (one among many important glorious, if not THE most glorious, resolve in Bulgaria’s historic earlier).

Nonetheless, for my part, perhaps basically essentially the most fulfilling problem to go to in Veliki Preslav is the Kostadinov rock monastery, an historic sanctuary immediately carved into the cliffs.

Varna

A preferred coastal metropolis, Varna is solely an hour’s drive away.

All by my journey, I discovered the Balchik Palace and Botanical Gardens to be ns perhaps basically essentially the most attention-grabbing areas to go to. The archeological museum of Varna furthermore hosts the oldest gold treasure ever discovered.

Sunny Seashore And Nessebar

Whereas I favored Varna, everytime you’ve acquired restricted time, I’d advocate skipping it to go straight to Sunny Seashore and Nessebar. They’re a bit additional away (2 hours), in order that they act bigger as a weekend journey spot, nonetheless there you’ll uncover stunning seashores, historic web pages and implausible nightlife.

Nesseba,r considerably,r is an under-appreciated treasure.

Veliko Tarnovo

Veliko Tarnovo, which is situated 2 hours away by observe, is a gem, and so, so worth visiting.

It is probably one among many greatest areas to see in Bulgaria. It’s a historic metropolis with an stunning medieval coronary coronary heart overlooking the river. It is usually dwelling to the Tsarevets Fortress and the Ascension Cathedral, one among many important attention-grabbing church buildings I’ve had the prospect to go to.

The place To Maintain In Shumen

Shumen affords various lodging choices for each funds and choice.

I terribly advocate Buyer Home Bulgarka, it is form of additional away from the town coronary coronary heart, nonetheless that furthermore means it’s all through the countryside. It is usually very stunning and atypical, and that’s why I desire to advocate it.

For one issue additional centrally situated, Avenue is a wonderful choice.

Navigating Spherical Shumen

Getting spherical Shumen is easy, due to the town’s compact dimension and environment nice public transport system.

I prefer to advocate renting a motorbike to get spherical and uncover the encircling home and take quite a few hours to study from the peaceable ambiance, observing the native wildlife, and having satisfying with the Bulgarian countryside.

Shumen FAQs & Vacationers Ideas

• Know Some Bulgarian: in my expertise, few folks in Shumen speak English, so I’d positively make sure that to be taught quite a few sentences in Bulgarian, or a minimal of have an necessary connection and a translating app on me on a regular basis!
• Lev Is The Abroad money: Bulgarians don’t use euros; they use Lev. Change your cash ahead of the journey or use a worldwide card like Clever.
• Use The Vacationer Knowledge Middle: you presumably can all the time get up-to-date information all through the vacationer info coronary coronary heart
• Obtain A Bulgarian Taxi App: Uber shouldn’t be accessible in Bulgaria, so it’s critical to accumulate a Bulgarian taxi app. TaxiMe is the one I used most frequently all by Bulgaria, and I discovered it environment nice and useful
• Get A SIM Card: for a lot of who run out of web information, you presumably can merely get a SIM card with a certain quantity of knowledge; no ID or proof of residence is required

Why Shumen Deserves A Spot On Your Journey Tips

There are quite a few factors to do in Shumen, nonetheless above all; the town affords the prospect to expertise actual Bulgarian customized in a means you gained’t uncover in a number of vacationer areas.

It is usually the proper place to remain to rearrange day and weekend journeys to those utterly completely different frequent spots that you just merely positively should go to as accurately. We now should do each, lastly!

All in all, Shumen is a wonderful place to spend quite a few weeks wandering spherical, consuming, exercising, utilizing, and experiencing Bulgarian customized and historic earlier.