Dillon trip #2: Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria

In order to satisfy historical appetites and a increasing obsession with Bulgarian wine, I drove my brother and sister-in-law down for a quickish yet long day to a crazy-old Bulgarian town about three hours from Bucharest called Veliko Tarnovo. Origins of this city date back to 3000 BC, the beginning the Bronze Age and has endured empire after empire.  If the expansive bluffs and cliffs could talk imagine the stories they might tell about a city once claimed to be Europe's Third Rome (after the Byzantine Empire and original ancient Rome). 

We walked directly to a highly rated restaurant right at the food of the citadel walls and scoured over their fifty two page, multi-language menu before setting on a cheese platter, a veggie platter, a meat platter, and a hot pot of all the above. Filling up (and out) nicely, we simply took a walk around Tsaravets, Veliko's big time fortress used primarily from 1185 to 1393 and enjoyed the expansive views  provided on the hill. 

While reading up on the city, wishing we had time to visit the central square for shopping and catch their popular night time light show, of I found an interesting fact: Just 100 years before the birth of the great Mark Schlink, and 133 years before the birth of Deets, Russian general Joseph Vladimirovich "liberated" Veliko Tarnovo effectively ending the Ottoman Empire that reigned for 480 years.