Ruse Province: Danube City and Rock-Hewn Monasteries
Travel guide · editorialRuse is often called "Little Vienna," and if you stroll its streets lined with stucco façades, balconies, and Art Nouveau houses, you'll see why. A trip to Ruse combines Bulgaria's largest Danube city with the medieval rock-hewn churches of Ivanovo and the quiet canyon of the Rusenski Lom.
Ruse on the Danube
After the liberation of 1878, Ruse was the most modern city in the young principality: it had the first railway line, the first banks and insurance companies, and architects from Vienna and Italy built grand edifices here. Liberty Square with the Statue of Liberty, the Drama Theater, and the House of Profitability, a lavishly decorated former insurance company building, define the center. Elias Canetti was born in Ruse in 1905. The Danube promenade invites leisurely walks, and the Friendship Bridge leads across to Giurgiu in Romania. In spring, the March Music Days take place, one of Bulgaria's oldest music festivals.
Sights in Ruse Province
About 20 kilometers to the south, the Rusenski Lom River cuts into the limestone plateau. Within the nature park lie the Rock-Hewn Churches of Ivanovo, medieval chapels and cells carved into the cliff walls, whose 14th-century frescoes are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Nearby are the medieval town of Cherven, with fortress walls and church ruins, and the Basarbovo Rock Monastery, which is still inhabited. Near Dve Mogili you'll find the Orlova Chuka cave. In Byala, a 19th-century stone bridge by the master builder Kolyu Ficheto spans the Yantra. Other excursions lead to Rusenski Lom Nature Park with its hiking trails, climbing rocks, and more than 170 bird species, including the black stork and the saker falcon. In Ruse itself, the Transport Museum in Bulgaria's first railway station and the Holy Trinity Church, with its Ottoman-era construction sunk deep into the ground, are worth a visit.
Cuisine, Getting There, and Best Time to Visit
Along the Danube, people eat catfish, carp, and fish soup, accompanied by white wine from the north. Ruse is connected by train and bus to Sofia and Varna; the nearest major airport is Bucharest, about an hour away by car. The best time to visit is May through October, when you can also hike and climb in the canyon.