Nikopol
The City of Nikopol is an hour’s drive east of Oescus, and is one of the oldest and most important cities along the River. Human settlement in it began already in prehistoric times. In the Roman period, a village existed here and a dedicatory inscription was found (as in the Trajan’s tablet up the River). But the importance of the city increased with the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire, and even more so with the establishment of the Second Bulgarian Empire in the 12th–14th centuries. Shortly before that, it received its name from the Byzantines – Nikopolis (Nika – the goddess of victory).
Nikopol is squeezed into a narrow area between the Danube and the limestone hills that border the River. In the line of hills, there is an opening of a valley into which the city expands, and on both sides of the narrow valley are hills with neighborhoods on top of them. On the western side, a neighborhood of Turkish residents and a monument commemorating the battle that took place there during the war for the liberation of Bulgaria; and on the eastern side of the stream, a neighborhood of Bulgarian residents. Next to it are the remains of the Ottoman citadel that was built there. In the valley between the hills, there is a water spring with a Roman structure on it. Nearby are the remains of an ancient church from the Middle Ages, and a little further up – the present church of the town from the 18th century.
At the exit of the valley toward the narrow flat area between the hills and the Danube, there is a beautiful garden with a large copper representation of a Hebrew book and a dedication inscription in stone to Rabbi Yosef Karo, who lived in the city for 14 years during the 16th century, before moving to Safed, and wrote there parts of the book Beit Yosef, which is the basis of the Shulchan Aruch – one of the most canonical Jewish books of religious law. It turns out that Nikopol had an important Jewish community, and in the 16th century no fewer than six synagogues were established there. This is the reason why Nikopol was chosen as a twin city of Safed in Israel – the city of Kabbalah.
Around Nikopol (named after the goddess of victory “Nika”), many battles were fought, but it is important to remember that one side’s victory is the other’s loss, and in fact it can be said that usually in wars both sides lose. After the fall of the capital of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom, Veliko Tarnovo, to the Ottomans in 1393, the last Bulgarian Tsar, Ivan Shishman, moved to Nikopol, where he continued to resist the Turkish occupation until the fall of the city two years later. In order to help their Christian brothers against the Ottoman enemy, a final crusade of European knights – led by nobles from France, Venice, Hungary and all over Europe – went to Bulgaria. It was called the Nikopol Crusade, but it ended in a crushing defeat.
Be that as it may, today a total of 3,000 people live in the city. There are beautiful beaches along the River, and in one of the cliffs overlooking them you can see a rock-hewn cave of medieval monks. One can take a local boat from Nikopol to the nearby islands of the Danube; the feeling is like sailing on the Amazon, especially when you stop at one of the forested islands for grilled fish.
