Ruse

From Svishtov, it is a little more than an hour’s drive to Ruse. It is the fifth largest city in Bulgaria (150,000 people), after Plovdiv, Sofia, Burgas, and Varna, and is an important port on the Danube and a gateway to Romania. Ruse is only 75 km from Bucharest. The city is known for its neoclassical architecture and is therefore called “Little Vienna.”

The name ‘Ruse’ in Bulgarian means “blond hair.” Legends say that a blonde woman founded the city. Indeed, like other places along the Danube, it was considered a sacred place for the Goddess and was already inhabited in the Neolithic period. Ruse became a city in the Roman period, was destroyed by the Avar invaders, and rebuilt in the Middle Ages.

At the end of the Ottoman Empire, it became a meeting place between Austria-Hungary, Russia, the Ottomans, and Bulgarian and Romanian nationalism. The city rose to prominence in the 19th century and replaced Svishtov as a port and the main city on the Danube. Writers and intellectuals flourished there, consulates were established, trade and industry developed—but the peak was yet to come. In 1878, after liberation from Ottoman rule, it was rebuilt in a European style. Educational institutions were founded, and it became the second or third largest city in Bulgaria. Ruse also had an important Jewish community.

In Ruse, there is the tallest tower in the Balkans (200 meters) with a restaurant at the top. The city also has an important regional museum of history, the remains of a Roman fortress, a pantheon of heroes of the Bulgarian revival, a nature museum, galleries, a university, sports facilities, an opera, a theater, important churches, and a synagogue. In 1954, a bridge was built over the Danube connecting Bulgaria to Romania, and the importance of the city as a transportation center increased.