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The city of Vratsa below the Balkan mountain
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The city of Vratsa below the Balkan mountain
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<h2 class="blog-post-title"><a href="/2016/05/vratsa-is-a-picturesque-thracian-city/">Vratsa Is a Picturesque Thracian City</a></h2>
<p class="blog-post-meta"><time datetime="2016-05-16T07:56:02Z">Mon May 16, 2016</time>
in
<a href="/categories/bulgaria/" rel="category tag">Bulgaria</a>
<a href="/tags/stara-planina/" rel="tag">Stara Planina</a>, <a href="/tags/thrace/" rel="tag">Thrace</a>, <a href="/tags/vratsa/" rel="tag">Vratsa</a>
</p>
<p>The picturesque little city of Vratsa (Враца) sits at the foothills of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkan_Mountains">Balkan Mountains</a> in Northwest Bulgaria. On a recent road trip I was amazed when I saw the city sitting under the craggy cliffs of the &ldquo;old mountain&rdquo; (<em>Стара Планина</em>/Stara Planina in Bulgarian). What with the water and all it&rsquo;s kind of like a poor man&rsquo;s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Town">Cape Town</a>!</p>
<figure>
<img
sizes="(min-width: 35em) 1200px, 100vw"
srcset='
/2016/05/vratsa-is-a-picturesque-thracian-city/DSC_0002_hu6247ac82c844b4dbac538bf97308849e_2367296_480x0_resize_q75_box.JPG 480w,
/2016/05/vratsa-is-a-picturesque-thracian-city/DSC_0002_hu6247ac82c844b4dbac538bf97308849e_2367296_800x0_resize_q75_box.JPG 800w,
/2016/05/vratsa-is-a-picturesque-thracian-city/DSC_0002_hu6247ac82c844b4dbac538bf97308849e_2367296_1200x0_resize_q75_box.JPG 1200w,
/2016/05/vratsa-is-a-picturesque-thracian-city/DSC_0002_hu6247ac82c844b4dbac538bf97308849e_2367296_1500x0_resize_q75_box.JPG 1500w,
'
src="/2016/05/vratsa-is-a-picturesque-thracian-city/DSC_0002_hu6247ac82c844b4dbac538bf97308849e_2367296_800x0_resize_q75_box.JPG"
alt="The city of Vratsa below the Balkan mountain"/> <figcaption>
<p>The city of Vratsa below the Balkan mountain</p>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I&rsquo;ve never actually <em>been</em> to Vratsa, but after reading Wikipedia for a few hours I am fascinated by the history of the region.</p>
<p>The area would have been inhabited by loosely organized Thracian tribes during the first millennium before Christ. From around 550 [BCE] Thrace was subjugated by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achaemenid_Empire">Persian Empire</a> until Persia&rsquo;s defeat in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Persian_Wars">GrecoPersian Wars</a> in 449 BCE. After that, there was likely a more organized <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odrysian_kingdom">Thracian kingdom</a> for a few centuries until Rome finally turned Thrace into a province in the first century CE. Over the next millennium the Byzantines, Bulgarians, and Ottomans would all take turns dominating this region of the Balkan peninsula.</p>
<p>I&rsquo;m excited to put more of the puzzle pieces together as I explore the country.</p>
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