Plovdiv

Plovdiv sits on both banks of the Maritsa river and calls itself older than Rome, Athens and Constantinople. The Thracians knew it as Evmolpia. Philip II of Macedon took it in 342 BC and gave it his name, Philippopolis. Under Rome it became the centre of the province of Thrace, known as Trimontium, the city of three hills. Over time the Slavic name Pulpudeva wore down to Puldin and then Plovdiv.

The Old Town covers three of the city's hills, Nebet, Taksim and Dzhambaz Tepe. More than 200 listed monuments survive there, from Thracian and Roman remains to the houses of rich 19th-century merchants, built in the years of the Bulgarian National Revival. More than 20 of those houses are now museums or galleries.

In 2019 Plovdiv was a European Capital of Culture, and that year brought new life to Kapana, the old crafts quarter.

A day in Plovdiv is mostly walking, on cobbles and up and down short, steep hills.

The Ancient Theatre was built early in the 2nd century AD, under the emperor Trajan, for 5,000 to 7,000 people. Its marble seats run in two bands of 14 rows each, and it lay buried until digs between 1968 and 1979. Today it seats about 500 people for performances, and in daytime you can walk the rows and look out over the city.

The Roman Stadium could hold up to 30,000 people. Most of it is still under the pedestrian street. What you see, at the square by the Dzhumaya Mosque, is its northern curve with 13 rows of seats, the north entrance and a piece of the track.

The Old Town houses are the other half of the story. Wealthy traders built them to show off: symmetrical, with an oval hall, rooms in the corners and bay windows that jut out from the upper floor. Balabanov House was pulled down in 1935 and rebuilt in the 1970s from the original drawings.

Kapana, "the trap", is a knot of small streets just below the Old Town. Its street names still tell you which trade worked where, from Zhelezarska for the blacksmiths to Zlatarska for the goldsmiths. Now it is full of cafés, bars, small galleries and craft studios, and is the easiest place to stop for lunch.

Bachkovo Monastery, 10 km south of Asenovgrad, was founded in 1083 by Gregory Bakuriani, a Georgian in Byzantine service. It keeps an icon of the Virgin from 1311 in a silver cover that pilgrims hold to be miraculous, and Zahari Zograf painted its Holy Archangels church. Close by, Asen's Fortress sits on a cliff above the Asenitsa river, with a two-storey church of the Holy Mother of God of Petrich inside its walls. Koprivshtitsa is a town of 19th-century houses in the Sredna Gora hills, 110 km from Sofia, where the first shot of the April Uprising against Ottoman rule was fired in 1876. Six of its houses are museums.

Plovdiv has mild winters and hot, humid summers. Spring and autumn are the most comfortable for a full day on foot. In July and August, start early and save Kapana and the house museums for the hottest hours.

The Ancient Theatre opens 9:00 to 18:00 from April to October and 9:00 to 17:30 from November to March. It is also used for evening performances, so look at the programme if you want to stay on. Bachkovo opens 8:00 to 17:00 every day.