Stara Zagora

Stara Zagora is the center of Stara Zagora province. With more than 8000 years of history, it is one of the oldest continuously populated places in Europe. Center of booming industry, remarkable cultural life and numerous tourist attractions, the beauty of the city of linden continues to be an appealing destination for travelers. Don’t miss the Roman Villa Mosaics, the Neolithic Dwellings, the Regional Art Gallery, the countless coffee-shops and art-galleries, which give the city the feeling of a small Paris. Because of the French Language school. Situated almost in the geographical center of Bulgaria, Stara Zagora is linked with major roads and railroads to the rest of the country and the neighboring Turkey, Greece and Romania. In less than 4 hours drive, you can be in all these three countries by very decent roads.Sheltered from the north winds by the mountains of Sredna Gora and the Balkans, Stara Zagora enjoys very mild winters, long springs and falls. Thanks to the big amount of trees, the summers in the city are sufferable and not very hot, with specific micro-climate. The rich soils and its geographical situation were the main reason behind the 8000 years.In the city limits of today Stara Zagora, the place was continuously inhabited since the Neolithic (8000 + years ago) through the times of the Thracians, to achieve its glory in the past during the Roman times. Then the city was called Augusta Traiana and it was one of the most prominent cities in the Roman Province of Thrace. Huge avenues, covered with marble slabs, lined with statues, and a large amount of archaeological artifacts remain from this period, including the Roman Walls and Gate of the city, mosaics and the Roman Forum. During the centuries to follow, the city was called Beroe, Irinopolis, Eski Zagra and finally – Stara Zagora (old city behind the mountain). Just before the liberation from the Ottoman Empire, the city was burned 3 times in the late 1800s and there is not too much left to see from the medieval or Bulgarian National Revival buildings. The exceptions are the few churches and monasteries within the city limits, as well as a 15th century Ottoman mosque with amazing frescoes, declared now a National Monument of Culture.

After its rebuilding in the end of the 19th  and beginning of the 20th century, Stara Zagora became one of the few Bulgarian cities built on a grid. This was also the time that the large boulevards and small streets were lined up with linden trees, giving the city the aroma of late spring perfume so enchanting in the beginning of June. Stara Zagora was also called the city of “poets” since many Bulgarian poets were born, spend their lives and created amazing poetry here, in the inspiring surroundings of one of the most prominent cultural centers in Bulgaria. Stara Zagora also has the first Opera House built outside of Sofia, one of the oldest telephone communication systems and the first robotics plant in Bulgaria. It continues to be the center for prosperous cultural life, and an important industrial and agricultural center.