Things to do in Central Balkans
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Museum of Folk Craft & Applied Arts
The impressive Museum of Folk Craft & Applied Arts by the bridge comprises 10 halls exhibiting local textiles, woodcarving, metalwork, weaving, pottery and ceramics, as well as some archaeological artefacts.
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Arizona Cocktail Bar
Arizona Cocktail Bar. This popular nightspot with both an outdoor terrace and indoor bar serves over 50 different cocktails, made and transported by friendly bar hands. It usually only gets busy after midnight.
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Summer Garden Kalinchev House
The Summer Garden Kalinchev House was built in 1830, features a charming courtyard café and contains (but is not currently exhibiting) 500 works by Bulgarian artists, including Kalinchev.
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Banicharnitsa Violeta Asenova
Kazanlâk’s best breakfast nook is this tiny hole-in-the-wall place opposite the open market, serving a variety of flaky cheese (and other) pies from the banitsa and byurek family of Balkan pastry.
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Soundgarden
The once frequent live rock shows held here had become, at the time of writing, sadly rare; nevertheless, this weathered place between the square and the river retains its alternative edge and cultivates a pub ambience.
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Ruse Opera House
The Ruse Opera House, open since about 1890 and one of the town’s finest buildings, is well known for its quality productions. Buy tickets at the box offices, or through the Tourist Information Centre.
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Leventa
This gourmet eatery is not exactly central, though it is excellent. It boasts a winery, and produces an aromatic red wine characterising the vino of the Danube delta. Food is both inspired Bulgarian and international.
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Mehana Chevermeto
With its traditional décor and soothing setting along a leafy pond, this restaurant of the Hotel Ezeroto has plenty of ambience and great food, too – as expected, mostly of the traditional Bulgarian kind.
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Soviet Army Monument
North of the Pantheon of National Revival, at the end of ul Saedinenie, is the Soviet Army Monument, built in 1949. Behind this is the Youth Park, with playgrounds, swimming pools, tennis courts and good river views.
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Voenen Klub
Ploshtad 20 Yuli has numerous restaurants and cafés; the best are on either side of the Sherev Hotel, with the Voenen Klub bar-restaurant on the opposite side of the square deserve a mention.
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Ruse Regional Museum of History
Ruse Regional Museum of History is a new history museum containing prehistoric, Roman and medieval Bulgarian archaeological finds, taken from the Roman fortress and other local sites.
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Restaurant Maki
A large and popular restaurant just off the square, this place has a huge outdoor section for summer dining, though the interior is somewhat bland. It does good grills and salads, among other fare.
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Mehana Starite Borove
The best place for a summertime drink, the Starite Borove is hidden along a laneway near the main square, close to the shady park. The food is decent, but not as good as some of the other places.
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Restaurant Dublin
Yes, it serves Guinness, but no, it’s not a pub; the Dublin is in fact one of the city’s better restaurants, with a big menu of inventive Bulgarian and international cuisine.
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Gostilintsa
Almost diagonally opposite the Starata Loza, this classy place is uninvitingly located behind a wooden door. The service is excellent, the meals are not too expensive and the menu is in English.
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Bulgaran
This tourist-friendly restaurant up near the Hotel Zornitsa has a big menu of tasty Bulgarian specialities but perhaps overdoes it on the traditional-costume front, though service is friendly.
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Museum
This museum, in a former Turkish town hall built in 1872, was where Bulgaria’s first National Assembly was held seven years later to write the country’s first constitution.
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Bacardi Cocktail Bar
This cute cocktail bar attached to the Hotel Ezeroto has a shiny interior and plays candy pop music to complement the sweet cocktails; you can also sit outdoors and gaze out onto the pond.
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Hiking
Numerous local operators offer hiking. For more information contact the Tourist Information Centre; the helpful staff provides special hiking maps and can link you with the right people.
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Caving
Numerous local operators offer caving. For more information contact the Tourist Information Centre; the helpful staff provides special hiking maps and can link you with the right people.
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Biraria Regal
Like the Dom na Architekta, this traditional mehana (tavern) further east on ul Tsar Osvoboditel enjoys a leafy garden setting and offers a good selection of grills and salads.
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Church of the Assumption
The tiny Church of the Assumption, built in 1923 over a ruined 14th-century church, is usually closed, but it's very pretty with blue-painted bas-reliefs decorating its sides.
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Zahari Stoyanov House-Museum
Revolutionary hero Zahari Stoyanov and his firearms collection, along with sabres and early photographs, are commemorated at the Zahari Stoyanov House-Museum.
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Khlebozavod Ruse
A busy take-away place on the pedestrian mall near bul Tsar Osvoboditel, this little shop sells an array of banitsa (cheese pasties) and similar morning-hours snacks.
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Deep Club & House
Also on ul Aleksandrovska, this cool bar with outdoor seating and a dark, eclectically decorated subterranean section plays a variety of music and is a good chill-out place.
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