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Ruse is located in the north of Bulgaria on the banks of the Danube. Ruse is the only major city in Bulgaria, the appearance of the center of which is determined not by buildings of the national Renaissance style and not by faceless post-war architecture, but by buildings of the early 20th century, copying the Austro-Hungarian style of Central Europe. On the one hand, because of this, there are quite a few first-class attractions in Ruse (which is partially compensated by the presence of the Danube embankment in the city, and medieval cave monasteries in its vicinity), on the other hand, the city undoubtedly has its own face. Ruse is located near one of the two bridges across the Danube in Bulgaria, and all reasonable roads from southern and eastern Bulgaria to Romania pass through it. This does not particularly affect the nature of the city center, but it increases the likelihood that you will have to drive through Ruse or even spend the night there. It makes sense to stay in the city for a few hours and then see the monasteries in the valley of the Rusenskiy Lom River.
The center of Ruse is centered around two squares — Svoboda/ Freedom
and Prince Alexander Batenberg. All urban developments of interest are
located on the squares themselves or on the pedestrian streets between
them. Gray panel houses of the socialist period stretch towards the
station, located 1.5 km to the south. The northern part of the center
subtly resembles the non-paraded center of Varna and is built up with
nondescript two-storey houses, mostly private. The bank of the Danube is
high, with good views of the port and the opposite Romanian coast. There
is an additional park with an embankment along the shore below.
There is no bridge over the Danube in Ruse. The famous Friendship Bridge
is located a few kilometers downstream, essentially outside the city
limits. The bridge leads to the Romanian city of Giurgiu, which is not
visible from Ruse, since it is also displaced downstream and is also
separated from the river by floodplains.
Ruse has a beautiful center, but there are no major attractions, so you can devote as much time to the city as you have — from a couple of hours to a full day (along with museums). The main attraction is located 20 km from the city — these are UNESCO-marked rock churches in Ivanovo.
1 Church of the Trinity (Orthodox Church of the Church of St.
Trinity”) , Trinity 9 Light Square (one block from Freedom Square). The
Orthodox church, built in 1632 during the Turkish occupation. At that
moment, the Turks forbade the construction of Orthodox churches on the
ground, so the church was built underground, and during the construction
process catacombs that apparently existed since Roman times were used.
When, in the early 1880s, the construction of the dome and bell tower
became possible, stone from the city fortifications, dismantled under
the terms of a peaceful agreement with Turkey, was used. The volume of
the building is quite small from above, and the stairs from the entrance
go down. Accordingly, the windows inside are located only at the very
top, and the lighting is artificial. The main volume of the church and
the staircase are entirely covered with frescoes made in 1934 and very
modernist. There are newer buildings around the church belonging to the
diocese.
2 Monument of Freedom (Pametnik na Svobodata) , Svobody
Square. The events of the War of Independence are immortalized by a
monument made in 1909 by an Italian sculptor. It is one of the first
monuments of its kind in the country. In the spirit of its time, it is
made in the imperial style, with an antique female figure on a pedestal
and angry lions at the foot.
3 The Town Hall, Svobody Square. The
building of the early 1980s is a rather characteristic (and at the same
time interesting) example of Bulgarian socialist architecture. For its
strange shape, the locals call it a "ship".
4 St. Paul's Church
(Sveti Pavel from Krst), Bishop Bosilkov str., 14. As the center of Ruse
is a Bulgarian interpretation of Austro-Hungarian eclecticism, so the
church, built in 1890 for local Catholics, is a local variety of
Neo-Gothic. The project was done by the Italian architect Valentino, so
literally every Gothic element is trying to portray something classic,
but there is nothing Bulgarian on the building. This funny "shifter" is
no less curious from the inside, where there are carved ornaments
brought all the way from Bohemia and the first organ in Bulgaria (1907).
5 Monument to those who died in the Serbian-Bulgarian war,
Alexander Batenberg Square. An event little known outside the Balkans —
the Serbian-Bulgarian war of 1885 — is immortalized by a monument that
perfectly conveys the aesthetics of Bulgaria at the beginning of the
20th century, where militaristic motives and imperial ambitions are
closely intertwined with the expression that came from fresco painting.
6 Luben Karavelov Library, Alexander Batenberg Square. The most
recognizable building in Ruse is a two—story corner mansion with a dome,
now occupied by a library.
7 Synagogue, Dr. Mustakov Square, 4. Jews
in Russia have been known since the end of the XVIII century, the first
synagogue was built in 1797. In 1905, about 4,000 Jews lived in Ruse,
both Ashkenazi (mostly descendants of those expelled from Hungary in the
14th century) and Sephardic (descendants of those who came from
Byzantium and were expelled from Spain in 1492). Although Jews in
Bulgaria were not deported during the war, after the war almost all of
them left for Israel, and now there are only about 200 people left in
the city. The Shalom Synagogue was founded in 1858.
8 Fortress
"Sexagint Priest". Tue–Sat 9:00 – 17:30. 4 lev. The ancient predecessor
of Ruse bears the poetic name of "60 ships pier". It has not been
preserved very well — mainly at the level of the foundations of the
walls, among which vessels, Roman inscriptions and bas-reliefs are
exhibited. This is far from the most interesting archaeological site in
Bulgaria, but it is worth walking to it at least in order to look from
the high bank at the Danube. There is a socialist realist monument
nearby with the inscription "Bulgarian shipping originated here."
9
Catholic Diocese (formerly Ivan Simeonov House; Catholic Diocese), 26a
Brothers Simeonovi St. (southern part of the center). It was built in
1895. One of the most beautiful buildings in Ruse, the stone house is
decorated with wonderful stone carvings.
10 Canetti House, blvd.
Slavyansky, 12. The house of a rich Jewish merchant who had a
significant impact on the development of the city. His son Elias Canetti
became the only Bulgarian to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature:
however, he left Bulgaria as a child.
In addition to all of the
above, it is worth seeing the buildings of museums and theaters.
11 The Pantheon of the National Renaissance (Pantheon in the
Renaissance) (In the park, east of the center). 39 heroes of the
national renaissance, who took part in the struggle for the independence
of Bulgaria, are buried in the pantheon, which looks more like a temple.
This is a relatively new building, opened in 1978 for the centenary of
independence; its style is very characteristic of socialist Bulgaria. At
first, an eternal flame burned inside, but after the fall of the
communist regime, Bulgaria began to take more care of resources, and the
fire was extinguished, and in 2001 the building was also consecrated by
installing a cross on the dome. The Pantheon marks the entrance to the
Park at the entrance of the Renaissance, where you will see several
small mausoleums in which national heroes were buried at the end of the
XIX century (now it is not always possible to make out who exactly).
12 Monument to the Soviet soldier ("Alyosha"), at the end of the
boulevard. A typical monument in honor of the soldiers of the Soviet
Army (1947): similar ones were installed (and in places survived) in
every major Bulgarian city. The Russian version is unusual in that it
contains a quote from the main Bulgarian communist Georgy Dimitrov,
informing about the importance of friendship between Bulgaria and the
USSR.
13 Tsar's stone (Tsarev kamk) (in the youth park). A marble
column erected in honor of the arrival of Sultan Mahmud in Ruse (1837).
14 Kyunt Kapu (In a park south of the city center, near the train station). The gate is the only thing left of the 18th century Turkish fortress, once one of the largest in Bulgaria. According to the 1878 treaty recognizing Bulgaria's independence from Turkey, all fortresses in Bulgaria were to be destroyed. For some reason, they did not destroy these gates, but they were sheathed with iron so that they could not be used. Now it is one of the few examples of Turkish period architecture in Ruse.
1 Regional Historical Museum , Alexander Batenberg Square, 3. ✉ ☎
+359 82 825 002. 9:00 – 18:00. 4 Leva. A modern and very informative
museum. A large collection with a focus on archaeology, all signatures
are made in Bulgarian and English. As everywhere in Bulgaria, you will
see objects starting from ancient times (5 thousand BC) and ending with
the period of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom. In the antique hall, pay
attention to the Borov treasure — incredibly skillful metal objects of
the IV century BC, made by the Thracians. Among the later exhibits, one
hall is entirely dedicated to the rock temples in Ivanovo: there are
screens with interactive information and even fragments of frescoes in
case you don't have time to go to Ivanovo itself. In the corner on the
second floor there are a couple of halls with a more modern history of
the War of Independence, and also a chronicle of the Danube shipping.
2 Museum of Urban Life (Museum on gradskiya steele on the stomach),
Tsar Ferdinand St., 39. 9:00 – 17:30. 4 Leva. The exhibition is
dedicated to the life of the city at the turn of the XIX and XX
centuries. Of particular interest are the collections of glass and
porcelain of the XIX century. The house in which the museum is located
is known as the Kaliope House built in 1864 — it is one of the few, if
not the only example of the Bulgarian Renaissance style in Russia.
3
Art Gallery , Borisova St., 39. 9:00 – 13:00 and 14:00 – 18:00, except
Mon. The exhibition features works by Bulgarian artists of the XIX and
XX centuries.
4 National Museum of Transport and Communications
(National Museum of Transport and Communication) , Obretenov Brothers, 5
(a couple of kilometers downstream from the center. Although according
to the maps it seems that you can walk to the museum along the bank of
the Danube, where the park is located, in fact it is impossible to get
out of the park to the museum, and you have to go higher (further from
the Danube) along the railway, along Bratya Obretenovi Street.). From
April 1 to October 31, Mon–Sun 9:00 – 17:00, from November 1 to March
31, Mon–Fri 9:00 – 17:00, closed on public holidays. The only railway
museum in the country is located in the building of the first Bulgarian
railway station. The exhibition includes samples of railway and river
transport, including quite old and rare ones.
5 Zachary Stoyanov
House Museum (Zachary Stoyanov Museum) , blvd. Pridunavsky, 14. Tue–Sat
9:00 – 17:30. 3 lev. Zahariy Stoyanov (1850-1889) was one of the leaders
of the liberation movement, who raised several anti-Turkish uprisings in
the 1870s, and in 1885, after the Russian-Turkish war, staged a
revolution in Eastern Rumelia, after which the ancient capital, Plovdiv,
came under Bulgarian control, although formally it remained for more
than 20 years Turkish. The revolutionary lived and worked in many
Bulgarian cities, and spent only a couple of years in Ruse in the early
1870s, when he was an apprentice tailor and joined the revolutionary
committee along the way. The museum building is a characteristic mansion
of the second half of the XIX century.
6 Drama Theater (Dramatic theater "Sava Ognyanov") , Svobody Square.
The theater occupies one of the most beautiful buildings in the center
of Ruse, which even has a special name — Profitable building. It was
built in 1898-1902 by an Austrian architect, a great master of
eclecticism and secession, who decided in this case to decorate the
facade with sculptures — from ordinary angels to peasants, soldiers and
workers. It is curious that the original version of the sculptures did
not suit the city administration because of their overly German
appearance, after which the sculptures were redone by a Bulgarian
sculptor who changed the faces, but not the general style, from which
there is still something Prussian.
7 Opera House, Sveta Troitsa, 7.
One of the best opera houses in Bulgaria. The building is
architecturally completely standard, but it fits perfectly into the
ensemble of the Ruse center.
By plane
There is an airport in Ruse, but it is not used for
regular flights. The nearest airport is in Bucharest.
By train
The railway from Gorna-Oryakhovitsa (Veliko Tarnovo) arrives in Ruse,
then goes to the bridge over the Danube and on to Bucharest. There are 2
direct trains per day from Sofia, 6-7 hours on the way. There are
several more commuter trains to Gorna-Oryakhovitsa station (2.5 hours),
which is easy to reach from Sofia. All trains have a terminal line-the
distribution line is a marshalling yard north of the city. Ruse Central
Station is thus an intermediate stop, but it is not difficult to
identify it, since almost all passengers get off the train.
There
is a direct train to Varna twice a day (4 hours): it goes through
Razgrad, passing Gorna-Oryakhovitsa. Once more a day, a train runs along
the same line to Shumen (3.5 hours). You can leave for Bucharest by the
only daytime train (3 hours), which normally has the status of a
Romanian regional train, and in the summer months becomes a non-stop
train from Istanbul and Sofia. Finally, there is a night train
Sofia–Silistra, which for some reason stops in Ruse, but it doesn't do
any good: you will arrive from Sofia to Ruse in the middle of the night,
and you will also have to leave Ruse to Silistra at a completely
inappropriate time. Besides, there are no sleeping cars on this train.
Railway station , Stamboliyski Square. Ruse Train Station is huge
and completely empty: it is probably the most beautiful train station in
all of Bulgaria. The building was built in 1954 in the neoclassical
style, which many sources call Stalinist, although the building does not
look at all like the post-war railway stations of the former USSR
countries. The construction of the station was associated with the
opening of the Friendship Bridge and the launch of a direct railway
connection between Romania and Bulgaria, which has now practically
ceased. In the central hall there is a ticket window, an information
window and another window where bus tickets to Chisinau and, do not fall
off your chair, Chelyabinsk are sold. There are benches where you can
sit. The rest of the building is empty. From the train station to the
center, a 20-minute walk along Borisova Street. You can drive up a
couple of stops by public transport.
By bus
Traveling to Ruse
by bus is usually faster than by train. Buses from Sofia run 4.5-5
hours, departures every hour and a half, mostly passing to Silistra.
Some of them stop at Pleven (2.5 hours), but many do not make any stops
at all. Buses to Silistra (2.5-3 hours) run almost every hour, but it is
more difficult to go to the southeast: buses to Shumen (2.5 hours) 6
times a day, to Varna even less often, but you can go by train or with a
transfer in Shumen. Buses to Bucharest run at least 4 times a day (if
you believe the bus station's website, then more often). In Bucharest,
they pass through the city and then go to the airport, which is the
closest to Ruse.
Theoretically, the Friendship Bridge can be
crossed on foot, which hitchhikers sometimes enjoy. Crossing the border
on foot is not prohibited, although it is hardly pleasant: the distance
between the border posts is 3.5 km (there is a footpath), but in reality
you will have to walk more. From the Bulgarian side, city buses No. 11
and 12 run to the border checkpoint from the Ruse railway station. There
is apparently no transport on the Romanian side. It is another 3.5 km
from the border crossing to the Giurgiu railway Station and bus station.
The main thing, however, is that you will not gain much in this way,
since you cannot leave Giurgiu anywhere except Bucharest.
Bus
station, blvd. Tsar Liberator 156 (200 m from the railway station). ☎
+359 (82) 82-81-51. The bus station shares a building with some shops
and does not even have an entrance from the street: first you need to go
through the gateway to the platforms and from there enter the bus
station itself. A small room is occupied by the ticket offices of
private companies engaged in long-distance transportation. A single
schedule is posted in the far corner, there is also a storage room (2-3
levs).
By car
Ruse is located near the Friendship Bridge, one
of the two bridges connecting Romania and Bulgaria. Accordingly, almost
all routes to Romania lead through a bridge, for the use of which you
need to pay — in euros, lei or leva. After crossing the border, you will
reach Bucharest in an hour, if there are no traffic jams. To the south,
the roads fan out from Ruse: 5 (E85) goes through Pleven to Sofia (about
three and a half hours; the last section is built as an autobahn) and
Veliko Tarnovo, 2 (E70) through Razgrad goes to the A2 autobahn leading
to Varna, and 21 will take you to Silistra and, crossing the border with
Romania, to Constanta.
On the ship
There is only a cruise
service along the Danube, cruise ships usually dock in Ruse.
Buses and trolleybuses run around the city. At most central stops
there are electronic displays in the form of a running line, informing
about the arrival of transport. Tickets cost 1 lev (2016), you can buy
them from the driver.
As in Russia, bus and trolleybus networks
belong to different organizations. Each of them has its own website with
information about routes: trolleybuses, buses. Buses run from 6:00 to
20:00. Trolleybuses leave the line at 5 a.m., and the last flight runs
around 21:30.
Billa, Svobody Square, 7. 7:30 – 22:00. Grocery supermarket in the city center
Almost all cafes are located on Freedom Square and the adjacent
pedestrian streets.
Cheaply
Average cost
1 Planter Food ,
Alexandrovska street, 69. 8:00 – 23:30. A small cafe in the European
style: coffee, excellent desserts, sandwiches, fresh food. Salads and
pasta are prepared for the hungry, and alcohol is available for the
suffering.
2 Kralska zakuska , 41 Knyazheska str. (Svobody Square).
7:00 – 1:00. Hot: 6-12 lev. A simple restaurant with national cuisine.
Good reviews.
3 Mekhana Chiflika , Father Paisii str. 2. Mon–Sat
11:00 – 2:00, Sun 12:00 – 1:00. Hot: about 10 lev. A good-quality
restaurant of national cuisine in a house of the XIX century with all
the necessary surroundings.
4 Restaurant at the Riga hotel, blvd.
"Pridunavski" 22 (near the hotel, from the Danube side). For lunch, the
restaurant is fantastically cheap - you can order the main course for
4-5 leva, the quality does not suffer from cheapness. The prices are
higher for dinner. The place is quite popular, the tables are occupied
quickly.
Expensive
5 Leventa Restaurant, Kutuzova St. (on a
hill in the southwestern part of the city, 4 km from the center). The
restaurant in the old Turkish fort of the early 19th century opened in
the 1970s and is very proud that it was visited by major political
figures, including Brezhnev and Ceausescu. The style of the times of
developed socialism is cozy in its own way (do not miss the numerous
frescoes that paint all the inner halls), and the food is certainly no
worse than what was prepared for the party nomenclature at the time. The
restaurant has a large wine cellar. Nearby there is a TV tower, where
there was once an observation deck — now closed indefinitely.
1 Grand Hotel "Riga", blvd. 22 Pridunavsky Street (the northern part
of the center, above the railway running along the Danube; if you are
driving along the Danube Boulevard (along which the building is
numbered), then the boulevard will end at the hotel at the western end,
but you will have to work extra to find the entrance to the parking
lot). Single rooms from 55 lev, double rooms from 77 LEV, breakfast is
not included. A huge multi-storey four-star hotel of the socialist era.
Despite this, the hotel is quite comfortable, the prices are adequate,
and the Windows have a great view of the Danube. Free secure parking is
available at the hotel. There is a wonderful espresso bar downstairs.
2 Kosmos Hotel, 122 Borisova str. (near the train station). ☎ +359
(082) 871-871. Single room: 55 lev, double: 70 lev. A three-star hotel,
somehow squeezed into an ordinary apartment building, is perfect for
those whose train arrives in Ruse late in the evening. The rooms have
Wi-Fi, and there is a good restaurant on the ground floor.
The name "Ruse" comes after a number of names: Rusi
(Rusi), Rusiko, Rushi, Ruschuk, Rusig and others.
There is a
belief that Rusi and Ruse are synonymous with Cherven and derive
from the all-Slavic adjective russe, related to the Latin rusos, the
French ruzh and ruse, the Old Bulgarian ryzhd. The names Ruschuk and
Ruse went hand in hand after the Liberation, together appearing on
the postmark, so that later only the name Ruse remained. The oldest
source in which the name Ruse is mentioned is an itinerary from the
end of the 14th century. Along with Tarnovo, the name Rossi is
mentioned in it.
The settlement on the site of modern Ruse appeared in prehistoric
times, then there was a Thracian city, and then a Roman one, called
Sexaginta Prista. In the III century, the Roman fortress was destroyed
by the Goths, rebuilt, and in the VI century it was completely destroyed
either by the Avars or the Slavs. In 1380, a fortified settlement called
Ruse, located near the Roman ruins, was mentioned. The origin of the
name is unknown; it most likely has nothing to do with Russia. At that
moment, Ruse was part of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom, which did not
have long to exist — in 1393, the Turks stormed the capital of the
kingdom, Veliko Tarnovo, and in 1395 inflicted a crushing defeat on the
Bulgarians in the battle of Nikopol, and the Bulgarian state ceased to
exist.
In the Ottoman Empire, Ruse, although it was destroyed
again in 1595 during the war between Turkey and Wallachia, grew
noticeably: a large fortress was built here, and by the 19th century a
city called Ruschuk became the center of the Danube Vilayet of the
Ottoman Empire, which included almost all of modern Bulgaria and parts
of Serbia and Romania. Here, for example, the world's first
Bulgarian-language newspaper was published and house numbering was used
for the first time in Bulgaria, and in 1867 Bulgaria's first railway ran
from Ruse to Varna. In 1878, Bulgaria gained independence, and Ruse was
one of its most important cultural and economic centers, as well as the
second most populous city after Plovdiv. The population of Ruse was 43%
Bulgarians, 39% Turks and 7% Jews, mostly Sephardim. In the late XIX and
early XX centuries, many buildings were built in the center, which is
why Ruse is sometimes called "little Vienna". However, after the First
World War, where Bulgaria was the losing side, Southern Dobrudja fell to
Romania, Ruse ended up in the northeastern corner of the country, and
its importance began to gradually decrease. Sofia and Varna bypassed it
in terms of population. In 1940, Southern Dobrudja returned to Bulgaria,
but it was too late: although after the war Ruse became a major
industrial center, the city could no longer return to the role it played
at the beginning of the 20th century.
Ruse is located in the western
part of the largest Danube lowland - the Coast, and northeast of the
mouth of the Rusenski Lom River. While the northern bank of the
Danube (on the Romanian side) is low and swampy, the southern bank
near Ruse is high and dry. There are two flood terraces and three
floodplain terraces - 15 - 22 m, 30 - 66 m and 54 - 65 m. The
average altitude of the city is 45.5 m.
The built-up part of
Ruse has the shape of an ellipse along the river with a total length
of about 11 km. The city covers the area between the landlocked
island of Matei and the mouth of Rusenski Lom from west to the
height of the Sickle (because it surrounds the city of Ruse from the
south, like a sickle). In the 20th century the western end of the
city was significantly changed - the mouth of Rusenski Lom was
corrected and moved to the west, and the Danube bank and fairway
were moved significantly to the north.
South of the city is
the hill Sarabair with Leventa peak, 159 m high. On it is the
tallest TV tower in Bulgaria - 204 m with the antenna.
As a
port city on the Danube, today Ruse is connected to the ports of the
ten Danube countries, as well as the Rhine countries and the canal
connections of Western and Central Europe, through the
Rhine-Main-Danube. The high coast, on which the city of Ruse is
located, is invulnerable to floods. Exceptions are the flood
terrace, the places around the mouths of the Rusenski Lom River -
Saraya district, the former naval barracks and the port of
Ruse-West.