SHUMEN » BULGARIA

SHUMEN - Bulgaria » Lying midway between Veliko Tanovo and Varna, Shumen is the obvious base from which to explore the historical sites at the ancient Bulgarian capitals - Pliska and Preslav, and Madara with the UNESCO protected mysterious Madara Horseman. The city itself has a fair share of ancient monuments and memorial houses, not least a spectacular medieval fortress that once guarded the road to Preslav. As Turkish Shumla, Shumen was one of the fourth heavily garrisoned citadel towns protecting the northern frontier, traces of which can be still seen in the surviving mosque, the Tombul Dzhamiya, and the Bezisten-a covered market built to cater for the needs of Dubrovnik merchants in the 16th century. Shumen is surrounded to the south and west by the Shumensko Plato national park where the monumental medieval fortress can be found-a real archaeological treasure of Thracian, Roman, Byzantine and Bulgarian traces.