It held out eight months
The last Bulgarian stronghold to fall to the Ottomans in 1396.
CC BY-SA 3.0 · Bybbisch94, Christian Gebhardt — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bybbisch94, Christian Gebhardt — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bybbisch94, Christian Gebhardt — CC BY-SA 4.0
A fortress on the bank of the Danube in the town of Vidin in north-western Bulgaria, and the only medieval Bulgarian castle to survive almost complete. That is what distinguishes it: most Bulgarian fortresses are ruins or reconstructions, but Baba Vida's walls, towers and inner courts stand as they were, and you can climb the wall and pass through the towers. It was built between the tenth and fourteenth centuries on the foundations of an older Roman fort called Bononia. In the fourteenth century it was the centre of the independent principality of Vidin, and it held out against an Ottoman siege for eight months before falling in 1396 — the last Bulgarian stronghold to fall. The Ottomans then used it as a garrison, a prison and an arsenal, and added fortifications for artillery. The name comes from a local legend of three sisters who inherited the land; the eldest, Vida, remained alone in the fortress and never married. Visited on a ticket, and looking directly over the Danube.
The last Bulgarian stronghold to fall to the Ottomans in 1396.
Built on the foundations of ancient Bononia.
Vida stayed alone in the fortress, and it carries her name.
On the Danube bank, Vidin
The town is small and quiet on the Danube and its main sight is the fortress. Beyond it: the Osman Pazvantoğlu mosque and library of the early nineteenth century, the church of St Panteleimon, and the riverside promenade facing the Romanian bank. The newer bridge to Calafat in Romania makes it a crossing point. Most visitors come for a day from Sofia or on their way north.
The least-visited part of the country, holding striking sites: the Belogradchik rocks — huge red sandstone formations with a fortress built into the rock itself, among Bulgaria's finest landscapes. The Magura cave with its prehistoric wall paintings. And the colourful Venetsa cave. The whole area needs a car and the distances between them are short.
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