Daily Telegraph: Who needs Sofia, when you have Plovdiv
Telegraph arranges 13 non-urban cities that are worth visiting because they have a lot to offer. The top ranking starts with Bulgarian participation.
Who needs Sofia, when you have...
Plovdiv, Bulgaria
"The main draw is the Old Town, which nestles on top of, and cascades down three hills," writes Robert Nurden.
"There are Thracian and Greek remains alongside the Roman ones and they, in turn, lie next to, and beneath, 400 recently-restored 19th-century wooden frame houses. The amphitheatre, too, is magnificent and the highlight of the city."
How to get there: Ryanair fly direct from Stansted.
It is rare a country's prime urban draw is not its capital - though there are some famous examples (Rio de Janeiro, Barcelona, Sydney) - but what you are likely to find on a trip to a second city is often a dialled down, rough round the edges, more genuine representation of a nation's way of life.
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