Discovering Vidin, a Danubian City with Glorious Past

Novinite is republishing another story by our reader Leon de Leeuw about his visit to city of Vidin in Northwestern Bulgaria.

You can read the other stories about his travels that we have reprinted here.

Vidin is a city in northern Bulgaria, situated along the Danube river bordering Romania. Besides, Vidin is quite near the Serbian border as well. Vidin has always been a crossroads of routes heading in all directions. The city has a new bridge crossing the Danube to Romania, which is very convenient for trucks making their way through this part of the Balkans.

Vidin has a long history city and besides the modern bridge, it has many well-preserved historical sights. The landmark of Vidin is the Baba Vida fortress, built between the 10th and 14th Century. It is said that this is the only entirely preserved medieval fortress in Bulgaria. In the 14th Century, Hungarian forces conquered the city and its fortress. Vidin regained independence after four years, yet this freedom was short lived. The city fell in hands of the Ottomans, who spread their rule until 1878; when Vidin became Bulgarian again.

Another mark of Vidin's glorious past is the Synagogue. This treasure became abandoned after a large Jewish migration to Israel and was left to decay ever since. One can only imagine how it looked in its glory days. Nowadays, the synagogue has no more roof and the elements are taking over. It is a sad sight but the stucture remains beautiful in its own way. Do beware when visiting as the vegetation inside could cause you to trip.

After the fall of communism, the city coped with serious depopulation. Currently, it is the 20th city of Bulgaria by population, having about 47.000 residents. Due to a lack of funds, the city's...