Ulitsata /Улицата/
Address: 79 Stefan Stambolov Str, Veliko Turnovo
Tel: 062/ 603 252
Open: 10.00 to early morning

Every country has a talisman city. In Bulgaria, this is Veliko Turnovo. Beautiful narrow streets, the magnificent fortress on the hill and young semi-tipsy people all around form the tempting atmosphere. You can get lost among this fertility of myths, glorious history and eccentric private stories caught at midnight in some nasty bar. And nasty bars are everywhere…

In the middle of the city centre, you can find one of these venues with notorious clients and a shady reputation. Its entrance is on the main commercial street and the title doesn’t hide this – Ulitsata is the Bulgarian word for “The Street”. And when you go inside, the street is still here. The walls are painted as house facades from the Veliko Turnovo of old. On the second floor you have a wallpaper panorama view of Tsarevets and through the real windows the River Yantra zigzags under your feet.

Ulitsata is officially a beer house, but actually it’s hard to find a certain classification because it’s a frivolous mixture of everything. In the evening starts the real beer fun, garnered with traditional appetisers, especially during the weekend.

And here come the city’s legendary drunkards who are the most interesting part of the interior. Some of them have long hair, wear leather jackets and come with spectacular motorbikes, which coincides with the night image of Ulitsata – a dark place with hard rock music and old rock ’n’ roll habits. Along the long bar, you will meet vicious glances and the scent of adventure will draw you immediately.

Shipka Pass

Every country in the world has a date in its history that stands out as the moment when both courage and sacrifice mixed to create a nation. For the French, some say this is the storming of the Bastille in 1789, for the Americans this is the Boston Tea Party in 1773 and for the Bulgarians it is the battle of Shipka Pass in 1877.

The story in Bulgarian history books says that the Russo-Turkish War of 1877/78, which resulted in the liberation of Bulgarians from 500 years of Ottoman rule, was decided on Shipka Peak on the Balkan Ridge.

The battle was seen as the ultimate proof that Bulgarians fought for their freedom and that liberation from Ottoman rule was not a Russian gift. For all those reasons, today Shipka Peak is a sacred place and is always full of visitors. The full extent the sacrifice of those who died there 130 years ago can still be felt. A beautiful, and at the same time majestic museum, stands at the top of the peak. It has seven floors of authentic uniforms, flags, weapons and personal belongings of the soldiers. At the top, a panoramic view gives the full impression of the battle field which has not changed much since 1877.

With the fearsome rocks and the open spaces it is not difficult to imagine the atmosphere during the days of battle. The preserved Russian cannons, placed at the same positions they fired from 130 years ago, help to intensify this feeling.

Once you have had enough of history flash backs you can visit the church in Shipka village. It is probably one of the most, if not the most, beautiful and magnificent church built in Bulgaria. It was built, in Russian style, to honour the sacrifice of the Russian soldiers.

Sometimes, after a long day, or even after a long night, when you don’t want to stay home, but you don’t really feel like going anywhere, you conceive the idea of a place where you can just go and chill. Enter G. Dewar’s Pub.

I cannot say that we first entered it because of its chic exterior. On the contrary, from outside, it looks a bit dingy and used; a cracked window is sustained with packaging tape; the the sign is a bit faded and there’s AstroTurf out front. Having a penchant for such well-loved establishments, one day we entered, probably just because it was there.

Looks were deceiving. A total of eight tables were divided between two levels, a small-but-serviceable bar flanked the back corner, and the walls were pumpkin orange. And there was just something about the layout that was very inviting.

It’s often busy, so you might have to wait for a table. Everyone goes there, or, all ranges of people go there. In the early evenings, high schoolers meet up for beers and sometimes purzheni kartofi. Other tables hold small groups of friends or business associates, or maybe a solitary ageing bibliophile.

Prices, as a whole, are very reasonable – our morning cups of herbal tea cost 90 stotinki; draught beer (Kamenitza – alas no Zagorka) costs 1.30 leva; bottled brews (including a few imports) are about the same, with most less than 2.50 leva; shots of hard alcohol start at one lev for 50 millilitres.

The decor is nice, simple, uncomplicated: kind of old prints of cities from the early 1900s, a few postcard-looking images, a kitschy fake plant in the corner. The music, well, it’s modern popular tunes, but it’s not played too loud, so talking is not impeded. And the service is fine.

Suppose you want to sit in the middle of a classily funky art gallery with a cup of tea, listening to live music and pondering the option to have a light meal, a glass of wine or something sweet. Too much to ask? Not if you’re in the right place. And that place would Chaina Tea House, and it would also be Snegana Gallery – since both of these places are together, as one, in the same space.

The orange, art-accentuated interior will tell you that you are in the right place(s). Comfortable couches and chairs beckon from cosy nooks. Graceful Viennese-style wooden chairs are grouped intimately around similarly dark little wooden tables. Tall windows let in enough natural light to set the walls aglow; at night, hanging paper lamps take over. The feel is that of a 1920s cafe, given an industrial twist by the presence of shiny ventilation pipes running along the high ceiling.

True to its name, Tea House gives taste and smell equal tribute with more than 40 varieties of tea (organic whenever possible), available by the cup or the pot or even to take home by the package.

As if this place didn’t already offer enough paths to sensory satisfaction, on most evenings between 8pm and 10pm there’s live music, usually jazz- or acoustically-oriented, performed by musicians both famous and not-so-famous.