Petar Kostadinov is an avid driver so it comes as no surprise that he found a way to take you to ancient Thrace and the Roman Empire without getting you off the highway.
The magnificent world of two ancient empires is just an hour and a half away from modern Sofia. Some of the best samples of old Thrace and Rome can be seen for a day in the city of Hissar (Hissarya, as it is in Bulgarian).
Hissar is almost in the centre of Bulgaria, on the southern slopes of the Sredna Gora mountains, just 170km from Sofia and 30km from Plovdiv. Most of the journey is on the Sofia-Plovdiv highway, which makes it an easy and fast drive from the capital. Because of the good infrastructure, a journey to Hissar is a wonderful opportunity for a one-day escape.
If the name sounds familiar, it might be because of the eponymous mineral water brand. Yes, this also means that the city is full of spa centres and hotels. In various history books, you will read that the first settlers of the small valley where the town is situated were Thracians from the Besi tribe. This leads us to Hissar’s first hidden treasure. In August 2000, a sensational discovery was made near the village of Starosel, only 20km from Hissar.
Archaeologists found an enormous tomb of what is believed to be a Thracian ruler, possibly Sitakes I, the first king of a combined Thracian empire. The tomb is open for visitors and seeing it is a must when you are in the vicinity of Hissar.
The town itself brings you to another, more recent, era, that of the Roman Empire. Technically speaking, you will not be visiting Hissar but Dioclecianopolis, named after the Roman Emperor Dioclecian (284 to 305 CE). Dioclecianopolis was the third largest town in the province of Thrace, after Philipopolis (Plovdiv) and Beroe (Stara Zagora).
The town was built in accordance with the requirements of Roman town planning – with wide, straight streets, decorated with statues of gods and goddesses, with marble baths, beautiful palaces and villas for the Roman aristocracy. To protect the town from enemy invasions, it was surrounded with a massive wall. Today the wall is almost intact in places and brings back the sense of its time, thousands of years ago. The wall is one of the best preserved of its kind, not only in Bulgaria, but on the entire Balkan Peninsula. Locals take great pride in the remains of the wall, especially in the symbol of the town – the southern gates of Diocletianopolis, called The Camels. At the beginning of the 20th century, the gate was broken off and the remaining arch was thought to resemble two camels. If you look at a bottle of Hissar mineral water, you will see the camels on the label. As for the food, you will be pleasantly surprised that prices are quite reasonable. There are more than 15 places where you can eat outside of the hotel and the quality of the food is remarkably good. Traditional Bulgarian meals are highly recommended.
