In 2019, our group had a meetup. It seems pretty far away with a full year (and counting) of Covid travel limitations in the bag and the 2020  meetup having been cancelled. Anyhow.

As discussed elsewhere, we had settled on discovering the hidden jewels of Bulgaria. It was not visited much, so everyone could get their fair share of new ticks. And the assumption was that if one looks hard enough, a seasoned world heritage traveller would find a jewel among the world heritage sites; they can't all be mediocre?

Personally, I assumed Ivanovo would be a hidden gem. Rock hewn churches trigger memories of Petra, St Emilon, Matera, ... and longing for Ethopia. But Ivanovo clearly isn't in the same league as these sites. Ivanovo consists of a set of hermit caves that were somewhat sculpted and painted. They are dotted across the landscape. That's roughly it.

Getting There

We stayed in Russe, a scenic, somewhat touristy town on the Danube and came by car. I am not sure if there is a public transport option, but taxis in Bulgaria should be an option.

While You Are There

Since 1984 the Bulgarian tentative list holds a site called The Roussensky Lom National Park. We weren't quite sure what to make out of it and what precisely constitutes the national park, so some of us went off to an early morning futile geo caching exercise. Philipp and I essentially needed a machete at one point; the late Iain and Thomas had joined us. Looking back, though, you will visit the national park automatically as the churches are situated in the national park. If this ever were inscribed, it should be an extension.

Regarding further tentative sites, you will find along the Danube yet another Limes component. I have to admit, though, that the Danube border region is very different from either Hadrian's Wall or the German Limes, so I could see it being inscribed. Russe itself has a small Roman castel.

WHS wise, you have the Eastern Bulgaria hotspot to explore, but... it's all pretty dull. Svein and Randy skipped a revisit of the Madeira Rider as a revisit was less enticing than a late breakfast; my tick in the bag, I come to the same conclusion. The worst site in Eastern Bulgaria and featuring prominently among the worst rated sites overall is ... Srebarna Nature Reserve. Don't expect anything and then less.