The first place we visited today was Arbanassi, which was very near Veliko Tarnovo. In the 17th century, the merchants of Arbanassi were very wealthy traders. But they left their homes often, and to protect their familes while they were away, they built their houses like fortresses--walls around their properties and fortified gates, bars on the windows, and with no balconies or terraces.

Today, these houses are being restored and are state-protected cultural monuments, along with Arbanassi's churches and monasteries.

Another Ambanassi house. I don't think we saw any houses that actually looked like a fortress.

Embroidery being sold to the tourists.

Embroidery hung on a wall.

Old walls along a lane.

Another wall.

The Church of the Nativity, the oldest surviving church in Arbanassi, built in 1632-1649. The church was hidden in this building which doesn't resemble a church. During the Ottoman period, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church was banned.

Entrance to the church.

No photos were allowed inside the church, which has five chambers, all decorated with beautiful 17th-century frescoes. However, there are many photos of the frescoes on the internet and this and the following photos I took from there.

There are over 3,500 figures depicted in the frescoes in about 2,000 scenes from the Old and New Testaments.

More of the frescoes.

More of the frescoes.

More of the frescoes.

The church's graveyard.

Castle seen on the way from Ambanassi to Ruse (also spelled Rousse).

On the way to Ruse.

Close-up. It is a restaurant selling hamburgers and malts.

An old house.

A gypsy wagon.

A country scene.

An old house and a man watching the world go by.

Farm house.

An old building.

Cows.

Coming into Ruse: a church with silver domes.

Soviet-built apartment house monstrosity.

A cute sculpture.

A sad statue.

The pedestrian area of Ruse, where we would have lunch. Note the purple tree on the left of the photo.

It is a paulownia tree with lavender flowers. Very pretty.

Buildings in Ruse. Ruse has many buildings built at the end of the 19th century and early 20th century using Italian, Austrian, German, and Belgian architects. It was once called "The Small Vienna."

Buildings in the pedestrian area.

The pedestrian area.

The pedestrian area.

A very large building with interesting statues.

The statues.

Close-up of Lady Justice with her blindfold balancing the Scales of Justice.

The pedestrian area.

The Monument of Liberty.

Close-up of the Monument of Liberty.

The bottom of the monument.

The Building of the Tax Administration, built 1901-1902 to impress.

The Building of the Tax Administration. It was a huge building.

Close-up.

More of the building.

More of the building.

There are seven figures on the roof, representing the arts, science, music, agriculture, commerce, defense, and the free spirit flight. Close-up of two of the figures.

In the pedestrian area.

Where the old men sit.

The pedestrian area had mostly non-tourist shops carrying regular merchandise, but this dress in a window was anything but usual.

In the pedestrian area.

This is what happens when there is no McDonald's in a pedestrian area. I already had pizza for lunch but needed to use the facilities, but no McDonald's, no free toilet. So you have to buy something at a cafe to be able to use their facilties.

Our bus was stopped when I took this photo.

So I tried out my 50X zoom to look for an interesting photo to take--a woman watering her terrace garden on the building in the center of the middle of the last photo.

We will be saying good-bye to Bulgaria. Photo: the Bulgarian border station.

Through immigration and now approaching the bridge that will take us to Romania.

Crossing the Danube River.

In the middle of the bridge, we crossed into Romania.