Tryavna city

Historic city of Tryavna.

The city of Tryavna, that is to 40 km south of Veliko Tarnovo (50 minutes by car), in the center of the Central Balkan Mountains. If the landscape that surrounds Veliko Tarnovo is already quite impressive for its ravines and for the capricious curves that form the valley of the Yantra river, when we head south, as we enter the mountains surrounding Tryavna, the landscape is even more lush and lush, with beautiful forests of deciduous trees, robles, beech, etc… and numerous streams. You can see the purest air and a perennial freshness.

Aerial view of Tryavna, between wooded mountains, with the Clock Tower of 1814 in the middle.

The city of Tryavna (do not write like Triavna) has a relatively small population for a city, nail 10.000 persons. Therefore it can rather be considered as a large town, the ideal size to spend a full day of active tourism strolling through its streets, visiting its places of interest and typical taverns that we will recommend later…

If we have additional time, you can spend the night in the area and do a hiking trail that connects Tryavna with the Bozhentsi architectural reserve.. The route is about 10 km y 3 hours of duration and allows to know the typical town of Bozhentsi, that has all its houses preserved in their original state, with the traditional architecture of the Bulgarian mountains, white-faced town houses with roofs covered in huge slabs of natural stone.

Typical house of Bozhentsi

This type of preserved architecture from ancient times is also found in the center of Tryavna in various buildings, for example in the Church “Saint Archangel Michael”, It dates from the 12th century and is very picturesque because it is one of the few that I have seen in Bugaria that has a roof covered with natural stone plates (Yes, it is common in the ancient Orthodox Monasteries of the country, but not so much in the churches of the villages) and features a wooden bell tower so small and slim it looks like a fireplace. Also the surprise is not there, if we enter the main room of the church our eyes will widen before the profusion of colors with which its interior is decorated.

church “Saint Archangel Michael”

In the center there is also one of the symbols of the city: Clock Tower. It was built in 1814 and its height is 21 m. In the time of the Bulgarian Renaissance (XVIII – XIX) The Tryavna School of Art was founded and since then the city has been a prominent place for handicrafts and artistic works in construction. Even today you can find several workshops of artisans in the city center who work with wood, the metal, the leather, etc…. and they sell their products directly in their own stores at street level, there you can buy great folding knives and knives with stag bone or carved wood handles, wooden decoration items, all kinds of leather goods, folk costumes, typical pottery, etc.

Tryavna Woodcraft

In the city there are several museum houses, we recommend you at least visit the “Casa Daskalova” and the “Old School”, both buildings are worth it both inside and out, they have beautiful patios. The “Casa Daskalova” It has an exhibition of woodwork inside and you can visit the rooms kept in their original state, don't forget to look at the ceiling, it is made of wood richly decorated by hand. and in the “Old School” apart from seeing the beautiful patio, you can visit the room of the old school with the desks and old materials that were used in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Room in the Daskalova house-museum in Tryavna

Patio of the Old School building

Perhaps the most famous image of Tryavna is that of the 19th century stone bridge over the river and the old houses in the center. In each season of the year offers a different postcard image. In addition, the bridge is an obligatory passage because it communicates the area of ​​the Church, artisan workshops and Antigua Escuela with the area on the other side of the river where the “Casa Daskalova” and the main shopping street of Tryavna where you can buy souvenirs, crafts, handmade products, antiques, etc. Tryavna is a tourist place, but only among the Bulgarians themselves, international tourism still does not know it so it is a highly recommended place to buy at very reasonable prices, there is still “prices for Bulgarians” unlike the center of Sofia, Plovdiv, or other cities more frequented by tourists.

Stone bridge in the center of Tryavna.

In this shopping street there are also several restaurants and taverns where you can taste the rich traditional Bulgarian cuisine., they also have outdoor terraces that in summer are very pleasant. And for after the meal you can try the “coffee to sand”, a Turkish-style coffee that is made in a special container and kept warm on a bed of hot sand. Sit on a terrace of a typical Tryavna tavern and order this coffee, along with traditional lemonade and some pasta, sit in the traditional three-legged wooden armchairs and you will feel like you are in the Far East, although you really are inside europe…

“Sand coffee”, and Tryavna

And very close to Tryavna, a little further south still, there are other very interesting tourist places such as the Ethnographic Complex of Etara that reproduces an ancient town in whose houses artisans work as was done in the past or Sokolski Monastery.

Tryavna, and these places that I just mentioned, are within the Bulgarian province of “Gabrovo”, an area of ​​forested mountains that has great potential to become an internationally famous tourist destination for the type of rural tourism, active and traditions… If you want to know it we can help you, we prepare customized trips around the area, With a local Spanish-speaking guide or at your own pace with a rental car, contact us and discover this hidden corner of Europe before the big tour operators arrive…