The Town
Modern Blagoevgrad is centred around a sprawling pedestrian zone focused on the spacious flagstoned expanse of pl. Georgi Izmirliev Makedoncheto. Most prominent of the public buildings grouped around it is the American University in Bulgaria (AUB), established in Blagoevgrad in 1991 because the council offered it free use of the former Communist Party headquarters. Funded by the US and Bulgarian governments, it has 660-odd students from across the Balkans and the ex-Soviet Union, but this is set to increase as a new campus is built. East of the square, ul. Dimitar Talev leads to the social hub of town, pl. Balgariya , surrounded by scores of cafes on Todor Aleksandrov, Raiko Daskalov and other sidestreets near the river, whose old houses and shops had facelifts during the Communist era. Further north on pl. Makedoniya, the Vaptsarov Chamber Opera and a statue of the Macedonian hero Gotse Delchev presage a residential area whose only "sight" is a small, abandoned sixteenth-century mosque . Better to cross a footbridge and visit the Varosha, an area of preserved nineteenth-century houses around the Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin ( Vavedenie Bogorodichno ), whose fluid roof-line mimics the shape of a carrying yoke, while the black, red and white pattern on its facade extends right around a three-sided arcade linking the church to a freestanding bell tower. The nearby History Museum (Mon-Fri 9am-noon & 1-6pm; US$1.50) exhibits some fine icons and carvings from churches in Melnik and Dobarsko: Thracian, Roman and Greek relics jostle with stuffed Pirin wildlife, and brightly coloured folk costumes. Farther south is a large daily outdoor market , at its most lively on Saturdays, with sections for fresh produce, clothes and electrical goods. Alternatively, it's only ten minutes' walk uphill to the attractive Forest Park , where you'll find a small zoo and a botanical garden , with a rosarium and species from both the Rila and the Pirin mountains, dotted with interesting rock forms.
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