Tsarevets

Tsarevets is a medieval stronghold located on a hill with the same name in Veliko Tarnovo in northern Bulgaria. Tsarevets is 206 metres (676 ft) above sea level. It served as the Second Bulgarian Empire's primary fortress and strongest bulwark between 1185 and 1393, housing the royal and the patriarchal palaces, and it is also a popular tourist attraction.

Arbanasi

The earliest written document that marks the beginning of Arbanasi's history is a royal decree by the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent from 1538, according to which the sultan offered the lands of the modern localities of Arbanasi, Lyaskovets, Gorna Oryahovitsa and Dolna Oryahovitsa to his son-in-law Grand Vizier Rustem Pasha as a gift. The four villages are united under the name Arnaud Kariyeleri ("the Albanian villages") in the document, and the first settlers may have been Albanians and Greeks from Epirus; although Albanian names could be found in the Ottoman tax registers, Orthodox and Slavic names already prevailed. Arbanasi experienced strong Greek cultural influence for centuries. There was a Greek school and divine services were in Greek (at that time Bulgarian Orthodox Church was banned by the Ottoman authorities and Bulgarian orthodox population officially had to be served by the Greek Orthodox Church).