Travel challenge #28: Hotzalich fortress

The Hotalic Fortress - a place we visited this spring when freshness and greenery were bold. Let me confess, I did not expect to see much ... It turned out that I was pretty confused.

This is a remarkable place that truly captivates me with:

• Its scale - the object occupies a fairly large area and there is plenty to see;
• Very good restoration, preserving the spirit of time;
• Great views of the Balkan valleys;

A little story

The archaeological site of Hotalich is among the best studied and maintained medieval towns in Bulgaria. Excavations in the area began in 1979 and continue to this day. In 1994 the site was declared a cultural monument of national importance. Over the period 2012-2014, the site was further developed with European funding to get its present look.

There are three main periods in the history of the region:

Early Byzantine: As a result of the research it was found that in the 5th century there was built a solid fortress guarding the approaches to Hemus from the continuous barbarian invasions from the north;
In the 10th century, a large Bulgarian city was built in the area with the name Hotel. The town also existed during the Second Bulgarian State. The city consisted of a central city core (citadel) and a suburb with 4 neighborhoods. Fortress walls with five gates and a defensive tower, a Bolyar church, were revealed in the citadel. The foundations of several churches, workshops and more than 90 residential buildings have been found on the territory of the outer city.
During the Ottoman rule, the area of ​​the fortress was the administrative center of the Hotalic district, whose name is supposed to originate from the name of the medieval Bulgarian town Hotel. In 1516, the administrative center of Hotalic was moved to today's Sevlievo.

Getting to Hotalich

Fortress Hotalic is located about 184 km from Sofia and about 4 km northwest of Sevlievo. It is very close to the main road Sofia-Varna - it is on the opposite side of the town of Sevlievo to this main road. Unfortunately, you will not be able to get off the main road directly to the fortress, but you will have to enter Sevlievo and from there follow the signposts.

And then, you will pass by the old bridge of Kolyu Ficheto over the Rositsa River, to go back to the main road, just below it. After you pass by the main road, the road enters a very pleasant villa area. About 3 kilometers along this road, along the main road, is the fortress.

The walk in the fortress

The walk in the area of the fortress is made on two routes - one on the hill up to the citadel and the other on the ruins of the outside town, located along the parking lot and the road.

We climbed first to the top of the hill, and then walked through the other buildings. Climbing from the parking lot to the top of the hill takes about 20-30 minutes. The uphill path is very well made and quite pleasant to walk. At its very beginning there are two houses with museum expositions built with material from the area. Then they begin one by one to reveal the interesting sites there.

The most interesting ones in my inner city were the pink church, a fortress tower with impressive dimensions and the impressive panoramic views from the highest part of the fortress to the high parts of the Balkan Mountains. A little under the hill also has a special observation site. One can sit there and long, long to enjoy the vast views.

To go back to the pink church or the so-called Bolyar Church. It is small and consists of a narthex (narthex) and a naos (a real part). In its small size it can be judged that it is a family church. She is believed to have served Hottonic's boyar and his family.

The church has a tragic fate - in a difficult period of use of the Hotalic fortress, it was supposed to serve as a courtyard, Water repository. From what I read, it is clear that it can not be said when the church was turned into a courtyard. Indirect evidence is believed to have occurred either during the Tartar invasion of our lands in the mid-13th century, or in the fall of Turkish slavery in the 14th century.

About the fortress tower - it was erected at the highest point of the fortress with the main task of helping to guard the Eastern Fortress Gate, which was the weakest place in the fortress. Besides this important function, the high fortress tower also had communication significance - it made a visual connection with surrounding fortresses.

After the citadel, we examined the two churches next to the pavilion in the parking lot, and then we headed for the other exposed buildings of the outer city.

The interesting thing in the two churches, near the parking lot, is that they are inscribed in one another, the outer outlines are the older ones. It was devastated during the Tatar invasion of our lands in the 13th century. At the beginning of the 14th century a new, smaller one was built on the foundations of this old church, which survived in the years after Bulgaria's fall under Turkish rule.

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