UK and Europe Roadtrip - Veliko Tarnovo

It was the Byzantines that built the first significant fortress here from the 400s to 600s AD. It was rebuilt and enlarged by the Slavs and Bulgars in the next couple of centuries. The Byzantines were back building again in the 1100s until Târnovgrad (Tarnovo) became the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire. The Turkish invasion in 1393 destroyed what was by then a magnificent castle.