Wednesday, February 3, 2010

3 Days on Nessebar, Bulgary

Location: Nessebar, one of the oldest towns in Europe.
Hotel: Sol Nessebar Palace 5*

The town of Nesebar is one of the oldest towns in Europe. It is the successor of the ancient Thracian settlement called Mesambria founded in the Second century AD. Its name means town of Melsa. Since 510 AD it was turned into Greek colony town by Dorian settlers. They called it Mesambria and turned it a rival to the town of Apollo for the Black Sea trade. There was a theatre and a temple of the Greek God Apollo in it. Brass and silver money were coined there, and in the third century AD - golden ones. It was occupied in 72 AD by a Roman garrison. The town was of secondary importance during the Roman era. It started to play important role again in III-IV century. Around the year 680 the town was an Episcopal centre, and in VII-VIII century - an important, and strong and protected Byzantine naval base. In the year 812 Khan Krum conquered the town. In 864 Boris I yielded the possession of the town to Byzantine, but king Simeon captured it again. Since XI century the Slav name Messebar or Nessebar has been used together with the original name Mesambria.