Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria

The precipitously perched houses of VELIKO TARNOVO seem poised to leap into the chasms that divide the city into its separate quarters. Medieval fortifications girdling the Tsarevets massif add melodrama to the scene, yet even more transfixing are the huddles of antique houses that the writer Ivan Vazov likened to frightened sheep, bound to the rocks by wild lilac and vines, forming picturesque reefs veined by steps and narrow streets.

But for Bulgarians the city has a deeper significance. When the National Assembly met here to draft Bulgaria's first constitution in 1879, it consciously did so in the former capital of the Second Kingdom (1185–1396) whose medieval civilization was snuffed out by the Turks. Reclaiming this heritage was an integral part of the National Revival, and since independence archeologists have been keenly uncovering the past of Tarnovo "the Great".

Lying on an incline, the city's drab modern centre holds most of Tarnovo's downtown shopping area along bul. Levski and bul. Nezavisimost. From here you can proceed eastwards on foot and let yourself be drawn gradually into the old town. This is fascinating, not so much for its specific sights, of which there are relatively few, but for the feel of the place generally: there's always a fresh view of the city poised above the gorges or some new, unexpected detail.