Dobrich

Dobrich (Bulgarian: Добрич, also romanized as Dobritch) is a city in the north-eastern corner of Bulgaria, and the heart of "Bulgaria's granary", the fertile Southern Dobruja. With a population of just under 72,000 (2021), Dobrich is the 9th largest city in the country. It's the administrative centre of Dobrich Province, which extends to the small stretch of land border between Bulgaria and Romania to the north and to the Black Sea to the east, including coastal Balchik, Kavarna and Shabla.

Understand

The pond in St. George Park

The clock tower in the ethnographic compound (2015)

Dobrich lies on the flat top of the Dobrudzhan Plateau, a low but spread-out limestone plateau that extends over most of the region, turning into the slightly higher Ludogorsko Plateau to the west. The land is covered in highly fertile soil, a type known as chernozem (lit. "black earth" or "black soil").

During the Ottoman reign, the city was known under the Turkish name Hacıoğlu Pazarcık ("Hajiolu's small market", romanized as Hajiolu-Pazarjik in the 1911 edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica). After the Liberation, in 1880 the citizens decided to rename it Dobrich, after the Bulgarian feudal lord (despot) Dobrotitsa who ruled these lands in the Middle Ages and left his name on the whole Dobrudzha region. Together with the rest of Southern Dobrudzha, the city was annexed by Romania after the Second Balkan War (1913) and renamed to Bazargic (pronounced with a soft g). The region was returned to Bulgaria almost 30 years later, with the signing of the Treaty of Craiova in September 1940. Dobrich regained its name, but not for long.

In 1949, the communist regime renamed the city once again, to Tolbuhin, in honour of Soviet marshal Fyodor Tolbukhin (1894-1949), who had lead the Soviet thrust towards the Balkans during World War II, the subsequent occupation of Bulgaria, and the combined Soviet-Bulgrian forces that fought the Axis in Yugoslavia and Hungary. The name Dobrich was restored only after the fall of the regime, in 1990. You can still see an echo of the past in vehicle registration plates: in Bulgaria, they contain a letter prefix showing the region of registration. To comply with EU regulations, only those Cyrillic letters that look the same as Latin letters can be used. Some cities had to change, but Dobrich retained its ТХ prefix from Communist times — while in English it's read as "tee eks", in Bulgarian it's the "te ha" of Tolbuhin (Толбухин).

The Dobrich Epic (Battle of Bazargic)

During the First World War, Bulgaria joined the side of the Central Powers. In 1916, a combined force of Bulgarian, German and Ottoman troops invaded Dobrudzha, facing another multinational force of Romanian, Russian, and Serbian troops. In Bulgarian historiography, the hotly contested battle for Bazargic (Dobrich) in September 1916 is sometimes called "the Dobrich Epic" (Dobrichkata epopeya, "the épopée of Dobrich"). The city was taken and the Bulgarian troops advanced well into Romania. Nevertheless, the Central Powers lost the war and Dobrich would remain Romanian until 1940. A military cemetery with dead from both sides of the battle is still maintained in the city.

Yordan Yovkov

Yordan Yovkov (1880 – 1937) is a celebrated Bulgarian author, famous for his short stories, some of which are still required reading in Bulgarian schools. He was born in the Balkan Mountains (in Zheravna, near Kotel), but he spend some of his life in Dobrudzha and a number of his works are set there. That's why there's a museum dedicated to him. His short story "Albena" is credited with introducing that name to the Bulgarian language. In addition to many Bulgarian women through the years, the name is also used by the Albena resort on the Black Sea, 30 km (19 mi) south-east of Dobrich.

Get in

By train

Dobrich is on a secondary railway line than connects to the main Sofia-Varna line very close to Varna, between Beloslav and Provadia (Devnya is on the same line). As a result, there are several daily direct trains from Varna (about 2 hr to Dobrich), but any other connection usually requires getting to Varna first. A consolation is that about half the trains that serve the Varna-Dobrich line are modern Siemens Desiro units instead of Communist-era relics.

• 1 Central Train Station (20 min walk from the main square, along Nezavisimost Str). (updated Nov 2023)

By bus

Buses are a more versatile option, with local or national lines either starting at or passing through all nearby large cities - Varna, Shumen, Silistra, Ruse. Union-Ivkoni/Group Plus offers several buses daily from Sofia (tickets available online; passing through Veliko Tarnovo, Shumen and Varna), though the distance involved means that the buses either depart very early, or arrive quite late.

• 2 Bus Station (Автогара, Avtogara) (10 min walk east of Vazrazhdane Sqr (south end of the central square), along Polkovnik Draganov Str and Knyaz Dondukov Str). Amusingly, most of the station's facilities are in the small annex in front of the larger Communist-era building, which the station shares with a number of commercial entities. The station's "bus" side is on one of the largest transit roads in Dobrich (Rusia Blvd); the "back" (western) side is in a somewhat run-down area, but both narrow streets leading west will take you to the central pedestrian area. (updated Nov 2023)

By car

Dobrich is at the crossroads of three second-tier national roads and has a well-formed ring road. This means that it can be approached from six directions.

Road 29 from the north-east (Romania: Agigea, Constanța): it starts at the Negru Vodă/Kardam border crossing and merges into Dobrich's ring road (Road 97) at a large roundabout - take the south exit, and then at the next roundabout you can get off on the large 25-ti Septemvri Blvd.

Road 29 from the south (Varna): It splits off Road 2 in the western outskirts of Vrana, at a roundabout shortly after Road 2 in turn splits off Motorway A2/E80 at the end of Vladislav Varnenchik Blvd. On entering Dobrich, Road 29 simply turns into the same 25-ti Septemvri Blvd.

Road 71 from the north-west (Silistra and Călărași (Romania) on the Danube): after crossing the ring road, it turns into Dobrudzha Blvd, which crosses Dobrich's central parts before emerging on the other side of the city as... Road 27 to Balchik (see below).

Road 71 from the south-east (Kranevo, Albena resort, Balchik): it starts at Road 9 (E87), which runs north-south along the Black Sea coast, close to the Albena resort between Kranevo and Balchik. It's notable for passing through the green valley of the Batovska River, one of the few places in Bulgaria where you can see wood-covered slopes below a plain covered with wheat fields, instead of the other way round. On crossing Dobrich's ring road, Road 71 turns into a street that merges into 25-ti Septemvri Blvd.

Road 27 from the south-west (Shumen, Razgrad, Targovishte): it splits off Road 2 at Novi Pazar, 25 km (16 mi) east of Shumen (also close to the junction with Motorway A2/E80 at Kaspichan). After crossing Dobrich's ring road, it turns into 3-ti Mart Blvd and ends at 25-ti Septemvri Blvd exactly at the southern end of the pedestrian zone.

Road 27 from the south-east (Black Sea coast again): it starts at Balchik itself (again Road 9/E87), north of Albena. After crossing Dobrich's ring road, it turns into Dobrudzha Blvd.

See

• Ethnographic Complex Old Dobrich (east of the north half of the pedestrian main street). An area with several restored or reconstructed 19th century buildings, including an old clock tower, the history museum, artisan's workshops, etc. (updated Feb 2024)
  • 1 Regional History Museum, 18 Dr. Konstantin Stoilov Str. May-Sep: 9:00-13:00, 14:00-18:00 (closed Su); Oct-Apr: 8:30-12:30, 13:30-17:30 (closed Sa Su). Adult: 3 лв, various discounts apply; guided tour in "foreign language": 10 лв. (updated Nov 2023)
• 2 Military Cemetery Memorial Complex (Военно гробище), bul. "25-ti septemvri" 53. Contains the dead from the Battle of Dobrich (1916). There's a chapel and a small museum at the entrance. Visits only by arrangement; if you are not a part of an organised tour, ask at the history museum or contact them in advance. (updated Feb 2024)
• 3 Ethnographic House (Ethnographic Museum) (yard north of the little square in front of the St. George Church). Old house built for a local merchant during the Bulgarian National Revival, in the 1860s. Now a house-museum about city lifestyle in Dobrich in the period of rapid modernisations at the end of the 19th century. (updated Feb 2024)
  • St. George Church (on the eastern side of the pedestrian zone, close to its southern end). Small basilica-type church built in the second half of the 19th century. Like with many pre-Liberation churches, the bell tower was added later as a stand-alone structure. It still functions as an Orthodox temple, so mind your behaviour. (updated Feb 2024)
• 4 Literary Museum Yordan Yovkov (Литературен музей "Йордан Йовков"). May-Sep: 09:00 – 13:00, 14:00 – 18:00 (all week); Oct-Apr: 08:30 – 12:30, 13:30 – 17:30 (closed Sa-Su). A modernist (if not brutalist) concrete-and-glass building, also known as the "House-Monument" (dom-pametnik), built in 1980 for the 100th anniversary of Yovkov's birth. The exhibits include both things one can expect (various personal effects, typewriter, etc), but also a printing press, exhibits about screen adaptations of his work, and even a diorama of a WWI trench (Yovkov served as an officer in the war). Alas, most of the text is in Bulgarian. One of the 100 National Tourist Sites. Adults: 3 лв, various discounts apply; guided tour in "foreign language": 10 лв. (updated Feb 2024)
• St. George Park (park Sveti Georgi). The main city park. Main entrance in the north, a relatively open area with a network of alleys with benches. There's a statue of St. George slaying the dragon, fountains, drinking fountains, a rose garden, a large pond fed by a stream, playground, dog park etc. The tree cover increases considerably to the south and south-west, where there are various sports facilities. (updated Feb 2024)
  • 5 Museum-in-the-park (directly west of the main park entrance). A small, pretty building built in the 1920s as a casino. Permanent exhibition of dioramas showcasing the nature of Dobrudzha, and another hall for the 20th century history of Dobrich and/or the history museum's temporary exhibitions. (updated Feb 2024)
  • Monument to the Fallen in WWII - on the westernmost alley, the one running along the 25th of September Boulevard.
  • Monument to the Soviet Army - further south along the same alley, white stone soldier with a PPSh sub-machine gun in front of an obelisk with a red star.
• 6 Monument to Asparuh. A Communism-era monument to the founding ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire. A large statue of Asparuh on his horse, and smaller statues and bas-reliefs of medieval warriors. Like many similar monuments around the country (e.g. in Shumen), it was built for the 1300-year anniversary of the FBE's founding in 1981. (updated Nov 2023)
  • Down the alley behind the monument - 19th century marker of the mass grave of Imperial Russian soldiers who fell when storming the city in the Liberation War (the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878).
• 7 Monument to Dobrotitsa (north side of the large Dobrudzha Blvd, one km east of the pedestrian zone in the centre). Another Communist-era bronze monument of a medieval warrior mounted on a horse. Despot (Lord) Dobrotitsa ruled these lands as the de facto independent principality of Kavruna (modern Kavarna) in the middle of the 14th century, the period when the Second Bulgarian Empire had fractured into several feudal holdings. (updated Feb 2024)
• 8 Zoo & Animal Protection Centre. Apr-Sep: 09:00 - 19:00, Oct-Mar: 10:00 - 16:00 (always closed M). Adults: 3.50 лв, students and pensioners: 2 лв, children (max 5 yr): free. (updated Feb 2024)
• 9 TV Tower (in the southern outskirts, next to the city cemetery). Built in the late 1970s. Its total height of 146 m (479 ft) makes it the fourth tallest TV tower in the country. Not exactly a mainstream tourist attraction, as you can't enter or climb it, but you can get right to its base. (updated Feb 2024)

Do

• 1 Skate park (follow west the alley on the north bank of the pond). Public facility in the St. George Park. (updated Feb 2024)
• Visit the coastline - if you have a car, the Black Sea coast is less than an hour away. You can bathe at the beaches of the Albena resort, or visit Balchik, Cape Kaliakra with its ruined fortress, the rocky cliffs of Kamen Bryag or the old lighthouse at Shabla.
• Horse riding?

Events

• Day of the city (25th of September) - anniversary of Bulgarian troops entering the city after it was returned to Bulgaria in 1940. Celebrations include a mass visitation to the Military Cemetery and an open-air concert.

Eat

• 1 Restaurant Lebed (Ресторант "Лебед"). The name ("Swan") is explained by the location - overhanging the large pond in the city park. (updated Feb 2024)

Sleep

• 1 Hotel Dobrudja (Хотел "Добруджа"), 2 Nezavisimost Str. Check-in: from 13:00, check-out: to 12:00. A three-star hotel in the very centre of Dobrich - overlooking Liberty Square (ploshtad Svoboda). Free sauna/jacuzzi/gym. Single: 68 лв, double/twin: 104 лв. (updated Nov 2023)
• 2 Hotel Izida (Хотел "Изида") (west of the city park entrance; parking lot entrance from General Kolev Str). A low, modern 3-star hotel (built 2009), overlooking the St. George Park (and some tennis courts), and a short walk away from the pedestrian main street. Single: 75 лв, twin: 105 лв, apartment (double bed): 145 лв. (updated Feb 2024)

Go next

• East and south-east (Black Sea): Balchik with the Botanical Garden and the Romanian Queen's Palace, the ruined fortress on Cape Kaliakra, the Albena resort, and the port city of Varna with its resorts.
• North-east (Romania): you can go directly through the Kardam/Negru Vodă border crossing towards Constanța, or go to Balchik and move north along the coast via Kavarna and Shabla to the Durankulak/Vama Veche crossing to Mangalia
• North-west (the Danube): Silistra, Tutrakan, Ruse
  • Turn south again to Isperih, Razgrad, Targovishte
• West and south-west (the rest of Northern Bulgaria, the Balkan Mountains): Shumen, then Targovishte or Southern Bulgaria through the Rish or Kotel passes (Yambol, Burgas).