My time in Plovdiv was filled with visits to many historical sites. The Thracians established Plovdiv on three hills in the 5th Century BC. However, it was captured by the Romans and prospered until the Huns destroyed it in 447 AD. In the 6th Century AD, Plovdiv was occupied by Slavic peoples and passed between the Bulgarians and the Ottomans. In 1885, Plovdiv was reunified with Bulgaria and it is now the second largest city in Bulgaria. Plovdiv is the history major’s delight because of the plethora of history on each corner. The sites we visited were many…here are the ones off the top of my head… the Monument of Philip II of Macedonia, the ancient Roman Stadium, the church of the Holy Virgine, the Dzhumaya Mosque, the Ethnographic Museum, the Hissar Kapiya, the Roman Amphitheater, and the Sveta Nedelya church. We saw many many other sites, but they are too numerous to recount. The ancient Roman Stadium is at the center of the Old Town of Plovdiv. The Old Town is lined with shops and cafes as two of my favorite things merge—history and shopping! The Ethnographic Museum houses regional costumes of Bulgarians through the ages and provides a history of Bulgarian crops. It was also known as the Kuyumdzhiogh House and it was built in 1847. The Hissar Kapiya is the best preserved gateway of the fortress walls that once surrounded Plovdiv under the Roman Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Marcus Trajanus. One unique experience I had while in Plovdiv was my trip to the Dzhumaya Mosque. This was my first trip to a Mosque, and I thought it was beautifully decorated and it was interesting to see one of the effects of the Ottoman Empire on Bulgaria. I was able to share the experience with my roomies and I discovered that one of my roomies is a Christian and the other is a Muslim. The Sveta Nedelya church was one of several churches we visited in Plovdiv. This church was unique because it is one of the few ancient churches dedicated to a female saint.
The Roman Amphitheater was my most favorite part of Plovdiv. It was built in the 2nd Century AD and could hold 5000-7000 spectators. The stone seats had names of city quarters written on them so that the spectators would know where to sit. I took a picture of what I think was the inscription of a city on the bench…Being in this amphitheater was one of those life moments for me. I took a moment to picture what the amphitheater was like when it was first being used. Walking around the amphitheater that was utilized by Romans so long ago…I had the distinct feeling like “this is exactly why I studied abroad, for this moment.” I could be a part of the history too…if even for a brief moment. | 
