Kozloduy

Kozloduy is a town in northwestern Bulgaria close to the second largest Bulgarian Danubian island, Kozloduy island. It is administrative centre of municipality, part of Vratsa district. It is  40 km from Lom, 83 km from the district centre Vratsa and 200 km from the capital Sofia.

For centuries on this Danube bank lived Thracians, Slavs and Bulgarians. There are traces (burial mounds) of a Thracian settlement from 1st century BC. Later through these places passed great Roman road along the Danube. This is confirmed by the ruins Roman castles Magura Piatra (or Regiana), Kamistrum and Augusta in the surroundings of Kozloduy. The first known written record of the existence of a village here is from 1483. In 18th century it was called Kotozluk, Kozludere ("a low comb"), and later Kozloduy ("an angle of ice blocks").

Kozloduy is famous for the Austrian "Radetski steamship” (by now Historical museum), the boat in which the great Bulgarian poet and revolutionary Christo Botev crossed the Danube River, in 1876, in a final attempt to gather an army and liberate Bulgaria from the Ottoman rule. On 23 November 1877 the 8th cavalry regiment with Commander Alexandru Perets liberated Kozloduy from the Ottomans. This cavalry was part of the Romanian Forces under the command of the Russian Army.

The town is also known for the Kozloduy Nuclear Plant which provides employment for many qualified personnel. There are two big companies, one in the building sector and one in the sphere of electronics.

The agriculture is well developed. Kozloduy is located in the fertile granary of Bulgaria that was named “Zlatiata” (The Golden plain) by the ancient Bulgarians.

The surroundings are suitable for fishing and hunting.

The cultural institutions are: St. Trinity Church and Holy Ascension Church, Library, Community Centre, Municipal Children’s’ Complex, House of power engineers etc.

Regularly are celebrated:

27 May: The descent of Christo Botev on the Danube bank of Kozloduy

19 June: Day of power engineers

29 June: Day of the Danube.

In the municipality of Kozloduy tourism is related to providing opportunities for recreation and entertainment.

Two main routes cross the municipality: the national tourism campaign "In the Footsteps of Botev" and the International Danube Regatta TID.

Subjects of organized tourism are: the National Historical Museum “Steamship Radetzky" in Kozloduy and the excavations of the Augusta Roman castle near the village of Harlets.

In the region of Kozloduy there is a great biodiversity of birds and plants: near the town is the protected site “Kozloduy” (10 ha valuable landscape). Regularly are organized events related to ornithology. Different clubs of ecology and nature in schools also organize cleaning, research and nature protection in the region. The other development trends in the sphere of tourism are: horseback riding, water sports, yachting, photo-safari, cultural and rural tourism.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kozloduy

    http://www.guide-bulgaria.com/NW/Vratsa/Kozloduy/Kozloduy