Vidin
Boasting a strategic post on the Danube, crossed by a major international road and having served a key role in trade for centuries, the province of Vidin reveals a plethora of ancient monuments. Having started off as a Celtic settlement dubbed Dunonia, it soon evolved into the Roman walled town of Bononia, part of the province of Upper Moesia. While the adjoining villages and smaller towns are not of any historical significance, the province's major town, Vidin, displays a variety of important structures, such as the 10th Century Baba Vida Fortress. The town had key functions during the First and Second Bulgarian Empire, eventually evolving into a city-state. After the country fell under the Ottoman Empire in the 14th Century, the independent Medieval state could not resist the Turks' raids for long. Vidin never regained its political and cultural significance in the centuries to come.