Bulgaria

The first independent state on the lower course of the Danube was established in 681 A.D. along the southern bank of the river: this state was the first Bulgarian kingdom. Traveling downstream, the first city in Bulgaria is Vidin, a historic settlement whose origins go as far back as the Celts. Vidin's most impressive sight is the medieval castle of Baba Vida, which dates from the thirteenth century and looms impressively above a bend in the Danube. The city of Russe, Bulgaria’s largest Danube city, is situated at the confluence of Danube and Roussenski Lom, the last of the tributaries to flow into the Danube from its right bank. Due to its location in the very north of the country, the Danube is only of regional significance to Bulgaria.