Svishtov, Veliko Tarnovo Province, Bulgaria

🇧🇬 Svishtov is a town in northern Bulgaria, located in Veliko Tarnovo Province on the right bank of the Danube river opposite the Romanian town of Zimnicea. It is the administrative centre of the Svishtov Municipality. The town is the second-largest in the province.

History Svishtov is identified with the Roman colony Novae mentioned by Ptolemy. The emperor Vespasian sent the legion I Italica there 70 AD and Novae served as the legion's base for centuries. Novae served as a base of operations for Roman campaigns against Barbarian tribes including Trajan's Dacian Wars, and the last time during Maurice's Balkan campaigns. The legion was also responsible for bridge construction over the Danube.

The colony of Novae was the residence of St. Lupus of Novae.

For a short time the place was the main city for the Ostrogoths of Theodoric the Great. Theodoric occupied Singidunum in 471 and, after plundering Macedonia and Greece, settled in Novae (the modern Svishtov), on the lower Danube, in 483, where he remained till he transferred the sphere of his activities to Italy ten years later.

It was destroyed some time after 613, as shown by coin founds minted up to this date.

Geography Svishtov is situated in northern central Bulgaria on the right bank of the Danube river in its southernmost point, across from Zimnicea, Romania. The town lies 237 km (147 miles) north-east of the capital Sofia, and 251 km (156 miles) west of the major Black Sea port of Varna. Other important cities in the region are Pleven 80 km (50 miles) away, and Ruse 90 km (56 miles) away.

The port of Svishtov is the southernmost harbour on the Danube. It is served around the clock by the Svishtov-Zimnich ferry — a regular operation Ro-ro ferryboat across the Danube between Svishtov and Zimnicea. The ferry shortens the road path to and from Turkey to Central and Western Europe by 140 km (87 miles) when compared to the traditional route over the Danube Bridge at Ruse-Giurgiu and allows a time gain of nearly four hours thus avoiding the traffic in and around the city of Bucharest.