Targoviste

Targoviste lies on the Vrana River at the northern foot of the Preslav hills. Its name is related to the Slavic word for trade, recalling the settlement's life as a market. Under Ottoman rule it was known as Eski Cuma and appears in a sixteenth-century register. Merchants and craftsmen gathered for its famous fair, which became an important meeting place for the exchange of livestock and manufactured goods in northeastern Bulgaria.