Located on the right bank of the Danube River at the Romanian border, about 205 mi/330 km by road northeast of Sofia, Ruse is a pleasant university town with a rich cultural heritage (art gallery, opera house, theater and museum).
Sites to see in Ruse include Holy Trinity Church, the National Museum of Transport and Communications, the Regional Historical Museum, Urban Lifestyle Museum and the Monument of Liberty.
From Ruse, excursions can also be made to enormous Lipnik Park or to the ruins of the medieval town of Cherven, located 22 mi/35 km south.
But the real reason to visit Ruse is to see the nearby Ivanovo Rock Monastery, 15 mi/25 km south. The monastery—a collection of churches, chapels and caves with murals and frescoes—was inhabited by monks between the 12th and 14th centuries high up on the side of the picturesque Roussenski Lom River valley.
Just 4 mi/6 km north of Ruse is the Bridge of Friendship, which crosses over the Danube River into Gyurgevo, Romania; it is also the border crossing between Bulgaria and Romania.
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