31 January 2008 | Thracian treasures, Ceauşescu’s birth home, Roman ruins, military tombs and mineral water springs are only some of the alternative tourist attractions that the districts of Pleven in Bulgaria and Olt in Romania will tap into during the implementation of a new project for cross-border cooperation.

The goal of the project, backed by a partnership between the two district administrations and various non-profit organisations, is to better utilise the natural, historical and ecological resources of the two neighbouring districts, located across one another on the Danube River, Stilyan Vurbanov, the project’s leader, said.

After evaluation by experts of these resources, a common strategy for the development of alternative tourism will be devised and begin to be implemented towards the end of the year. It will include new package tours and the publication of a catalogue in Bulgarian and Romanian that will highlight the tourist attractions in the two districts.

Because the two districts are not located close to “traditional” tourist destinations, such as the Black Sea coast or winter resorts, the idea of the project is to concentrate on “alternative” attractions, Vurbanov told BalkanTravellers.com.

And a good idea it seems, as neither district seems to be lacking such alternatives. Both provide numerous activities on the Danube and its tributaries, such as sailing, fishing and simply going to the beach, but also a wide variety of historical, cultural and natural attractions.

The city of Pleven, which is the Bulgarian district’s administrative centre, is known for the large number of museums it houses. Many of the city’s historical sites are connected to the 1877-1878 Russo-Turkish War that resulted in Bulgaria’s independence, ending nearly five centuries of Ottoman rule. The hardest and longest battle of the war was the so-called Siege on Pleven, during which the Ottoman troops retained the city for almost five months, while under siege from Russian, Romanian and Finnish armies.

While there are almost 200 monuments on Pleven’s territory that commemorate different battles, one of the most important ones is the mausoleum-tomb of the Russian and Romanian soldiers that died during the war. According to Vurbanov, such sites – as they have a common historical importance to both Bulgaria and Romania, offer the opportunity of a kind of pilgrimage tourism.

The Pleven district also boasts other historical and natural attractions. Important Thracian remains from the fourth century BC, known as the Treasure from Lukovit, were discovered in the Balana area southwest of the city. The caves, waterfalls, and therapeutic mineral water springs in the district’s natural reserves of Krushuna and Steneto make them suitable for development as ecotourism and balneology destinations.

Romania’s Olt district does not fall behind with its assortment of alternative tourist attractions. Among them is the port town of Corabia with its Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral and the archaeological remains of the Daco-Roman Sucidava settlement. Situated on the Danube’s bank, it boasts the first Christian basilica in Romania, a secret underground fountain and the remains of a bridge built by Constantine the Great.

Those interested in more recent political history could visit Scorniceşti, the birthplace of Nicolae Ceauşescu, the communist dictator who ruled Romania for almost a quarter of a century. Even though, in the late 1980s, he attempted to make Scorniceşti a model town by demolishing village houses and replacing them with apartment buildings, his birth home was left intact and can be seen today.

All of these attractions are already there, so eager tourists who seek experiences off the beaten track could take it upon themselves and visit them independently, without having to wait for the completion of the cooperation project and its planned package tours.