Baba Vida Tower

Where the Danube turns past Vidin stands Baba Vida, the only medieval castle in Bulgaria to survive entire: two concentric curtain walls and some nine towers, three of them still carrying their original battlements. Building began in the tenth century over the Roman fortress of Bononia. Under Ivan Sratsimir, the last tsar of Vidin, it was enlarged and served as his capital; earlier it had held out through an eight-month Byzantine siege in the reign of Basil II. Since the end of the eighteenth century it has had no military use. In summer the courtyard becomes a stage, and chamber music — Mozart's divertimenti among it — has sounded between the walls.