Shumen
Every city in Bulgaria in addition to the smaller parks nestled here and there between the busy streets has at least one big and beautiful park a little to the side. Shumen is one of the few with a whole natural reserve just up above it. A steep stairway leads from the city center to the top of the Shumen Plateau, to the colossal brutalist monument on the edge above the city, to the spacious park with its multiple panoramic viewpoints behind it, to the numerous trails through the woods and protected beech forest.
The plateau is densely wooded and filled with wildlife. I saw a fox and a couple of deer early in the morning less than a kilometer from the city limits.
