Vrav on the Danube - the difficult life in a village from Bulgaria's Northwest

published on 1/17/24 2:49 PM

Photo: Genadi Tsokov

Welcome to Vrav - the northernmost settlement in Bulgaria and the first Bulgarian port along the Danube River! In the not-so-distant past, Greek and other merchant ships loading grain, as well as passenger steamers on the Vrav-Vidin line, docked here. The village was once teeming with life. Yet today it's quiet here.

Vrav has a thousand-year-long history that takes us back to the Bronze Age. Around the 1st century AD, a Roman legion was stationed in the area, protecting the northwestern border of the Roman Empire. For this purpose, the Dorticum fortress was built, which was repeatedly ravaged by the Dacians, Goths, Huns, Slavs, Avars, but each time restored by the Romans.

Nowadays, the so-called Vlachs (or Wallachians) live in Vrav - a population that speaks an old Romanian dialect with a number of Bulgarian words and expressions. But the residents of the village, located in one of the poorest regions of Europe, are on the brink of survival, shows a report by Katya Borisova from BNR-Vidin. Like many other settlements in the Bulgarian Northwest, mostly elderly people who can barely "make ends meet" still live here.

According to the mayor, Nina Udroeva, it is difficult to talk about the development of small settlements, given that they are so severely depopulated. "We don't have a single asphalted street," states Udroeva and adds:

"There are long-term plans to preserve the buildings of the school and the kindergarten, because we have the promise of the municipality of Bregovo that they will start a project to build a Home for senior citizens in these bases. If we manage to do this, as well as repair the streets a bit, Vrav will take on a different look. We also have plans related to the wonderful location of the village, as the first settlement along the Danube from the Bulgarian side. The river is our wealth and that is why we intend to make a promenade by the water."

The village of Vrav has 191 permanent residents with their average age being 70 years. 80% of them are socially weak. There are almost no young people because there is no work. The entire local "economy" boils down to one agricultural firm employing three people. The lack of infrastructure is a serious problem:

"I have the feeling that the state has turned its back on small settlements. What investment can we bring here when we have no normal road to reach us! Otherwise, a family from Sofia with two children settled in the village and is engaged in online trading. They have ideas and say they can bring in other young people. But for this we want to fix the infrastructure at least a little. I am convinced that there is money, but it just needs to be asked for properly in order to receive it. Especially now, along with the new Recovery and Resilience Plan, quite a lot of additional funds are allocated for North-West Bulgaria and separately for the Danubean municipalities, and we are one of them," says Nina Udroeva.

Vrav can become a successful tourist destination. Here, the Danube River offers not only excellent conditions for fishing, but also for recreation. In the summer, islands appear in the middle of it and the beach of Vrav, although small, attracts tourists who want to be alone in nature. Here they enjoy the great views and the silence. Some of the houses in the village are in traditional Wallachian style. And although it is gradually declining, Vrav, like other settlements in the Northwest, deserves to be visited.