Small and amphitheatrical, Tutrakan usually remains outside the tourist beaten track, though some visitors swear by the uniqueness of its sunsets when the sun disappears in the River Danube. Indeed, the modest and much-restored remains of the Roman castle Transmariska, which protected the imperial border between the 1st and 4th centuries, are not especially attractive. Today the majority of the buildings in Tutrakan are soulless housing projects of the Communist era.

But Tutrakan's downtown has preserved some beautiful buildings from the turn of the 20th century, and one of them houses the local history museum. Visiting the art gallery, which is a part of the museum, is strongly recommended as it focuses on Bulgarian and foreign artists who have painted Tutrakan. Many have found the modest local houses, gardens and, of course, the Danube sunsets atmospheric, beautiful and magical.

Central Tutrakan still preserves some fine fin-de-siècle buildings

The Danube Fishing and Boat-Building Museum offers a more pragmatic view of what Tutrakan's life used to look like. It tells a little-known story, that of Tutrakan as a fishing centre along the Bulgarian course of the Danube. Back in the 19th century local fish was in high demand, and Tutrakan boatbuilders developed a specific type of vessel. The town eventually became Bulgaria's fishing centre, the home of the country's first fishing cooperative, which was set up here in 1907. In those years, half the town's population lived off fishing.

The fishermen's neighbourhood is doing its best to preserve the spirit of those bygone times. Fishermen and their families still live in traditional-style houses. The area has grown organically alongside the river bank, and today is the only authentic fishermen's community along the Bulgarian course of the Danube.

According to the inscription, this military boat is a monument to "the eternal and invincible friendship between the fraternal Russian and the Bulgarian people, and stands as a new symbol of that camaraderie" 

Tutrakan is also the best place to try a meal that you will be offered in each Danubian town: fish soup. The local iteration is considered superior to all the rest as it is made from at least five (up to 14) different fish species, always fresh. Using potatoes is frowned upon, but adding something tartish such as sour plums is recommended. Lovage is a preferred condiment.

Notwithstanding the soup and the sunsets, Tutrakan looks like the last place on earth to be worth heavy fighting. Yet fierce hostilities mark the town's history, from the Romans to modernity.

One poignant reminder of the fiercest of those lies a few miles south of Tutrakan. There, amid the hilly grain fields, there is a large military cemetery. Rows of graves encircle a chapel; here and there are old machine guns. There is an obelisk, too, with inscriptions repeating the same words in Bulgarian, German, Turkish and Romanian: "Honour and glory to those who knew how to die heroically for their fatherland."

Tutrakan Military Cemetery

About 8,000 men were buried here, the largest military cemetery in Bulgaria from the wars the country fought for its national unification between 1885 and 1918. They all died in the 2-6 September 1916 battle at Tutrakan during the Great War.

In 1913 Romania took advantage of Bulgaria's engagement in the Second Balkan War, and attacked it, pushing the border to the line between Tutrakan on the Danube and Balchik on the Black Sea coast. Three years later, Bulgarians were ready to reclaim what they had lost. Together with their German and Ottoman allies, they pushed towards Tutrakan against an army of Romanians backed by Russians, and won it back, in early September 1916.

The victory at Tutrakan reverberated across Europe. Kaiser Wilhelm gave a champagne party in Bulgaria's honour, as its success halted the Romanian push through Transylvania.

However, Bulgaria's victory in the Romanian campaign was short-lived. The country found itself on the losing side of the Great War, and Tutrakan remained in Romania until 1941.