Yambol

Yambol (Tundzha District) is the administrative centre of Yambol Province. It lies on both banks of the Tundzha in the historical region of Thrace and has 85,966 inhabitants as of 2006. Although the surrounding area has been inhabited since the Neolithic and was the location of the Thracian royal city of Cabyle, what is today Yambol was founded by Roman Emperor Diocletian in 293 as Diospolis ('city of Zeus'). The name later evolved through Diampolis and Diamboli to become Yambol. As the Slavs and Bulgars arrived in the Balkans in the Middle Ages, the fortress was contested by the Bulgarian Empire and the Byzantines until 1373, when it fell to the Ottomans after a prolonged siege. Yambol was an important centre of the Ottoman Empire until liberated by Russian forces in January 1878 to become part of Eastern Rumelia and later Bulgaria after the Unification in 1886. The predominant religion is Eastern Orthodoxy with a number of churches being present, but there also exist Eastern Rite Catholic and Protestant religious buildings, as well as a 15th-century mosque. Yambol Peak on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Yambol. Yambol is consider by some to be the 'Real Bulgaria' where traditions and the past still have a major say in the living here. At the same time the town has had an influx of investment recently. The tourism in the town has brought about more demand for facilities and night life including a number of modern apartments and luxury hotels. This is a boom town and it won't be long before the location, so favourible in terms of access to skiing and coastal resorts, will become an even more sought after place to live. A town right now with the best of both worlds in terms of town or country living.