To date, the city center itself is filled mainly with dozens of restaurants and shops. The longest pedestrian street is bustling with life and is still a gathering place for all Plovdiv residents and guests of the city. And while in the past there were some of the most prestigious hotels, today the large buildings of this type are very few, and there are mostly guest rooms.
However, the team of the only bilingual digital guide under the hills will resurrect the memory of some of them and tell more about their history.
In fact, we have dedicated a whole separate post to the most expensive of the accommodation. Hotel Molle was the most prestigious under the hills and for a long time it hosted official receptions, gave banquets for ministers and accommodated the most important guests from abroad. The great writer Ivan Vazov also arrived there in 1920.
The building was designed by the famous Italian architect - Mario Pernigoni, who is associated with the Europeanization of a number of Bulgarian cities after the Liberation. The building opened with a lavish New Year's celebration. The event became a real newspaper sensation not only because of the scale, but also because the first elevator in Plovdiv, the first independent central heating and the first electricity generator were installed in the building. In the courtyard, a skating rink was built in the summer of 1920. And Kiril Petrov opened a cinema, which soon became a cinema park.
The hotel had more than 90 rooms, a spacious lounge, which housed one of the first cafes in our city, the drinks were decent and the beer was fresh, the food was first class, the waiters wore bow ties and flew smoothly around the tables. The furniture was in the latest fashion. Prices were quite high, and the social situation of the people at that time was quite polar.
Hotel Berlin was another popular place to stay on the shopping street. It was located directly opposite the stairs of Kamenitza, and at the moment, at the level of the shops, the office of a mobile operator is located there. In 2014, the building was restored according to an archival photo from 1934.
In the past, it was the center of attraction for all lovers of confectionery because of the culinary temptations offered on the ground floor. Over the years, there were still the confectioneries Milka of the Pavlov brothers, The Savoy of Bai Boris and after 1949 - the popular Alen Mak.
We’re heading to the last "destination" of our journey in the past, namely Hotel Paris. Until 1906, there was a dilapidated building in its place (the intersection of August 11 and Dr. Valkovich Streets, near Berlin). Then Neiko Uzunov bought the land and decided to make one of his dreams come true, building a charming hotel on the site. The project was designed by architect Mikhail Nenkov, and the building was built in record time.
The opening was on September 27, 1909 and the hotel was originally called Independence. Only a few months later, however, in 1910, the owner renamed it Paris. According to press advertisements, the building then had 40 rooms. In 1942, another floor was added, and a small clock tower appeared at the top, and in 1933 a restaurant with a garden opened its doors in the courtyard of the hotel.
After 1944 the hotel was renamed Stalin, then briefly became a student dormitory and then - returned to its original function as the Rhodope Hotel, and the café-aperitif to it is still in the memory of the elderly Plovdiv as Rodopi snack bar.
Today there is no trace of these hotels and the buildings are part of other business activities, but in case you are looking for cool places to spend the night in the center of Plovdiv, do not miss our articles and sites in the section where to stay.
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