A rocky piece of land, as if thrown into the sea, yet it is connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus. Asylum and security - this is probably what the ancient Thracians saw when they founded their city of Mesembria here more than three millennia ago.

The Mesembria of the ancient Greeks surrounded the city with a massive fortress wall. Mesembria of the ancient Romans created the water pipe system and erected basilicas and named one of them Saint Sophia similar to the one in Constantinople. Nessebar of the Bulgarians, first included in the borders of the Bulgarian state in 812, built and painted the churches of Saint Stephan and St. John the Baptist, which became a prototype of the masterpiece Bulgarian churches of the 13^th and 14 centuries.

You can learn more about the ancient settlement called by Bulgarian and foreign researchers called the place "the Bulgarian Ravenna" because of its numerous and well-preserved churches, in this week’s Editor’s picks from Radio Bulgaria’s collection – “Nessebar - the ancient town inside the sea”.

Written by Diana Tsankova

Photos: Veneta Nikolova, BGNES and archive