Ruse is the biggest Bulgarian port town on the bank of the river Danube. After the opening of the Rhein - Main - Danube canal which covers 3,500 km and connects thirteen European countries with the Near and Far East via the Black Sea, the river becomes the longest inland waterway on the planet. Photo of Ruse This key position has determined the nineteen century long co-existence of town, river, and people, carrying the unique atmosphere of history as a precious heritage, and of future as an o pen road full of promises. The Romans were the first to build the fort which they called Sexaginta Prista (the port of sixty ships). Then came others, from Europe, leaving their indelible imprint in this intersection of material and spiritual culture, followed by the imbued with the zeal of drive and enterprise Bulgarians, who gradually turned the place into a centre of the Bulgarian national revival. The very name Ruse became a synonym of economic growth and cultural rebirth.