Oryahovo

Oryahovo is a port city in northwestern Bulgaria, part of Vratsa Province, in a hilly area on the right bank of the Danube just east of the mouth of the river Ogosta. A ferry connects it with the Romanian town of Bechet across the river and forms one of the main routes from Bulgaria into Romania. The town's name passed through several forms, among them Vrhov, Orezov and Rahovo, before the present one was officially fixed in 1886. The area has been inhabited since the early Neolithic, and the fortress of Kamaka stood about a kilometre to the west from the 9th to the 14th century. During the Bulgarian National Revival the town was an economic and industrial centre and a supply port on the Danube, it was liberated by Romanian forces on 21 November 1877, and it later served as the centre of an okrag. Badminton has been a notable local sport since 1980.