Oriahovo (Bulgaria)

Oriahovo is a Danube River cruise port and town in Bulgaria's Vratsa Province, with a population of around 6,000. The town is best-known for the regularly scheduled daily ferry service connecting to Romania (Bechet) across the Danube. The Oryahovo-Beckett ferry service (passenger and cargo) is one of the main transport links between Bulgaria and Romania and the most direct route to Romania and Ukraine from Sofia (Bulgaria's capital city).

Through its history, the settlement was named Vrhov, Orezov, Oreov, Rahovo, and first mentioned as Oriahovo in 1886. The 9th-century built fortress Kamaka (The Stone) is approx 1 km east from downtown. In September 1396, during the "Crusade of Nicopolis" (allied Hungarian-Croatian-Bulgarian-German-French-English-Burgundian crusader army assisted by the navy of Venice), Oriahovo (then controlled by the Ottoman Turks) was ransacked and its Muslim citizens were killed by the crusaders heading towards Nicopolis (now Nikopol). The crusader army was led by Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg (1368-1437) and attempted to liberate Bulgaria and save the Byzantine Empire (395-1453) from the Ottomans. Oriahovo was liberated after 3-day fighting in November 1877 (during the Russo-Turkish War 1877-1878) by Romanian army forces.

As cruise port, Oriahovo is included in the regular schedule of one of Europe's largest river cruise companies - Phoenix Reisen. The company in 2019 included Lom in the itineraries of 4 of the fleet's newest riverboats - Adora (2019), Asara (2017), Anesha (2015), and Aurelia (2007).

The next table shows the port sequence of Phoenix Reisen's 16-day cruise tour itinerary roundtrip from homeport Passau.