Plovdiv is having the decade Sofia keeps being promised: Kapana filled with bars, the Roman theatre still in use, and a National Revival old town that people actually live in. The writing has not entirely caught up, and a lot of what ranks is a rewrite of the same seven hills.
These four are the ones keeping current. One is a city magazine publishing every week from inside Plovdiv; two are Bulgarian writers who cover the whole country and know what the second city is for; the fourth reviews the hotels and restaurants at ground level. Together they cover both the week you are here and the region you should leave town for.