New Year's celebrations were organized in a number of municipalities across Bulgaria. Citizens and guests at the capital Sofia went to the traditional New Year's concert on Batenberg square. The celebrations in Bulgaria's second-biggest town Plovdiv started two hours before midnight. Some 100 policemen guarded during the night. This was the fourth time that the citizens of the Danube town of Russe saw 2003 together on the town's central square. The citizens of Vidin and Razgrad also welcomed the New Year at open-air downtown parties. On December 31, all passengers crossing the Bulgarian-Romanian border through the Oryahovo Ferry checkpoint were treated to sparkling wine. The Bulgarian customs officers and the ferry operators greeted all travellers passing through the checkpoint near a huge brightly decorated New Year's tree.