DISCOVER BULGARIA
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8 -17 May 2009
with John Osborne |
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PROVISIONAL COST: £985 the price includes return flights; accommodation;, breakfast, lunch and dinner each day; transport; services of the tour leader and a local, English-speaking escort; and entrance fees.
EXTRAS: drinks or tips, insurance, or any items of personal expenditure. There is a supplement for single accommodation of £225. |
Bulgaria offers visitors - and there are, mysteriously, too few of them from Western Europe - rich insights into its fascinating history and culture. People who travel there are struck by the country’s wealth of historical monuments, the fine mountain scenery and the wonderfully warm hospitality of the people.
Our very varied tour includes visits to the National Historical Museum in Sofia where the fabulous prehistoric Thracian treasures are displayed; the remarkable Thracian tomb at Kazanluk; the church at Boyana outside Sofia and the Orthodox monasteries at Rila, Troyan and Bachkovo, all of these mediaeval foundations with wonderfully vivid frescoes and set in attractive wooded landscapes; Veliko Turnovo, the mediaeval capital with its citadel overlooking the gorge of the river Yantra; Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second city, where the old town, with its cobbled streets, has a Roman theatre and fine, nineteenth century timbered merchants’ houses; and two of Bulgaria’s conservation villages, Arbanassi and Koprivshtitsa, which have beautifully preserved vernacular architecture.
There is a thriving and colourful local culture and an evening of folk music is included for us. The wines are deservedly well known; many are of exceptional quality and we shall visit a winery. Naturalists will enjoy the wide variety of birds, wild flowers and butterflies.
The tour is organized for us by SunShineTours of Sofia, a small, highly professional firm, dedicated to special interest holidays and Tour Operator of the Year in their country in 2004. They have been working with British groups for over fifteen years and are remarkable for their warm and friendly efficiency. Nothing is too much trouble for them and you will return from our tour feeling that you are now a friend of Bulgaria for life.
| Date |
Itinerary (8 nights / 9 days) |
Saturday 9 May |
Flight to Sofia. We transfer by coach to Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second city, where we have two nights’ accommodation at the 4* Princess Trimontium Hotel in the pedestrianized city centre. Dinner will be taken in the hotel. |
Sunday 10 May |
We have a leisurely walking tour up through the picturesque cobbled streets of the old Plovdiv. From time to time we can see the remains of the Byzantine city walls and we pass several well-preserved timbered town houses dating from the end of the Ottoman period, the 19th C., when Bulgaria enjoyed its 'National Revival'. We visit the restored Roman theatre, impressively situated overlooking the main city centre, and two of the elegant 'museum' houses, one of which is now the Ethnographic Museum, with a collection of traditional, local items.
After lunch in the old town, we drive a short distance into the Rhodope Mountains to the 11th C. Bachkovo Monastery, an attractive ensemble of buildings, where the Refectory and the Ossuary will be specially opened for us to see the wonderful mediaeval frescoes. In the evening we drive out to a local winery, where we enjoy a wine tasting and take our evening meal. |
Monday 11 May |
We drive to Koprivshtitsa, a conservation village situated among the wooded hills of the Sredna Gora, where the April Uprising of 1876 began. We will walk through the typical old-style streets and have the chance to visit one or two of the numerous fine 19th C. wooden 'museum' houses, which have been beautifully maintained. We have lunch in a village restaurant and our accommodation is the comfortable 3* family hotel, the Hotel Kozlekov, where we have dinner. |
Tuesday 12 May |
We drive to Kazanluk, to see the Thracian tomb with its fine Hellenistic wall paintings and visit the local Archaeological Museum where some amazing finds from recently excavated Thracian royal burials are displayed.
We have lunch in Kazanluk and then climb the the Balkan range up to the dramatic Shipka Pass, the site of a crucial battle in Bulgaria's war of independence in 1877. We then visit the 'model' village of Etura in a pretty valley on the far side. Here, in a street of old-style shops, craft workers use traditional skills to produce a fascinating variety of artefacts.
We continue to Veliko Turnovo, the 13/14th C. capital of Bulgaria, where we have two nights' accommodation at the recently refurbished 4* Grand Hotel Yantra. Dinner in a local restaurant. |
Wednesday 13 May |
In the morning we walk up to the Tsarevets, the old royal citadel of Veliko Turnovo, spectacularly situated with impressive fortifications overlooking the winding gorge of the River Yantra on three sides, and to the restored patriarchate at the summit. We then visit Arbanassi village nearby, where the highlights will be the Church of the Nativity, with its complete set of 17th C. frescoes, perhaps the finest set in any church in Bulgaria, and a 'museum' house, formerly the home of one of the village's wealthy merchants. After lunch in the village we return to Veliko Turnovo where we shall have time a walk through the old streets of the town before dinner in a local restaurant. |
Thursday 14 May |
We drive west to Troyan Monastery. One of the country's most renowned, it has fine timbered courtyards and a beautiful frescoed church. We continue after lunch near the monastery to Sofia, where our accommodation will be a quiet, but centrally situated 4* boutique hotel for three nights. We dine in a local restaurant. |
Friday 15 May |
Morning tour of Sofia. The centre of the city has some elegant buildings and is compact enough to be seen mostly on foot. The tour will include visits to the impressive Alexander Nevski Memorial Cathedral, built to commemorate the Russian soldiers who fought and died in the war of independence in 1877/78, and the churches of St Sophia and St George, both dating from the late Roman/early Byzantine period. We also pass the Bulgarian Parliament and the former Royal Palace, now the National Art Gallery and Ethnographic Museum. In the afternoon we visit the National Historical Museum, after lunch nearby: recently re-located to the former President's palatial residence on the slopes of Mt Vitosha to the south of the city, the Museum contains the celebrated Thracian treasures, beautiful silver and gold vessels from prehistoric Bulgaria, contemporary with Classical Greece. Dinner in a local restaurant. |
Sunday 16 May |
A whole day’s excursion to Rila, Bulgaria's premier monastery, which is beautifully situated in a forested mountain valley to the south of Sofia. Founded in the 10th C. it has a wonderful church and an imposing, arched courtyard, with fine wooden galleries and balconies. After lunch at Rila, we return to Sofia and have dinner in a local restaurant, accompanied by a colourful folklore display. |
Monday 17 May |
In the morning we visit the tiny, mediaeval church at Boyana, on the southern outskirts of Sofia. Specially opened for us, it has a remarkable series of frescoes, dating from 1259, one of the finest surviving achievements of Bulgarian painting. We have a snack in the Viennese Coffee Shop downtown in Sofia and after this we are taken to the airport for our return flight to London. |
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