MONASTERY TOUR - Discover Bulgaria

8 days/ 7 nights

1-st day: Arrival in Sofia. Transfer to the hotel. City tour of Sofia /it may be on the next day, according to the landing time/. Dinner. Overnight in Sofia.
2-nd day: Breakfast. Departure for Troyan. Visit of the Troyan Monastery.The stauropegial Troyan monastery, “Assumption of Virgin Mary”, lies 10 km to the southeast of the old Balkan town of Troyan, in the skirts of the Balkan mountain range. Built at about 400 meters above sea level, the biggest monastery in the Balkan mountains is surrounded by beautiful forests and the Cherni Osam river, which gives a particular charm to the place. The monastery’s complex is quite developed as a tourist site with plenty of shopping outlets, restaurants and entertainment facilities in the neighbourhood. Departure and visit of the old town in Lovetch. Dinner in the old town. Overnight in Lovetch.
3-rd day: Breakfast. Visit of the village - museum Arbanassi. City tour of Veliko Tarnovo - one of the most ancient Bulgarian towns, is situated amphitheatrically on 4 hills - Tsarevets, Trapezitsa, Momina Krepost and Sveta Gora. Tsarevets was the capital of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom in the 12th century AD. Ancient travellers wrote about the town of Turnovo as "the second after Constantinople" in its beauty and might. The fateful events from the 13 centuries old Bulgarian State are related to this town, such as the Second Bulgarian Kingdom's apogee in the 12th and 13th centuries AD and the adoption of the First Bulgarian Constitution in 1874. Dinner. Overnight in Veliko Tarnovo.
4-th day: Breakfast. Visit of the ethnographic village "Etara" - active handkraft centre below the open skies, the Russian memorial church in Shipka village. Departure for Plovdiv. Visit and dinner in the old town. The second biggest city in Bulgaria is situated beautifully on the two banks of the river Maritsa and on six unique syenite hills called "tepeta". Plovdiv is all in one: a Thracian and classical Greek polis, the pride of Philip of Macedonia, the capital of Thrace under the Roman Empire, a centre of Byzantinism, a stronghold of the Bulgarians, a dream of the crusaders, a magnificent,
wealthy and most important city. In the year 342 BC the town was conquered by Philip II of Macedonia and was called Philipopol. During Roman times it was given the name of Trimontsium "town on three hills". The Slavs called it Plovdiv. Overnight in Plovdiv.
5-th day: Breakfast. Visit of the Bachkovo Monastery. The second largest Bulgarian monastery, the Bachkovo cloister, lies in the valley of the Chepelare river, about 10km to the south of the town of Assenovgrad. Bachkovo Monastery was built in 1083 by Grigor Bakuriani a military in the Byzantine Empire, a Georgian by origin. From that time is the ossify with its exquisite architecture and wall-paintings. The winter church of the Archangels dates in all likelihood to the l2th century. After 1344 king Ivan Alexander raised several new buildings. In the early l6th century the monastery was destroyed by the Turkish conquerors to be restored in the late l6th century. Of great interest are the monastery refectory -1601, the big domed kitchen the church of the Assumption-1604, with murals dating from 1643, the domed church of St Nicholas-1837, decorated in 1840 by the Revival Period painter Zahari Zograph. Departure for Pamporovo. City tour of the town Smolyan /ethnographic museum/. Dinner in a traditional tavern. Overnight in Pamporovo.
6-th day: Breakfast. Visit of the town Melnik /old wine producing centre/, the Rozhen Monastery, winetasting and dinner in Melnik. The town of Melnik attracts lots of Bulgarian and foreign tourists with its pyramids shining, golden-yellow, whimsical, shaped on the background of magnificent Pirin mountain. 380 m. over the sea level, MELNlK is rich in cultural monuments - pledge and tombstones, architectural details, coins, etc. MELNlK is an old wine center. Melnik wine was highly appreciated at the market of Thessalonica. The town has been popular as a wine-growing region since l346. The town is an architectural preserve. Cultural monuments are 96 buildings. The houses are amphitheatrically situated throughout Melnik golden rocks thus forming tiny streets with numerous workshops and cellars having wrought gates and shutters.Overnight in Melnik.
7-th day: Breakfast. Departure and visit of the Rila Monastery. Rila Monastery was founded in the l0th century by the Bulgarian monk St. John of Rila and was rebuilt in the l3th -l4th century. From that time are the fortress tower -1334, the bishop's throne, richly carved doors and some manuscripts, icon-paintings and church plates. In the l5th century, when Bulgaria fell to the Ottoman Turks, the monastery was abandoned for a short time but in the second half of the same century it was restored to a new life. Later it was for several times plundered and ravaged. Its thorough renovation began in the early l9th century. It was then that the residential wings and the church of the Holy Virgin were raised. The Rila Monastery has been listed as a world monument of culture. In it there is a well-appointed museum. Departure for Sofia. Leisure time in Sofia. Dinner in a typical folk restaurant. Overnight in Sofia.
8-th day: Breakfast. Leisure time. Transfer to Sofia airport.