The Rose Festival in Bulgaria

Arrival in Sofia.

Dinner and overnight. 

Breakfast.

Depart for Bachkovo Monastery founded in 1083 by the Byzantine military commander, Grigorij Bakuriani. It is one of the largest and oldest Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Europe, considered as the second most important monastery in Bulgaria, after the Rila Monastery. It is known and appreciated for the unique combination of Byzantine, Georgian and Bulgarian culture, united by the common faith.

Continue to visit the Old Plovdiv: a lively and cosmopolitan city, Plovdiv offers the opportunity to visit a neighborhood made up of ancient buildings in the style called the "Baroque of  Plovdiv". Following the cobblestone roads that run along this hill visitors can admire the many houses that have hosted the most important families of the city for decades. Today, one of these houses, built in 1847, is home to the astonishing Museum of Ethnography.

A short distance away is the SS. Constantine and Helen built in 1832. Visit the Roman Theatre (from outside).

Accommodation in a hotel. Full board.

Breakfast.

Departure to the "Valley of Roses". Participation in a festival in one of the many rural settlements in the Valley of Roses: fields are animated by singers and dancers in traditional clothes. Tasting of typical products made from the extract of rose and visit to the exhibition of the ethnographic collection and production methods.

Continue to the city of Kazanlak where travelers will visit the famous Thracian Tomb (protected by UNESCO), dating back about 4000 years.
Continue to Stara Zagora. Visit the rich Regional Historical Museum and the Forum of the Roman city founded by the Emperor Trajan,  Augusta Traiano (98-117). It was one of the most important cities of the Roman province of Thrace. The numerous mounds scattered in groups throughout the region are an indication of the density of the population of ancient centers.

Arrival in Burgas. Full board.

Breakfast.

Departure to Nessebar - town under the protection of UNESCO as the richest place in history of the entire Black Sea coast.
Visit the Churches of Christ Pantocrator, St. John the Baptist and the Church of the Redeemer.

Arrival in Varna.

Visit the Archaeological Museum and the city center with the impressive remains of the Roman Empire.

Accommodation. Full board.

Breakfast.

Departure to visit the Madara Horseman - monument protected by UNESCO.

Continue to Arbanassi, a small village that housed the bourgeois families of Veliko Tarnovo. Here travelers can visit the medieval Church of the Nativity, known for its beautiful frescoed interior, and the house museum Kostanzaliev. This grand building was built in the eighteenth century by a wealthy merchant in the area.

Visit the Monte Tzarevez of Veliko Tarnovo where even today there's tangible evidence of the greatness of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom and the district of craftsmen.

Accommodation in a hotel. Full board.

Breakfast.

Departure to visit the Troyan Monastery dating back to the sixteenth century AD, most famous for the works of the great Bulgarian painter Zahari Zograf. Important political and cultural center of the Renaissance, the monastery hosted one of the revolutionary committees of the national hero Vasil Levski.

Departure to Koprivshtiza. Visit the historical center of this small town that is home to some of the most beautiful historic houses throughout Bulgaria. There are more than sixty of these houses built entirely of wood between 1700 and 1800. Visit the Church of the Virgin (Uspenie Bogоrodichno) and two of the houses-museum.

Arrival in Sofia, accommodation in a hotel. Full board.

Breakfast and transfer to the outskirts of the capital to visit the Boyana Church and the National Historical Museum. This church is an extraordinary and unique example of medieval church in the Balkans. Built in the 10^th century, it has some astonishing frescoes dating back to the thirteenth century.
Continue to the Rila Monastery that is considered the most important monastery of the Balkans. Founded in the tenth century, this monastery has been  an important cultural landmark of the country and one of the main centers of Orthodox Christianity for centuries.

Back to Sofia. Dinner and overnight.

Breakfast.

Visit of Sofia, Bulgaria's capital and one of the most beautiful Balkan capitals where tourists can admire the square Narodno Sabranie, which was named after the National Assembly building in the neoclassical style of the nineteenth century. The Aleksander Nevski Cathedral, built to commemorate the liberation from the Ottoman rule, is the biggest orthodox temple on the Balkan peninsula. Visit the church of St. Sophia, one of the most famous.

Byzantine monuments in the Balkan area reflect the transition from East and West.

Transfer to airport.