Duration: 6 Days/ 5 Nights
Day 1
Arrival at Sofia Airport and transfer to the hotel. Overnight.
Day 2
Breakfast. Departure to Haskovo. Visit to Kirkovo School. The building attracts with the extraordinary abundance of frescoes and interesting architecture. In front of the school you can enjoy an incredible garden with green trellises, deep wells, boxwoods with beautiful shapes and numerous flowers. Until 1952, the school acted as such, then became the seat of the County Historical Museum. Examination of Monument of the Virgin Mary, a statue majestically towering from the Youth Hill over the entire city. She represents the local patron saint Virgin Mary with the Child. The statue is made of polymer-concrete, is 14 meters high and weighs 80 tonnes. It is built on a 17-meter base that has a chapel on it. In 2004, the city entered the Guinness Book Religion section with the world’s tallest statue of Our Lady with the Child. Visit to Chorbadji Paskal House Museum. The building where the house is housed is a two-storey asymmetrical building. Built in the middle of the 19th century by the wealthy Haskovo merchant. The museum houses a museum exposition, provided by the Regional History Museum in Haskovo, which reveals the aftermath of the Haskovo people after the Liberation. Accommodation. Dinner. Overnight.
Day 3
Breakfast. Departure to Mezek. Visit to a Thracian domed tomb, one of the most colossal Thracian tombs in Bulgaria. It has a mycene type dome shape. It is believed to date from the period 3-4 century BC. And is preserved entirely in its original form. Her findings are large quantities of objects of gold, bronze, iron, glass and ceramics. Six burial signs have been found, with the remains of a buried woman in the porch.
Departure to Ivaylovgrad. Visit to Villa Armira, declared an architectural and cultural monument and a beautiful Roman complex of residential buildings. Archaeological studies have found well preserved mosaics, rails, columns, marble lining, household items, pottery and ornaments. The villa is large and extremely beautiful, from which it follows that it was visited by representatives of distinguished families. Today the ruins are restored. Accommodation. Overnight.
Day 4
Breakfast. A trip to Perperikon, an archaeological complex located 15 km from the town of Kardzhali. It was inhabited 8,000 years ago, during the Stone Age, after which the Thracians were a sacred rock city, later lived by Romans, Byzantines and Bulgarians. Destroyed by the Turks in the 14th century. Today, you can see the remains of the ancient city of Perperikon, the tomb of the rulers, monuments from the antiquity, remains of a medieval fortress. It is the largest megalithic complex on the Balkan Peninsula.
Departure to Kardzhali. Visit to the Regional Museum of History in Kardjali, which was established for the purpose of collecting, preserving and promoting the cultural and historical heritage of the region of the Eastern Rhodopes. It is located in a beautiful building, built in the early 20s of the 20th century. It is surrounded by a beautiful park, sheltering over 30 plant species that can be seen only in Bulgaria. In the 80s of the 20th century the building was adapted for a museum. The exhibition was opened in 1987 and contains more than 50,000 artifacts that trace life in the Eastern Rhodopes from the 6th millennium BC. Until the beginning of the 20th century, chronologically and thematically differentiated in expositions Archeology, Nature and Ethnology. Accommodation. Overnight.
Day 5
Breakfast. Departure to Tatul. One of the most grandiose megalithic monuments found on our lands is the Thracian sanctuary near the village of Tatul. The sanctuary is a rock massif, and its tip is a rugged pyramid. The complex consists of two sarcophagi, a quadrilateral bed for the main altar and a three-meter well. It dates from the end of the 5th and the beginning of the 4th millennium BC. This is evidenced by the found pottery in the region. Departure to Benkovski. Explore the natural hub of the Mushroom. It is located just off the road to Zlatograd, in the direction of Dobromirtsi (between the villages Dedec and Dobromirtsi), about 1km from the village of Benkovski. It is well visible from the road, situated in front of an impressive rock complex. It is sculptured by nature in sandstones. It has a height of 2 m and a diameter of 3 m. It was declared a natural landmark in 1982, with a protected area of 0.2 decares. Visiting the Zlatograd Ethnographic Complex. It is from the Renaissance period and has been restored as a compact architectural reserve in the Rhodope Mountains. Traditional houses impress not only with their whiteness and round chimneys, but also with the peculiar combination of their architectural elements. Craftsmanship is very well developed. All workshops are active and you can buy authentic handmade items or order a product, choose an interesting original gift for a loved one, even you can try to make it yourself. In the ethnographic complex are traditionally celebrated a number of Bulgarian holidays and customs – Trifon Zarezan, Baba Martha, Todorovden, Enyovden (24 June), Christmas and others. The complex is part of the 100 National Tourist Sites. Accommodation. Overnight.
Day 6
Breakfast. Departure to Sofia. A visit to the National Archaeological Museum. Special attention is given to the Trezore Hall, where three world-famous treasures are exhibited: the golden vessels and disks from Valchitran (Pleven), the silver ammunition of Lukovit (Lovech), the golden jewelry and the silver vessels and coins from Nikolaevo (Pleven). They belong to three different periods from the history of Thrace: late-brass / early-iron, early-Hellenistic and Roman epochs. In this part of the exhibition are exposed for the first time the latest finds from the region of Kazanlak: all the inventory of Svetitsa mound, the unique golden burial mask, and the head of a bronze statue from the Golyama Kosmatka mound in Shipka. The walk tour continues with visit to the Presidency courtyard and the Rotunda St. George, which is one of the oldest architectural monuments in Sofia and the only one building in the city preserved up to the roof dated back to the Roman Empire.
The tour passes along the Cathedral “St. Nedelya” – one of the spiritual beauties of the capital and a bearer of a centuries-old tradition.
A visit to the National Museum of History. Emphasis is given to Hall 2, where the peak achievements of the Thracian culture during the 6th century BC are presented. – 4th century BC. The centerpiece of the shop is the showcase of the famous Panagyurishte gold treasure, a magnificent work of goldsmiths from the early Hellenistic epoch. Special attention is paid to Hall 3, dedicated to the history and culture of Bulgarian lands during the Middle Ages. Send off the group. Transfer to Sofia airport. Departure.
