HIGHLIGHTS OF ROMANIA AND BULGARIA
AN ELEVEN-DAY DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURE TOUR
INCLUDING BUCHAREST & THE PAINTED MONASTERIES OF BUCOVINA,
OFF THE BEATEN TRACK SITES,
SIGHISOARA AND THE TRANSYLVANIAN CASTLES
ALONG WITH BULGARIA'S COUNTRYSIDE AND MAIN CULTURAL HIGHLIGHTS.
Itinerary:Bucharest City Tour - Bucovina Frescoed Monasteries - The Borgo Pass - Art Nouveau in Targu Mures - Gypsy Family Visit - Transylvanian Highlights & Sibiu - Home Hosted Dinner - Horse & Carriage Ride - Bran & Peles Castles Bulgaria: Ruse - Roman Ruins at Nicopolis Ad Istrum - Veliko Tarnovo - Valley of the Roses - Rila Monastery - Sofia City Tour
Day 1:
Arrival to Bucharest
Afternoon arrival Bucharest – the capital of Romania and the largest city between Berlin and Athens. Your English speaking tour guide will meet you at the Coanda International Airport with a name sign reding COMPASS TRAVEL. Transfer to Bucharest with a short orientation tour on the way to your downtown hotel. Check in and time at leisure in the city.
OPTIONAL: In the evening enjoy a Traditional Romanian Welcome Dinner and Folklore Show.
T Accommodation in Bucharest at Hotel Berthelot **** (centrally located boutique hotel)
Day 2:
Bucharest City Tour with Parliament Visit – Piatra Neamt via the Moldavian Countryside
Hot and cold buffet breakfast at hotel. As of the second half of the 19 century Bucharest was known as “The Little Paris of the East” because of its many Parisian aspects in the city layout, architecture and nevertheless, lifestyle. Today you will drive on the grand avenues such as Magheru, Kiseleff and Victory. Stop in the Revolution Square and learn about the December 1989 Romanian Revolution. Then visit the Palace of the Parliament (the second largest building in the world) will put you in direct contact with Romania’s last years of its Communist power. The tour will also include Cotroceni Quarter and a view of Ceausescus' former private residence. Lunch on your own. Leave Bucharest on the way north to Piatra Neamt in Moldova. Arrive in the early evening. Short orientation tour. Hotel check in.
B Accommodation in Piatra Neamt at Hotel Ceahlaul *** (or similar)
Day 3:
Piatra Neamt – Bucovina Monasteries Tour & Traditional Bucovina Lunch - Choice of Tours - Campulung
Hot and cold buffet breakfast at hotel. Bucovina monasteries are gems of medieval Moldavian architecture and artistry. Each of them has a predominant color. Start your day with Voronet, the most famous out of all, known as the Sistine Chapel of the East. Voronet features one the best Last Judgment fresco in this part of the World. Receive a complete explanation of the fresco. Enjoy an egg painting demonstration followed by a traditional Bucovina lunch. Next is Moldovita Monastery is where the UNESCO Golden Apple Award given to the painted churches back in 1975, is kept. On the south facade of Moldovita is The Siege of Constantinople belonging to the 24 episodes of the Hymn to the Holy Virgin. Drive to the nearby Sucevita Monastery, which is the largest of all, looking more like a mighty fortress than a monastery. The Ladder of John of Sinai is considered one of the best of the frescoes of Sucevita, rarely present in medieval Romanian art. In the village of Marginea visit the black pottery workshop - they use a technique called "oxygen reduction”, there is the same technique in Mexico only.
CHOICE OF AFTEROON VISITS:
1. Visit the Salt Mines at Cacica, founded in 1798 OR
2. Visit the Bucovina Folk Customs Museum. The drive to the nearby town of Campulung for overnight.
B L Accommodation in Campulung Moldovenesc at Hotel Eden ***
Day 4:
Campulung – The Borgo Pass – Art Nouveau in Targu Mures – Exclusive Gypsy Home Visit - Sighisoara Guided Walk
Hot and cold buffet breakfast at hotel. Continue your Romania and Bulgaria private trip with a departure to Bistrita over the picturesque Borgo Pass of the Eastern Carpathians with a stop over at Castle Dracula Hotel. This is where Bram Stoker placed the “residence” of his imaginary character: Count Dracula. You then pass through Bistrita heading south to Targu Mures, one of the important Central Transylvanian mid size cities and known for its wonderful Art Nouveau architecture such as the 1913 Palace of Culture. On the way to Sighisoara make enjoy a unqiue opportunity to meet a Gypsy family in their own home, for an authentic cultural interchange. Sighisoara – this is the only still inhabited medieval citadel in Europe. It was developed by the German settlers as of late 12th century. It stands on a network of tunnels and catacombs and, according to one version of the myth; this is where the Pied Piper brought the children of Hamelin after their ungrateful parents refused to pay him his due. Walking tour includes the two squares of the Citadel (Upper Town), the Scholars’ Staircase, the Ducklings’ Square, the Tinsmiths’ Tower, the House with Antler, the Tower with Clock (climb up for a great view), the Torture Chamber and the Weapon Museum. Sighisoara is the place where the Vlad the Third, The Impaler (Dracula) was born in 1431. The Birthplace is today a restaurant and one of the main tourist attractions. Dinner on own.
B Accommodation in the Upper Town of Sighisoara at The House with Antler ***
Day 5:
Sighisoara – Biertan (UNESCO Site) – Sibiu Tour - Home Hosted Dinner in the VIllage of Sibiel
Hot and cold buffet breakfast at hotel. Drive to the impressive fortifiication of Biertan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site for a visit of the former Seat of the Lutheran Bishops between 1516 and 1867. Your tour continues to Sibiu: the chief city of the Transylvanian Saxons still surrounded by defense walls and guild towers. Visit the colorful open air fruit & vegetable market of Sibiu followed by a leisurely walking tour of Sibiu, the chief city of the Transylvanian Germans. One of the landmarks of Sibiu is the Bruckenthal Museum assembled by Baron Bruckenthal, Governor of Transylvania at the beginning of the 19th century and the second art museum to open ever to the public. The Evangelical Cathedral was completed in its actual shape in 1520. View the Passage of Stairs linking the Upper town to the Lower town, the 1859 Liar's Bridge and the Byzantine style Orthodox Cathedral, a replica of St. Sophia in Constantinople. In the picturesque village of Sibiel, visit the unique incon-on-glass museum followed by a home hosted dinner with one of the local families, an authentic cultural interchange and a dining experience. Enjoy the remainder of the evening in the old town of Sibiu.
B Accommodation in Sibiu at Hotel Casa Luxemburg *** (or similar)
Day 6:
Sibiu ASTRA Museum Horse & Carriage Tour - Fagaras - Brasov & Evening at Leisure
Hot and cold buffet breakfast at hotel. Morning tour by horse and carriage of the open air ASTRA Museum, a collection of vernacular houses from all over Transylvania dispalyed in a park. Continue to Brasov via Fagaras (view of Fortress). Brasov (Kronstadt) also was developed by the Saxon colonists as of the late 12th century and the Old Town is a true gem of well preserved medieval architecture. The walking tour of Brasov includes the famous 14th century Black Church with its 4,000 pipe organ and over one hundred Anatolian prayer rugs, the Council Square and the Weavers’ Bastion - a unique structure. Continue to the old Romanian Quarter known as Schei for a tour of the First School in Romanian, then view the narrowest street in South – Central Europe. Hotel check in and time at leisure in the lovely pedestrian area of Old Brasov with its many restaurants and outdoor cafes.
B Accommodation in Brasov at Hotel Bella Muzica ***
OR Hotel Casa Wagner ***
Day 7:
Bran Castle - Sinaia Resort & Peles Castle – Ruse, Bulgaria
Hot and cold reakfast at hotel. Take a morning guided tour of the famous Bran Castle also known as Dracula Castle. It was built in 1377 to safeguard the trading route between Transylvania and Wallachia, then enlarged and restored in the 1920 by Queen Marie of Romania. A guided tour of the castle is included. Enjoy cheese sampling on the premises. Continue to Sinaia mountain resort. Named after St. Catherine Monastery on Mount Sinai, Sinaia became the unofficial capital of the Kingdom of Romania towards the end of the 19th century. The orientation tour of the resort includes a visit to Sinaia Monastery and a view of the superb Casino building, inspired by the one in Monte Carlo. Once the famous Orient Express train use to regularly call here and it still does once a year on its way from Paris to Constantinople (Istanbul). Take a guided tour of one of the most important tourist attractions of the country: Peles Castle the royal residence of King Charles I of Romania and known as one of the most beautiful summer royal residences in Europe. We then continue back south to the border with Bulgaria. Meet your Bulgarian guide, change vehicles and continue into Bulgaria. Take an orientation tour of the center of Ruse with its classical architecture before your hotel check in. Enjoy the evening in the lively pedestrian area of Ruse.
B Accommdaotion in Ruse at Hotel Vega ***
Day 8:
Nicopolis Ad Istrum - Veliko Tarnovo – Kazanlak Thracian Tomb – Plovdiv Walking Tour
A la carte breakfast at hotel. This morning your Bulgarian guide will meet you at the hotel. Continues with a drive to the Roman Ruins of Nicopolis Ad Istrum, built in the early 2nd century AD by Emperor Trajan. Veliko Tarnovo, the former capital of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom. Walk on the picturesque Samovodene Street, then take a look at the Tsarevets Fortress is one of the largest and most well preserved of the Northen Balkans. We will then journey south, through the heart of rural Bulgaria today en route to Plovdiv, the country’s second largest city. As we wind through picturesque Rose Valley, we make a stop in the town of Kazanlak at the world famous Thracian Tomb, you get an up-close view of the wonderfully preserved Hellenistic frescoes dating back to the 4th century BC. Old Plovdiv on Trimonzium hill is the centre of Bulgarian national revival architecture at its height and is full of charm and artistic character. Hotel check in. Evening at leisure in the centre of Plovdiv.
B Accommodation in Plovdiv at Villa Antica ***