Tailor Made - Spa & Wine of Bulgaria

Our meeting point today is Metropolitan Hotel in Sofia. After a short introduction we start our trip and go directly towards one of the biggest and most well-known tourist attractions in Bulgaria, Rila (Rilski) Monastery. Rila Monastery is the largest, and called by many, the most beautiful Monastery of the Balkan. Around the Monastery there are restaurants to have a lunch break (not incl.) or a cup of good Bulgarian coffee. Leaving the Rila Monastery soon we have a stop and a short walk (25 min. one way) at the Stob Pyramids, - a beautiful natural formed sandstone formation. After this natural wonder we follow our route towards the town of Rozhen/Melnik. Here you arrive in the center of the wine area of South-Western Bulgaria and find naturally many high-quality wineries and wine yards. The area around Rozhen/Melnik is also well-known for the fascinating sandstone pyramids, where the town Melnik is built in-between. Tomorrow you have enough time to discover this beautiful interesting small town which became a tourist attraction after the 1990’s, the end of Communism. Because of the sandstone surroundings the temperature can reach here easily 30+ degrees Celsius in high summer. We finish the evening with a dinner together to get to know each other a bit better…. And of course, we drink a glass of wine! Our accommodation is in Rozhen or Melnik. 1

After a good breakfast we have a short drive (5 minutes) to Melnik (when staying overnight in Rozhen). Between ca. 10.00 hour and 13.30 hour you spend time in Melnik. In the early days Melnik was a town with 12.000 inhabitants, nowadays it’s the official smallest town In Bulgaria with ca. 320 inhabitants. As Melnik has lots of historical houses, built in the Renaissance style, it has become an official architectural preservation. For sure, Melnik is also famous because of its wine and wineries in the area. As the temperature can reach up to 40c in Summer it could be a good idea to visit one of the many wine cellars in the town. But be aware… you have a long warm day ahead and, in the afternoon, we have a visit to one more winery. What you absolutely should try is the short climb with stunning views towards Monastery "Virgin Bogoroditsa Spileotisa”. Also, here we recommend doing it in the morning hours and not after noon because of the temperature (in the summertime). Other interesting sites to visit in Melnik are Kordopulova Kashta (kastha means house), Mitropolitska Tsarkva (Metropolitan Church), the ruins of Sveta Varvara Church, Historical Museum Melnik and the Old Town and the several wine cellars. In the afternoon we drive a bit outside of Melnik and visit one of the well-known wineries in the area, Zlatan Rozhen winery. In the winery you will get a tour and explanation about the production of the wine and of course we have a taste of several of their wines together with some nice traditional taste local delicatessens. They also have a shop where you can buy some of the wines they produce, and you have tasted. In the late afternoon we are back in Rozhen/Melnik where you can enjoy a drink and have a nice Bulgarian dinner with wine… Dinner is organized by yourself.

Around 10.00 after a nice relaxed breakfast we have a walk along a small path (ca. 20 minutes) towards Rozhen Monastery. The full name of this Monastery is “The Rozhen Monastery of the Nativity of the Mother of God”. (in Bulgarian Rozhenski Manastir). It is one of the few medieval Bulgarian monasteries so well preserved until today. In the garden of the monastery the grapes grow from 3 enormous grape vines that are hundreds of years old. Around noon, after walking back from the Monastery, we l drive to Baba Vanga Memorial close to the Greek and North Macedonian boarders. Vangeliya Pandeva Gushterova, commonly known as Baba Vanga, was a blind Bulgarian mystic, clairvoyant, and herbalist, who spent most of her life in the Rupite area in the Kozhuh mountains in Bulgaria. Many important people in the whole world believed in her clairvoyance, her power to heal and capability to predict the future. After her death in 1996 the Bulgarians opened a park and church around her house so she could be remembered. Nowadays you can visit the park, church and house of Baba Vanga. When driving back towards Rozhen/Melnik we will have a visit to one more fascinating winery in the area with the name Villa Melnik. A tour through the winery and over the wine yards and undoubtedly some wine tasting and some small things to eat. Specially taste the wine Villa Melnik 55…. Por volta das 10h00, após um café da manhã descontraído, faremos uma caminhada por uma pequena trilha (cerca de 20 minutos) em direção ao Mosteiro de Rozhen. O nome completo desse mosteiro é “Rozhen Monastery of the Nativity of the Mother of God” (Mosteiro Rozhen da Natividade da Mãe de Deus). (em búlgaro, Rozhenski Manastir). É um dos poucos mosteiros medievais búlgaros tão bem preservados até hoje. No jardim do mosteiro, as uvas crescem de três enormes videiras com centenas de anos de idade. Por volta do meio-dia, depois de caminhar de volta do mosteiro, seguiremos para o Memorial Baba Vanga, próximo às fronteiras da Grécia e da Macedônia do Norte. Vangeliya Pandeva Gushterova, comumente conhecida como Baba Vanga, foi uma mística, clarividente e herborista búlgara cega, que passou a maior parte de sua vida na área de Rupite, nas montanhas Kozhuh, na Bulgária. Muitas pessoas importantes em todo o mundo acreditavam em sua clarividência, em seu poder de cura e em sua capacidade de prever o futuro. Após sua morte em 1996, os búlgaros abriram um parque e uma igreja ao redor de sua casa para que ela pudesse ser lembrada. Atualmente, você pode visitar o parque, a igreja e a casa de Baba Vanga. Ao voltarmos para Rozhen/Melnik, visitaremos mais uma vinícola fascinante da região, chamada Villa Melnik. Faremos um passeio pela vinícola e pelos pátios de vinho e, sem dúvida, uma degustação de vinhos e algumas comidinhas. Degustação especial do vinho Villa Melnik 55....

Today we will drive towards Bansko, a beautiful town at the foot of the Pirin Mountains. But our first stop will be the village Leshten. This is a picturesque mountain village, worth to visit and have a nice walk around. Here you find the traditional mountain houses in the surroundings, an interesting Church and a clay house (looks like the Flintstone time).
In Leshten you can take a lunch, or wait until we arrive in Ognyanovo, where we have a stop in one of the many Spa Hot Springs to have some nice relaxing hours. Ognyanovo is a resort village with many thermal mineral water springs, situated in the valley of Mesta river. The mineral water has been discovered in the early Roman times. Just enjoy warm water in the pools for some swimming or have a drink and a talk. It can be a good possibility to have lunch here before we move on towards Bansko. Arrival in Bansko ca. 18.00 hour in our family hotel accommodation.

After a nice relaxing homemade breakfast, we have a town walk in the old center of Bansko. This old picturesque town at the foot of the Pirin Mountains has a long old history. After that we drive towards the small town of Dobarsko. Our main goal here is a special Church with the name “Theodore Tyron and Theodore Strat Elates”. This small Basilica is the oldest one preserved without restoration since 1122. Here you can see images of over 460 local and biblical characters together that have been preserved in a very good condition. From Dobarsko towards the Dancing Bears Park it is just 45 minutes. In the park you meet ca. 30 bears who have been rescued as dancing bears in Bulgaria and other Balkan countries and now have a good life and pension. A tour with a guide through 120.000 sq. meters big park will give you lots of information about the bears in the park. The organization who is running this fantastic project is called Four Paws and is supported by the famous French actress Birgitte Bardot. From the bear park we will drive you to Avramovo or Yakaruda where you step in the only leftover narrow-gauge train in Bulgaria towards Velingrad, our next destination. The train ride takes ca. 1 hour and will bring you back to the 60s. At the station of Velingrad you will be picked up and brought to your accommodation for the next 2 nights. Until around ca. 22.00 hour you can enjoy the Spa and Wellness facilities in the hotel and make some reservations for the next days.

Today you have mostly a relaxing day at the Spa complex where we are staying. After breakfast you can spend some time until ca. 11.00 in the pools before we make a short excursion in the neighborhood of Velingrad to a carpet factory. This small factory delivers carpets all over the world, even to the Royal British Family. It’s very interesting to see and experience how they make these beautiful carpets and how much time it takes before carpets are ready. After the carpet factory we go back to our Spa complex and you can have a relaxing wellness afternoon. When you want you can ask for massages (extra costs, but way cheaper as everywhere else in Europe) or use the Turkish steam bath, sauna or other facilities. And of course, spend some good time near the pools and enjoy the sun. In the early evening it could be nice to have a walk through Velingrad before you have a dinner with a nice glass of wine after this relaxing day!

Until noon we spend our time around the Spa and Wellness complex for a relaxing morning. So, when you wake up for early breakfast, you have more than enough time for some swimming, massage or other wellness possibilities. Of course, you can also choose for a bit longer sleep and later breakfast… it`s all about taking your time and enjoying the facilities. In the early afternoon we drive towards Sofia, the Capital of Bulgaria, where we have a city sight-seeing (walking) towards some of the most beautiful and most interesting buildings. We visit of course St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, The Russian Church Sveti Nikolay Mirlikiiski, Church St. George Rotunda and have a look at the National Theatre. Most of you will probably stay a bit longer in Sofia and have some more time to explore this interesting city, where the past meets the future, where you still can find lots of buildings from the communistic/socialistic times and even can do a fantastic city-walk through the communistic/socialistic times of Sofia. Slowly our trip comes to an end, the last Bulgarian dinner together and the last overnight in Sofia. Tomorrow we all go our own way, taking way a treasure bag full of good and beautiful memories of this fantastic country on the Balkan Peninsula. But we do not say goodbye before the last farewell dinner together close to our accommodation (walking distance).

After a good breakfast in our hotel you have a transfer to Sofia Airport or maybe stay some days extra. Our time with you here will end up, but we are looking forward seeing you back on one of our other trips!