- Stone forest
- Excursion to Aladzha monastery
- Excursion Varna-Plovdiv-Rila Monastery-Sofia
Varna is a wonderful city on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. It combines all the delights of a resort with the advantages of a metropolis surrounded by numerous natural and historical attractions. It is very convenient to start excursions in Bulgaria from Varna. Comfortable buses on which you can go around this not very large, but very interesting country are provided to their guests by many travel companies in the city.
Stone forest
Most tourists tend primarily to one of the most famous and mysterious places in Bulgaria near Varna - the Stone Forest, a sandy-rocky valley in which stone columns rise from 1 to 7 meters in height and up to 3 m in diameter. still remains a mystery. The columns are made of limestone and are hollow inside. Many have been given names for their bizarre shapes: "Elephant", "Soldier", "Damn", etc. In ancient times, magic rituals were performed in the Stone Forest, but even now people feel the mysterious power of this place. Since 1937, the Valley of the Stone Forest has been declared a National Reserve.
Excursion to Aladzha monastery
15 km from Varna in the direction of the Sunny Beach resort is the rocky Orthodox monastery Aladzha. Since the 4th century, Christian hermits have retired to the local caves, created by nature itself, or to the catacombs, which were carved into limestone rocks. As a monastery, Aladzha took shape only in the XII century. Its name came from the Turkish language: "Aladzha" means "multi-colored". Once upon a time, the walls of the monastery were painted with frescoes and presented a vivid spectacle, but only a few fragments of the painting under the vaults of the chapel have survived to this day. In 1957, Aladzha was declared a cultural monument of national importance.
On two tiers of the rocky monastery are located
- monastery church
- chapels
- crypt
- monastic cells
- kitchen
- refectory
The estimated cost of the excursion in Varna is $ 35.
The choice of excursions from Varna is varied. If you want to get to know Bulgaria better, it is best to take a sightseeing bus to Sofia, with a visit to Plovdiv and the Rila Monastery. The Autobahn stretches from east to west across the country, through hills, plains and plateaus, mountains, gorges and valleys. Estimated cost of the excursion - $ 125
Excursion Varna-Plovdiv-Rila Monastery-Sofia
At the foot of the Rhodope Mountains is the beautiful city of Plovdiv, one of the oldest cities in Europe, older than Rome and Athens. Its center is surrounded by the ruins of a Thracian fortress. From ancient times, the remains of the city forum, stadium, theater, thermae have been preserved here. The narrow streets of Plovdiv with old houses decorated with paintings and unique wooden carvings are very picturesque. You can also see here
- mosques "Imaret" and "Jumaya" of the 15th century
- clock tower
- churches of St. Nedelya, St. Dimitar (both 1831) and St. Marina (1853-1854).
From Plovdiv, the path leads to the Rila Monastery, located in the Rila Mountains at an altitude of 1147 m above sea level. It is the largest monastery in Bulgaria. Founded at the end of the 10th century by John Rilski, it became the cultural and spiritual center of Bulgaria. Its library contains the most valuable monuments of Bulgarian writing. During the years of Ottoman rule, the monastery remained the guardian of the Bulgarian language and culture.
Here are the relics of John of Rylsky, the miraculous icon of the Mother of God "Odigitria" and the famous frescoes of the brothers Zakhariya and Dimitar Zografov.
In 1983 the monastery was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The final route of the excursion route is the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia, a very ancient city with a rich history and many architectural monuments. Here you can see
- Hagia Sophia, VI century
- Rotunda of St. George with frescoes from the 10th century
- Boyana Church
- Cathedral of Holy Week
- Banya-Bashi Mosque
You can visit the Archaeological Museum and the Art Gallery. In the center of the city rises the main temple of Sophia - the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, built in honor of the liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman yoke.
