България (Bulgaria) - Beautiful Monasteries and Fortresses

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In April/May 2022 I made a tour of the Balkans. The tour was organized by Zagreb Tours. It was originally planned for April 2020 but had to be postponed. They conducted the tour without extra cost in 2022. The organization was outstanding. I had two guides, each driving me for about half of the tour. Everything worked like clockwork. During the tour I wanted to put more emphasis on bird watching than originally planned. Both guides went out of their way to research bird watching sites during the tour and added visits to many bird watching sites.

Itinerary

Coming from Македонија (North Macedonia) we drove to Plovdiv for one night. The border formalities took long, the checked everything inn detail.

The next morning we toured Old Town Plovdiv, a very scenic town. Especially interesting for me were the ancient theater and the ancient stadium in the middle of the city.

From Plovdiv we drove north to Veliko Tarnovo for two nights. Veliko Tarnovo has a very nice fortress, Tsarevets Fortress.

On the full day we toured the surrounding areas, including a visit to Nicopolis ad Istrum a Roman and Byzantine city.

From Veliko Tarnovo we drove to the Rila Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a fantastic monastery. From Rila Monastery we drove to Sofia for two nights.

On the full day in Sofia I went on a guided tour with a local guide. Most interesting for me was the Saint George Rotunda from the early 4^th century. It is located inside the president's palace complex. In the afternoon we drove to the Dragalevtsi Monastery, a small but nice monastery.

The next day we headed for Србија (Serbia) for the last part of my Balkan trip.

Following are links to various pages with pictures:

All pictures are © Dr. Günther Eichhorn, unless otherwise noted.