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The leading specialists in cultural walking
tours
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We specialise in guided cultural walking
holidays with music festivals, opera, art & architecture,
birdwatching, wildlife and gourmet food & wine.
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Bulgaria for Birds and Archaeology
‘The Land of Eagles and Thracian
Horsemen’
The central Balkan range of mountains
which straddles Bulgaria provides ideal habitat for
internationally important populations of birds of prey,
especially Imperial, Lesser spotted and Booted Eagles, Saker
Falcon, Black and Egyptian Vultures and Levant Sparrowhawks.
Further east, a great plain extends to the Black Sea, inhabited
in antiquity by the Thracian Horsemen whose painted and
sculptured chamber tombs provide an insight into their lives.
Old fashioned farming methods and a lack of industry result in
remarkable flowers and butterflies, especially evident where
rare steppe habitat occurs; and the wetlands south of the
Danube delta are justifiably famous.
Early summer is the perfect time to make
a grand tour of this little-known land, exploring its richly
diverse natural habitats; visiting frescoed mediaeval Orthodox
churches and well-preserved Roman ruins; discovering the
pleasures of Balkan cuisine and excellent Bulgarian red wines;
and seeing the recently unearthed finds of Thracian gold.
TRIP ITINERARY
DAY 1
D included
Meeting at Sofia airport in the early
afternoon, we have a 20 minute transfer to our 4 star boutique
hotel in the leafy diplomatic district, then set off on foot to
visit both the National Museum of History with its stunning
displays of Thracian treasure and the 13C Boyana church, a
World Heritage site with outstanding Byzantine frescoes.
DAY 2
B, L, D included
We depart early, driving east into the
Balkan range, through the Valley of the Roses, and visit the
remarkable Thracian tomb (replica) at Kazanlak, thought to be
the grave of a tribal chieftain of the early 3C BC. The vivid
Hellenistic wall paintings are of exceptional quality,
depicting the deceased with his favourite horses and servants.
We cross the historic Shipka Pass (where honey buzzards often
circle) and then explore the museum village of Etara.
Traditional crafts - everything from pottery and knife grinding
to bread making and woodcarving - are practised in the
beautiful old wooden houses, entirely powered by waterwheels,
and dippers are often on the stream. Our comfortable hotel in
the old Ottoman village of Arbanassi is in traditional style
and the tavern restaurant features whole grilled lamb.
DAY 3
B, L, D included
A birdwatching walk takes us across the
high plateau in search of red-backed and lesser grey shrikes,
corn buntings, golden orioles and short-toed eagles. The
dramatically sited mediaeval fortress of Tsarevets at nearby
Veliko Tarnovo is approached by a stone causeway leading to the
ruined citadel of the Second Bulgarian Empire which flourished
from 1185 to 1396. We explore the site on foot, then visit
Arbanassi’s richly frescoed 17C churches with their
intricately carved wooden iconostases and wander through the
village with its picturesque stone and wooden architecture -
once the homes of extremely wealthy merchants who traded
regularly with Venice, Constantinople and Dubrovnik.
DAY 4
B, L, D included
Travelling north and east today, we
descend from the mountains onto the vast rolling plain that was
once the Thracian stronghold and visit one of their most
celebrated monuments - the Madara Horseman, an enormous eighth
century Thracian rock carving depicting a mounted figure
spearing a lion and followed by a dog. We spend the late
afternoon on Cape Kaliakra, a dramatic headland on the Black
Sea that attracts large numbers of migrants, seabirds such as
Yelkouan shearwaters, and dolphins and rare Monk seals
offshore. Our new small pension has a mehana (tavern)
serving traditional Bulgarian meals.
DAY 5
B, L, D included
Our first birdwatching stop is very close
to the Romanian border where remnant steppe habitat is ideal
for calandra larks, Isabelline and pied wheatears, rollers and
stone curlew, plus unusual flowers and a wealth of butterflies
- in some years rose-coloured starlings invade in great numbers
from Asia. We search for eagle owls at a quarry nest site and
at Durankulak Lake we will concentrate on finding Paddyfield
Warbler (on the western edge of its range) as well as
spoonbills, pygmy cormorant, glossy ibis, Gull-billed and
Caspian terns and red-footed falcons.
DAY 6
B, L, D included
An early morning birdwatching stroll
along a cart track should produce good sightings of Levant
sparrowhawk, which nest in the area. In Varna we stop to see
the fabulous collection of 6C BC Thracian gold objects in the
Archaeological Museum, then crossing the Balkan range again, we
enjoy lunch grilled on an open fire and search for flycatchers
woodpeckers and masked shrikes along paths through the oak
forest. Our destination is Nesebar, an ancient Greek settlement
and Roman port on the coast, where our very comfortable 3 star
hotel is ideally situated for exploring the narrow lanes
between the wooden houses & the many mediaeval churches on
foot.
DAY 7
B, L, D included
The day is devoted to a thorough
investigation of the 3 lakes surrounding Burgas, probably
Bulgaria’s most important bird area, and we hope to see
most of the following species in good numbers: Night, Squacco,
Purple and Grey herons, White and Dalmatian pelicans, collared
pratincoles, White-tailed sea eagle, Short-toed eagle, honey
and long-legged buzzards, Little and Great white egrets,
avocets, black-winged stilts, Ruddy shelducks, ferruginous
duck, slender-billed, little and Mediterranean gulls,
Savi’s, reed and Great reed warblers and sombre tits.
Returning to the Nesebar peninsula, there is time to visit the
small ethnographical museum before a fresh fish supper.
DAY 8
B, L, D included
We head next for 3 days exploring the
eastern Rodopi Mountains, one of Europe’s most important
regions for raptors, as well as a paradise for butterfly and
flower enthusiasts. As we travel inland we will be looking out
for lesser spotted eagles as they characteristically quarter
low over the mountain meadows, and short walks in appropriate
habitat should produce Masked shrikes, cirl and Ortolan
buntings, rock nuthatches (perhaps at their extraordinary,
volcano like, mud nests) and rock and blue rock thrushes. A
modern, family-run 3 star hotel with a swimming pool and a good
restaurant makes a comfortable base for the next 3 nights.
DAY 9
B, L, D included
The scenery in this area is stunning,
ranging from rugged gorges and peaceful river valleys to broad
upland meadows and extensive undisturbed forests. Roads are
poor and visitors are very few, so the environment has been
protected from the impact of pollution and the variety of
butterfly species is particularly striking eg. Balkan marbled
white, Apollo, Cardinal, brimstones, garden tiger. Dark red
helleborines can be found and the orchid species include Burnt,
Bug, Balkan Lizard, Loose-leaved and Fragrant. We walk through
a remote rural valley and later investigate a megalithic
complex of standing stones, rock altars and, according to
legend, the tomb of Orpheus.
DAY 10
B, L, D included
A particular highlight today will be a
visit to the nearby ‘vulture restaurant’,
established by dedicated local ornithologists to entice back
the near extinct Black vulture. There are also colonies of
Egyptian and Griffon vultures on the surrounding cliffs and
impressive numbers of raptors are seen regularly - Short-toed,
Booted, Golden, Imperial and lesser spotted eagles, long-legged
buzzards and lesser kestrels. Near the village of Kladenets we
follow tracks along riverbanks and search for black storks
fishing for frogs in the shallows, with nightingales,
black-headed buntings and Orphean warblers singing from
thickets and pallid swifts, red-rumped swallows and bee-eaters
flying overhead.
DAY 11
B, L, D included
The transition into the western Rodopi
Mountains is marked by a wilder landscape with huge cliffs and
deep rocky valleys. Our goal is Perperikon, the very recently
rediscovered second Oracle, once as famous as that of Delphi,
and later lost for millenia. We clamber steeply up a stony
path, emerging to stand at the very altar where Alexander the
Great received the prophecy that he would conquer the
world…
Driving on, we visit the splendid
Bachkovo monastery, founded in 1083, as we travel north to
Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second city, with a well - deserved
‘must see’ reputation. Once settled into our
antique-filled 4 star hotel, we set off to explore the intact
historic centre on foot, following cobbled lanes past restored
wooden mansions, Byzantine churches, art galleries, mosques and
tree-filled small squares to reach the highlight, the
magnificent Roman theatre. Built during the reign of Trajanus
in the second century AD, it was rediscovered after a landslide
in 1972 and carefully restored. Our farewell dinner is in a
restaurant recently voted one of the best in Bulgaria.
DAY 12
B included
A final opportunity for souvenir
shopping, or visiting the excellent ethnographical museum,
before a mid morning departure for Sofia airport and flights
onward.
Price includes:
All accommodation for Days 1 through 12
on a double shared basis
All meals with wine at lunches and
dinners, other than those excepted in the daily notation
All land transportation as described
except during free periods
All entrance and sightseeing fees except
during free periods
Specialist ornithological guiding
Gratuities for hotel and restaurant staff
Visa and Health Requirements
Visitors from the EU and the US currently
require a valid passport, but not a visa, for entry to
Bulgaria. If you are a national of any other country, please
check visa regulations with your nearest Embassy of Bulgaria.
At present there are no specific and
compulsory health requirements for entry to Bulgaria. Residents
of countries in the EU can only claim free (emergency) medical
treatment in Bulgaria by presenting their European Health
Insurance Card (EHIC), which is issued in the UK by the Department of Health. You may also wish to check the advice given to
travellers by the FCO.
Insurance
It is essential, and a condition of
booking, that you protect yourself with a suitable travel
insurance policy as soon as you book a trip. Follow this link
for information on a policy available to UK residents.
If you are already insured or a non-UK
resident, please inform us of your policy at the time of
booking.
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Kudu Travel Limited
Teffont Manor
Teffont Ewyas
Salisbury SP3 5RJ
Phone: 01722 716167
Registered in England
No. 03854049
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