Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo

Morning pick-up from your accommodation in Bucharest. Head south, toward the Bulgarian border. We cross the Danube river on the Friendship Bridge, not far from the Bulgarian town of Ruse. Ruse is the gateway to the Rusenski Lom, a twisting canyon where medieval monks turned caves near Ivanovo into a rock-cut complex of monasteries. In the 14th century a large community of monks lived here. At the peak of the monastery complex, the number of churches was about 40, while the other premises were around 300, most of which are not preserved today. Only the Tsurkvata cave has been kept as a museum and is filled with vivid New Testament frescoes. If Ivanovo rock-hewn church is closed, we visit instead the Rock Monastery of St. Dimitar Basarbovski. Built into a sheer cliff, this is the only still functioning rock monastery in Bulgaria. The iconfilled church founded in the 15th century and named after the holy man and healer Dimitar of Basarbovo, is reached by a zig-zagging stone staircase.

Tsarevets

Reach Veliko Tarnovo. Visit Tsarevets fortress, Veliko Tarnovo's highlight attraction. With only pedestrian access one can peacefully wander around the ancient ruins, walk along the fortress walls, with views onto the surrounding hills of Sveta Gora, Momina Krepost and the overgrown Trapezitsa, at the foot of which is the picturesque old artisan’s quarter of Assenova Mahala. The main sites of the fortress are clearly identified and the visitor can follow a gentle path around. One can see the Execution Rock at the northern end of the fortress, Baldwin’s tower, the ruins of the tsar palace and on top of the hill, where once the Patriarch’s complex stood, the restored patriarchal church of the Ascension, with its stark modern interior and the dramatic murals painted by Teofan Sokerov in 1985. The murals depict the history of Bulgaria from the Second Bulgarian Kingdom (1185) onward and on the floor is a symbolic tombstone with the names of the Bulgarian Kings.