The Balkans Revealed

 Fly from London Heathrow to Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia, and transfer to the 4-star Hotel Anel for three nights.

Tour to Rila Monastery, built over the tomb of a 10th century hermit. A centre of artistic and spiritual influence in medieval times, the 19th century Renaissance building boasts a frescoed dome and magnificent iconostasis. Return to Sofia for a tour of its splendid churches; the red-brick Rotunda of St. George, the city’s oldest monument, built as Roman baths before becoming a Byzantine church; the iconic, multi-domed Alexander Nevsky Cathedral; picture-perfect St. Nicolas the Miracle-Maker, green and white with golden cupolas, and known as ‘the Russian Church’; and UNESCO listed Boyana, its apt epithet ‘the Old Church’, built in the 10th-11th centuries, and celebrated for the detail and multitude of colours in its 13th century frescoes. End the day with a Rakia tasting.
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Travel to Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second-largest city, hemming the Maritsa River with six hills and a captivating Old Quarter. A walking tour includes a visit to the superbly preserved Roman Theatre, still hosting concerts and cultural events; and the 15th century Dzhumaya (Friday) Mosque, one of the oldest and largest Ottoman mosques in the Balkans.
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Cross the Serbian border to Nis (3 hrs). Rarely featured on tourist routes, it is among the oldest Balkan cities, steeped in ancient history and Celtic legend, the birthplace of Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. Take a tour of it 18th century fortress, a daunting Ottoman enclave, set by the river and encircling an ancient citadel within its sturdy walls. Continue to Belgrade (3hrs), the exuberant capital blending Soviet-era severity with grand historic façades, and a thriving café culture. Three nights at the 4-star Belgrade Art Hotel.
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A morning tour of the city visits the medieval Kalemegdan Fortress, overlooking the confluence of the rivers Sava and Danube; Republic Square, hemmed by the National Theatre and museum, and centred by a statue of Prince Mihailo on horseback; the enormous St. Sava Cathedral, a marble icon, eighty years in the making, with 49 bells and 18 gold-plated crosses topping its towers and domes; and the Tito Memorial Centre, the mausoleum of (Marshal) Josip Tito, president of former Yugoslavia. His tomb, in the House of Flowers, is one of three buildings forming the Yugoslav Museum. Complete the tour with coffee and cake at a kafana.
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Drive to Sremski Karlovci, known as a town of ‘wine, culture and spirituality’, and enjoy a tour of the gorgeous Baroque centre, focused on Branko Radicevic square, its photogenic buildings including the Patriarchal Palace, Orthodox St. Nicholas Cathedral, and Catholic church of the Holy Trinity. Enjoy a wine tasting before continuing to Novi Sad, to visit the 17th-18th century Petrovaradin Fortress on a bluff above the Danube, and the Gothic architecture of its Stari Grad old town, on the opposite riverbank.
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 Travel to Viminacium, a major Roman city from the 1st to the 4th centuries AD, now an amazing archaeological site with temples, baths, an aqueduct, pantheon, theatre, and the Emperor Hostelian’s tomb. Travel along the Danube’s banks (3hrs) to the ‘Iron Gates’, marking the border between Serbia and Romania, to view the 40m-high sculpture of King Decebal’s Face, carved into the rock beside the river. Continue to Baile Herculane, a modern spa town with bags of history too, where legend has it that Hercules bathed in its thermal springs. Overnight at the 3-star Afrodita Hotel.
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 Drive to Târgu Jiu, inhabited since Paleolithic times, but now famed for 20th century sculptures by a pioneer of modernism, Constantin Brâncusi, whose memorial to the fallen of two world wars is an ensemble trio, the limestone Silence Table, marble Gate of the Kiss, and cast-iron, 30 metre-high, Endless Column. Continue to Horezu to visit the UNESCO listed, 17th century monastery complex revered for its paintings and architectural purity. According to legend, its name is taken from ‘huhurezi’ (the eagle owl nightbird), as the builders, fearing to be seen by Turkish occupiers, worked only at night. Continue to Râmnicu Vâlcea for overnight at the 4-star Grand Hotel Sofianu.
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Travel to Curtea de Arges to visit the monastery, an iconic Orthodox cathedral and place of pilgrimage, founded in the 16th century, heavily restored in the 19th, and housing the tombs of Romanian royalty. Continue to the broad boulevards, Belle Epoch buildings, and charismatic old town of Bucharest, for two nights at the 4-star Hotel Cismigiu.
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A tour of the capital includes the huge white edifice of the Palace of the Parliament (as deep as it is tall, with eight of its twenty storeys underground); the 17th century Metropolitan Church (aka the Patriarchal Cathedral); the Romanian Athenaeum concert hall with its Baroque cupola; the Arch of Triumph, commemorating WW1 with more than a nod to its Paris equivalent; and the open-air Village Museum in Herastrau Park, recreating traditional rural life. Enjoy a drink at an historic restaurant.
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Transfer to Bucharest airport for the return flight to London Heathrow.
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