Meet The Locals Tour

119 € / per person

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Your Meet The Locals Tour

After a two-hour drive, we will arrive at Bulgaria’s most visited UNESCO site, the Rila Monastery, where we will spend two hours admiring its stunning frescoes and breathtaking mountain views. Following our visit, we will indulge in a delicious meal featuring the local specialty, fresh grilled trout, before embarking on a 1-hour-20-minute drive to a small village in the Razlog Valley. There, we will meet a welcoming local family, check in to their home, and, if desired, take a donkey ride to the village water well. In the evening, our hosts will introduce us to their way of life through traditional singing, dancing, and homemade food, including a glass of rakia as a warm welcome. The next morning, after breakfast, we will visit the historic church in Dobarsko before heading to Melnik, where we will explore medieval ruins, visit the Kordopoulov family house, learn about local wine-making, and enjoy a wine tasting, before concluding our trip with a visit to the scenic Rozhen Monastery and returning to Sofia.

Quick information

Duration:

Start: 9:00h
End: 18:30h

Recommended period:

All year round

Driving time:

7h approx

Handicap accessible:

Yes, fairly accessible

Special requirements:

Comfortable shoes

Overview

Itinerary

Itinerary for Meet The Locals Tour

After a 2 hour drive we will reach the most visited UNESCO site in Bulgaria – the Rila Monastery. Our visit there takes 2 hours, admiring beautiful frescoes and wonderful mountain landscape as a background. Then we go to try the local specialty fresh grilled trout. After the delicious meal we have another 1 h 20 min digestive drive to a small village in Razlog Valley where we will meet a local family and check-in in their own house. If you wish you can have a donkey ride around the village all the way to the water well. In the evening our hosts will show how they prepare their food, how they live and have fun (singing and dancing). They will serve you home made food and a glass of rakia (grape brandy) to welcome you and invite you to join their dances.

In the morning after a nice breakfast we say good bye to our hosts and we will visit the church in Dobarsko, a 10 minute drive from the village. Then we head to Melnik and spend the rest of the day. The walk into the town is fairly short, some steep steps and streets will take you first to the ruins of the flourishing Medieval period of the town and then to Kordopoulov’s family house, where you will learn about 19th century Melnik history, people, grapes, wine making and you will see a real wine cave. You will also taste some wine, of course. We can have lunch in Melnik itself or on the way to nearby Rozhen Monastery (another 15 minute drive). At the Monastery we will enjoy a beautiful view of sandstone rocks and mountains. After this lovely journey we will head back to Sofia.

More details

Area Overview

Razlog valley. Razlog is located about 160 km from Sofia and it is a valley between three mountains – Rila, Pirin and Rodopi. This unique location gives you a great variety of cultures, traditions, landscapes and typical food. Dobarsko is a small village not far from Razlog. The Church of Theodore Tyro and Theodore Stratelates is built in 1614 and painted in 1672.

The church donors are depicted in a donors’ fresco left of the door. The church is included in the list of the 100 National Tourist Attractions for its abundance of original frescoes and icons, some of which are interpreted as portraying Jesus in a rocket. The holy spring in the church yard is said to be curative and indeed the one that cured Samuil’s soldiers that founded the village, as depicted in one fresco. A small swastika and a cross on the eastern wall are the only items in the exterior that show that the small stone building is a religious temple.

The frescoes were cleaned up and partially restored in 1974-1978 and the church is a National Monument of Culture. Razlog is very close (10 min by car) to Bansko and it’s old town is charming with its cobblestone streets and local tavernas. It offers a great variety of hiking trails and it is often visited by mountain trekkers and skiers in the winter.

Melnik Overview

Melnik is a declared architectural reserve. The first to settle in the area were the Thracian tribe Medi (the famous rebel Spartacus belonged to this tribe). The Slavs who came later in these parts, named the settlement Melnik after the sand formations surrounding it on all sides. Melnik became a part of the First Bulgarian Empire under the rule of Khan Presian I (836-852) and prospered greatly in the period.

Melnik became the capital of an independent feudal principality ruled by Despot Alexius Slav in 1209 and had economic and cultural prosperity. The town continued to flourish under Tsar Ivan Assen ІІ because of the duty-free trade with Dubrovnik (ruled by Venetians). In the late 18th century, the town had 1300 houses, seventy churches and a population of around 20, 000 people. The town had trade connections with Venice, by exporting the famous Melnik wine, which you will have the chance to taste in one of the wealthiest houses of the 19th century.