One of Europe’s oldest nations, founded in AD681, know for its’ ski resorts and Black Sea Beaches, Bulgaria is also a country that can be a highly rewarding pilgrimage destination.

It has a fascinating history, a varied landscape of great beauty and an ever-welcoming people who are still in the process of adapting to life in the EU. In many villages it is common to see people travelling by horse and cart, or trekking into the mountains with mules.

Bulgaria produces great red & white wines, and 70% of the world’s rose oil. Thracian tombs, Roman amphitheaters, royal castles, fascinating museums and lovely 19th century architecture are surpassed by wonderful domed churches and 170 living monasteries, some of them over a thousand years old with stunning medieval art.

Sofia is the lively capital, born 7,000 years ago in the green embrace of the Vitosha Mountain. Beautiful Plovdiv in the oldest city in Europe, and 2019’s European Capital of Culture.