Romania & Serbia

Day 1 - Arrival to Bucharest & city tour

     Today we greet you on the Bucharest International Airport, take you to your hotel and in the afternoon we tour the city of joy.

     Bucharest displays a beautiful mixture of old and new architecture. Its history as a capital goes back to the 15th century. The Ottoman domination, the monarchy, the communist era…all enhanced the Romanian spirit, and left marks visible today. In Bucharest one can admire gorgeous gardens, taste great food and gossip while walking through the Old Courtyard from where Vlad the Impaler once ruled the country.

     Landmarks of this metropolis are to be spotted around each corner: Romanian Athenaeum, House of the Parliament, Royal Palace and many more…Together we can turn its secrets into interesting facts. Let us share with you the reason why this is the city of all cultures, many styles and few controversials!

Day 2 – Bucharest in depth & explore the city on your own

     We reserved this morning for discovering the 2 most prominent museums of the Romanian capital: the Museum of XXX(maybe an Old Bucharest walk), and the Parliament.

     The Museum of XXX, not the Village Museum because we see a similar one in Sibiu, so something else, maybe the Peasant, or the Museum of the City of Bucharest or Fine Arts the Romanian section.

     The Palace of Parliament, the 2nd largest building in the world, a testament of the late 80’s Communist dictator of Romania whose personality cult reached by then its peak. The Communists’ ambition was to realize this construction using exclusively Romanian construction materials so it is a display at a smaller scale of various Romanian resources.

     After a lunch in a local restaurant enjoy a free afternoon when U can see more of the city, shop, relax in one of the parks and finally choose a nice place for your dinner.

Day 3 – Olt Valley & Sibiu; Natural beauties and the nicest Transylvanian burg

     After 2 days in Bucharest, we set off for an enjoyable ride through the Carpathians into Transylvania. Our route follows the Olt river and the canyon it cut through the mountains creating unforgettable sceneries.

     arrival in Sibiu, we have lunch in a nice restaurant in the downtown and then check-in our hotel and after a short break continue with the city tour.

     Sibiu is one of the major Transylvanian city with a rich ethnic mix of Romanians, Hungarians and Germans. Its architecture resembles a German fortified city and we will drive and walk in the old sections of it revealing to us old and neat squares, important historical palaces, houses and churches and a spirit of the city that was the European Capital of Culture in 2007 alongside Luxemburg.

Day 4 – Astra Museum, Hunedoara & Deva: Open-air village museum experience & strongest Transylvanian castle & fortress

     In the outskirts of Sibiu, lies a gem of Romanian open-air museums, namely, Astra, one the oldest, most authentic and most valuable of its kind in the whole Eastern Europe. We will witness the real countryside life throughout the century and mostly learn about the people and their beliefs or attitudes towards life. The unique landscape of the museum with forests and a wonderful lake will add up to our exciting experience here.

     After lunch in a restaurant of the museum we head to the city of Hunedoara, the stronghold of the Hunyads, the brave family that gave 2 of the most famous Hungarian kings of the Middle Ages, Janos and his son Mattyas. We will visit their magnificent castle and learn more about the life in the Middle Ages. Just half an hour drive away lies another major fortress, the Deva fortress with an equally exciting story to tell.

Day 5 Timisoara & Novi Sad; Romania & Serbia in the mirror

     Today we head towards the most important Western Romanian city, Timisoara, the first city in Europe to be electrically illuminated and the city where the Romanian revolution, the only bloody overthrown of a Communist regime in Europe started. We will walk the beautiful downtown and the central Opera square learning more about the city but also having lunch in a nice restaurant of the area.

     We continue along the route to Serbia, crossing the border and reaching the city of Novi Sad, a splendid city on the Danube River with an Austrian look from the time it used to be part of the monarchy. Here, we will have a walking tour of the historical downtown featuring an Orthodox and a Catholic cathedral since Novi Sad lies on the separation line between the 2 main religions. Later on we cross the river towards the upper city hosting one of the largest European fortresses, Petrovaradin, designed by Vauban, offering a magnificent view over the city and the Danube. In the fortress we will also serve dinner in a wonderful overlooking restaurant.

Day 6 Belgrade

     No other city in Europe has been destroyed and rebuild 40 times in the course of history and no other city in Europe has been the capital of 5 different countries in the last 100 years, well, this is Belgrade, a city with a tremendous past and recent history.

     We will discover the heart of the city, taking a walking tour from the National Theatre and National Museum towards the Kalemegdan fortress, the once Turkish stronghold turned into a wide park while original gates, fortifications, ramparts and cannons were nicely preserved.

     After a delicious lunch in a typical restaurant we will also tour the city by bus witnessing the ruins of the 1999 NATO bombing and the Chinese embassy but also the former Yugoslav institutions such as the Federal Parliament, now only a memory of a past-glory era.

     The afternoon is all your to stroll in the city, have free time and choose a nice place to have dinner.

Day 7 Iron Gates, the most beautiful Danube River landscape

     We leave Belgrade behind to drive along the narrow Danube’s Gorges known also as the Iron Gates area, name coming from the largest European hydro electrical and navigation system in that Danube’s stretch.

     Sceneries of unique beauty, high mountains and rapid flowing river are to enchant us along the drive today and we will have many picture opportunities. We will visit the ancient Roman settlement of Drobeta where we will hava also lunch while in the evening we will overnight in the city of Craiova, just in time to drive and walk the city but also to listen and see the innovative latest attraction of the city, “the musical fountain”.

Day 8

     Today we drive back to Bucharest in order to reach the airport and fly back home