Early 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 border 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. During the winter season, when one can't visit Ivanovo rock-hewn church, we visit instead the Rock Monastery of St. Dimitar Basarbovski. Built into a sheer cliff east of Basarbovo, 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.

TRANSFORMERS IN STONE !!! Travel to the city of Shumen for a visit to the impressive Monument to "1300 Years of Bulgaria", also known as the "Founders of the Bulgarian State Monument", a large monument built on a plateau above the city of Shumen, Bulgaria. It was built in 1981 to commemorate the 1300th anniversary of the First Bulgarian Empire.

Next is Mosque Sheriff Khalil Pasha, also known as Tombul Mosque. Located in Shumen, it was built in 1744, and is the largest mosque in Bulgaria and the second largest in the Balkan Peninsula after the mosque Sultan Selim, located in the city of Edirne, the Republic of Turkey..