Bulgaria

• Arrive in Sofia, where Ties staff will meet you and provide transportation to the hotel. Bulgarian Ties families stay in moderate, clean hotels, where after a day out experiencing many new tastes, smells, sights and sounds, families can relax.
• Gather for an orientation meeting, a chance to connect with the other families, and discuss the journey ahead.
• Tour Sofia, where you will visit the city centre to enjoy historical sights and bustling local markets, eat scrumptious Bulgarian cuisine, and yes, shop!
• Travel to nearby Rila Monastery for a day of gorgeous scenery of the Rila Mountains, listen to the Rilska and Drushlyavitsa rivers rush on either side of the monastery, and take in the architecture, paintings, and significance of the oldest monastery in Bulgaria.
• Next stop: Balkan Mountain Villages!
  • Visit Bojentsi village to experience mansions from the Revival Period, and the Old Town of Tryavna where colorful traditions are alive and well including bagpipes and woodcarving, Etara for an open-air ethnographic museum showing traditional Bulgarian life, and overnight in Kmetovski, a magical mountain village!
  • Walk through Arbanasi, seeing well preserved mansions and churches with traditional architecture, before heading to Veliko Tarnovo, the medieval capital of Bulgaria, where the old town and markets are filled with traditional artisans and crafts!

For most families, Veliko Tarnovo will be the jumping off point for the “Centerpiece of your Adoption Homeland Journey.” Families will visit places like Burgas, Buzovgrad, Teteven, Silistra, and Petrovo. If your adoption connections are elsewhere in Bulgaria, The Ties Program will help with those arrangements too.

While on adoption visits, families will:

• Travel with a car, driver and English-speaking guide.
• Visit orphanages, hospitals, caregivers, and other special people related to their adoption.
• Birth family meetings are frequently possible in Bulgaria.

Afterward, return to Sofia and rendezvous with other Ties families  to process adoption visits together. You will have a day of free time and an evening of farewells, a perfect ending to your time in Bulgaria.

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