Prior to the recent exchanges to Nuremburg and Gelsenkirchen our ambassadors enjoyed an extensive tour organized by Alex their ED. Here is his report on the tour and the tour company. BULGARIA TO NUREMBERG BY COACH This year our club, Friendship Force of Sydney, was allocated hostings in Nuremberg and Gelsenkirchen, Germany and as it is a long way to travel to Europe from Sydney for just two weeks we decided to undertake an additional two week coach trip from Sofia (Bulgaria) to Nuremberg. We had a group of 24 members aged between 60 & 80 to undertake the journey. We contacted Boyan and Valentina of Magic Tours who asked where we wanted to visit on the way and they would organise a coach, two drivers and Ivo to manage the tour. The plan was to follow the Danube and visit cities along the way, staying in boutique 3 star hotels close to the cities with local guides to show us Belgrade, Budapest, and Vienna and have an extra day for members to follow their personal interests. They set about their task immediately and soon we had an itinerary plus a number of hotels in each city for us to choose from. It was agreed that a 34 seater coach would be more than adequate for our purpose. In Sofia we requested to stay at the Hotel Niky, a reasonably priced hotel very close (500 metres) from the main city mall, where Marilyn and I had stayed last year. We had 4 days in and around Sofia. During our stay we were visited by the principals of Magic Tours on three occasions to ensure everything was satisfactory. Although our arrival times were different, Magic tours arranged pick up times to suit our members and transport them to the hotel. Our sightseeing in Bulgaria was fascinating for many of our members who had not visited Europe previously. During our stay in Sofia we took in most of the city sights, visited a 1500 year old monastery, Plovdiv the 2000 year old Roman capital, a winery for a tasting and had a cultural night at a local restaurant. In Belgrade we undertook a city tour where we were able to appreciate the extent of the local flooding, as well as the history and culture. Our local guide in Budapest was able to not only show us both Buda and Pest but also much of the history, the visit to the magnificent parliament house, the Jewish Quarter, our night at the Gypsy restaurant along with the night cruise on the Danube gave us a great appreciation of the city. In Vienna we were able to visit Schonbrunn Palace and have lunch in the Vienna Woods before visiting a 900 year old Monastery, on the free day our people managed a multitude of activities including experiencing the Sacher Hotel for coffee and Torte, attending the Spanish Horse Riding school, or a concert and generally enjoying this wonderful city. We continued our trip to Passau, our last Danube city, before continuing on to Nuremberg for our first exchange. Throughout the journey Ivo was very attentive to all our needs, by the time we had collected our luggage he would have the room keys ready to distribute, he would assist the drivers in arranging parking for the coach, organise the coach to be available to transfer us to venues during the day he would relate stories or sing local songs along the way, he became a friend. The drivers. although unable to speak English were excellent and patient and drove very safely (as you would expect). This tour was acclaimed by all as excellent borne out by lack of complaints and only compliments, a good effort for a coach load of older citizens. I would commend Magic Tours to anyone planning a tour of Bulgaria either individually or as a group and to ask for Ivo to help you on the way. This tour was remarkably inexpensive for the value we were given. Magic Tours may be found on their website magictours-bg ALEX and MARILYN STUART, SYDNEY AUSTRALIA
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 12:20:37 +0000
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