KALOTINA DRAGOMAN SOFIA

ITINERARY

TOURS

KALOTINA-DRAGOMAN-SOFIA

The Kalotina border crossing point lies on the E-80 motorway on the Bulgarian-Yugoslav frontier some 55 kilometres from Sofia. Tourists entering Bulgaria can exchange money and shop at the Corecom hard-currency shop there.

The Cheshma service area is three kilometres from Kalotina along the motorway to Sofia. There is a 100 seater snack bar, a 60 seater restaurant, and a large Corecom shop daily tours istanbul. There is an exchange bureau and a kiosk for soft drinks, fruit and vegetables.

Dragoman

Dragoman (population: 3,700) is 18 kilometres from Kalotina. The town was built on a site which in Roman times was a stop-over for changing the Meldia horses and it was called Meldia up to the Middle Ages. There is a motel of the same name. It is a frontier-check-point for entry by train.

The Slivnitsa camping site near the town of Slivnitsa (population 8,000) is open from May 1 to September 30. Both Slivnitsa and Dragoman are famous for the bitter battles waged during the Serbo-Bulgarian war of 1885 In defence of the reunification and independence of Bulgaria. The two-star Krasnogorsk hotel here offers two suites and 58 double rooms, a restaurant, night club, a Corecom shop, an information desk and an exchange bureau.

Some 37 kilometres from Kalotina and 18 kilometres south-west of the centre of Sofia is the Sofia-West roadside motel with 170 beds. It has a restaurant, snack-bar, coffee- shop, petrol station, car service station and tourist office.

Bankya (population: 8,500), is situated 17 kilometres south of Sofia at an altitude of 650 metres. Bankya is one of Bulgaria’s best known spas and resort centres. The climate here is extremely mild and the thermal mineral waters have a temperature from 34° to 38° C. It is recommended for people suffering from cardio-vascular diseases, high blood pressure and neuroses with neurasthenic syndrome.

In June 1971 the World Health Organization declared Bankya a centre for post-medical specialization in cardio-vascular diseases. There are over 40 sanatoriums and preventive treatment establishments, as well as many rest houses. There are very favourable conditions for rest and recreation. In 1978 Bankya was incorporated into the metropolitan area. Shortly after leaving Bankya on the right-hand side of the road is the BANKYA camping site which has first class facilities and is open from May 15 to September 30.

Sofia (population: 1,200,000), capital of Bulgaria, is situated in the southern part of the picturesque Sofia Plain. Its suburbs spread along the alluvial terraces of the river Iskur and its tributaries — the Vladaya, Perlovets and Souhodol Rivers, and have reached the foot of Mount Vitosha and the Lyulin Mountains. Sofia is surrounded by a garland of mountains. Mount Vitosha, closest to the city, rises to the North, and has become the invariable backdrop of Sofia’s panorama. Back in the 19th century the Viennese geologist, Ferdinand Hochstetter said that Sofia and Mount Vitosha were as inseparable as Naples and Vesuvius. On the north side of the plain rise the rounded elevations of the Balkan Range; the Lozen Mountains are to the southwest and the gently sloping contours of the Lyulin Mountains to the southeast.