A Getaway to SOFIA – From the Thracians to the Contemporary Era

November 10 to 15, 2025

Lecturer: Éric Mathieu
in collaboration with the MARA association

 

Programme en PDF

 

Bulletin d’inscription

 

Day 1: Monday, November 10, 2025 – Marseille – Sofia

Meeting at Marseille Provence Airport at 8:30 am. Meet your lecturer, Éric Mathieu.
Check-in and departure to Frankfurt at 10:30 am with Lufthansa. Connection to Sofia at 2:50 pm. Arrival at Sofia Airport scheduled for 6:05 pm.
Welcome by your French-speaking local guide, who will accompany you for certain visits. Transfer by coach to downtown Sofia. Check-in at a 4* hotel (local standards) in the city center. Dinner at the hotel restaurant or nearby. Overnight at the hotel.

 

Day 2: Tuesday, November 11, 2025 – Sofia

Breakfast at the hotel. Departure on foot to the Archaeological Museum of Sofia, which houses an important collection of artifacts from the Neolithic period. Special attention will be given to the world-famous Thracian Treasure (jewelry, gold, silver, coins, masks), offering insight into this crucial period of Bulgarian history.

After the museum, we will pass the Roman ruins of Serdica (2nd century) and the Rotunda of St. George, one of the few Roman-era monuments linked to the first traces of Christianity in Bulgaria.
Lunch at a restaurant.

In the afternoon, visit St. Sophia Church, built in the 6th century, considered the oldest church in Bulgaria and on the Balkan Peninsula, symbolizing the history and eternity of Sofia.

In the afternoon, visit St. Sophia Church, built in the 6th century, considered the oldest church in Bulgaria and on the Balkan Peninsula, symbolizing the history and eternity of Sofia.

Next, visit the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, the largest Christian building in Bulgaria and a symbol of independence. Built in honor of Russian Emperor Alexander II, who liberated Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire in 1878, its interior impresses with colorful marble, murals, and 82 icons created by Bulgarian, Russian, and Czech artists.
In the crypt, the Museum of Icons displays masterpieces of iconographic art.
Return to the hotel. Dinner at leisure.

 

 

Day 3: Wednesday, November 12, 2025 – Sofia – Plovdiv

Breakfast at the hotel. Departure by coach to Plovdiv (approx. 2h). Bulgaria’s second city, located in the Thracian Valley, is older than Rome or Athens. During Roman times, it became the administrative center of Thrace, flourishing with public buildings, a vast forum, stadium, theater, temples, baths, aqueducts, and fortified walls.

We will see the remains of the Roman Theater, which could seat 30,000 people. Many friezes and artifacts are preserved in the Archaeological Museum, home to valuable Thracian collections.
Lunch at a restaurant.

We will also explore the Ottoman-influenced houses of the old town, such as the Hindlyan House, and the remains of the Philippopolis Basilica, covered with recently uncovered mosaics (4th–5th centuries), key to understanding early Christianity in the Balkans.

Return to Sofia in the late afternoon. Dinner at leisure. Overnight at the hotel.

 

Day 4: Thursday, November 13, 2025 – Sofia

Breakfast at the hotel. Departure on foot to the National Gallery of Fine Arts (Kvadrat 500), showcasing European paintings (16th–19th centuries), and Bulgarian art of the 19th–20th centuries, with works by Dechko Ouzounov, Iliya Petrov, Nenko Balkanski, and Bulgarian “impressionists.”
Lunch at a restaurant.

Afternoon walking tour: see the Ivan Vazov National Theatre, a neoclassical landmark, and the Russian Church of St. Nicholas, built on the remains of a mosque to commemorate Bulgaria’s liberation by Russia.

The day ends with a visit to the Swimming Pool Art Center, founded in 2015, dedicated to collaborative art practices and international partnerships, housed in a 1930s building with a drained rooftop pool (visit subject to the current exhibition).
Return to the hotel. Dinner at leisure.

 

Day 5: Friday, November 14, 2025 – Sofia – Rila Monastery

Breakfast at the hotel. Visit the Jensky Pazar (“Women’s Market”), one of the oldest markets in Sofia, dating back to Ottoman times.

Next, visit the Sofia Synagogue, the largest in Southeastern Europe and the third largest in Europe. Built in 1909 by architect Friedrich Grünanger, its neo-Moorish style blends with Viennese and Venetian influences. It also houses Sofia’s Jewish History Museum.

Departure by coach to the Rila Monastery, the largest in Bulgaria, founded around 930 by Saint Ivan of Rila. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is renowned for its architecture, vivid frescoes, and its library of valuable manuscripts.
Lunch at a restaurant. Visit of the monastery.
Return to Sofia. Dinner at a restaurant.

 

Day 6: Saturday, November 15, 2025 – Boyana – Sofia – Return

Breakfast at the hotel and check-out. Departure to Boyana, on the outskirts of Sofia, to visit the National History Museum, Bulgaria’s largest, with over 600,000 artifacts.

Nearby stands the Boyana Church (UNESCO), built in three stages, fully decorated with medieval frescoes considered precursors to the Renaissance.

Lunch at a restaurant. Afternoon visit to the Museum of Contemporary Art, housed in a former arsenal, displaying Bulgarian and international works of the 20th–21st centuries.

Transfer to Sofia Airport. Flight to Frankfurt at 7:05 pm, then connection to Marseille at 9:50 pm. Arrival in Marseille at 11:30 pm. (Times subject to change.)

 

• Prices per person in double room
  • Based on 25 participants: €1940
  • Based on 20 participants: €2030
  • Based on 15 participants: €2230

  Single supplement: €200

Price includes:

• Round-trip flights Marseille–Sofia via Frankfurt with Lufthansa, taxes included
• Coach transportation
• 4* hotel accommodation in city center, buffet breakfast included
• Meals mentioned in the program, with drinks (mineral water, wine or beer, tea/coffee)
• Entrance fees and visits as per program
• Services of art historian Éric Mathieu throughout the stay
• Services of a French-speaking local guide when required
• Travel documents with all useful information
• Audio headsets for the entire trip
• Travel insurance (assistance, repatriation, cancellation, baggage)
• Taxes and service charges

Price does not include:

• Personal expenses
• Meals not included in the program

VALID ID CARD OR PASSPORT REQUIRED
Program subject to availability at time of booking.
Order of visits may be adjusted according to local conditions.
Prices based on 15, 20, and 25 participants, subject to fuel and airport tax fluctuations.
Flight times are indicative and subject to change by the airline.

 

 

Programme en PDF

 

Bulletin d’inscription