Bulgaria and Romania kick off EU-funded project to provide joint spa holiday packages to tourists starting next year, Novinite informs. The package is part of the EU-funded project “Roman Thermal Spas of Europe” offering tourists the opportunity to accommodate in two spa resorts – one in Bulgaria and one in Romania. The project was presented in the Bulgarian town of Sandanski during the second congress of the Bulgarian Union of Balneology and Spa Tourism, with Joachim Lieber, General Secretary of the European Spas Association and coordinator of the project explaining that this will be the first trans-border package.
According to Dnevnik daily, the project will provide both balneotherapy and heritage from the ancient Roman era. The package include an eight-day stay, with the first period to be spent in the Romanian spa resort Baile Herculane in Caras Severin County (Banat region). The rest of the stay includes a visit to the Bulgarian capital Sofia and the spa town of Varshets, while the accommodation will available in Hisarya spa resort. The package also foresees a trip to the 2019 European Capital of Culture Plovdiv and visit of its ancient Roman remains.
The Bulgarian-Romanian joint tourist action will be available for online booking.
The “Roman Thermal Spas of Europe” project rejoins associations and spa resorts from Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Greece and Romania.
Baile Herculane story
Baile Herculane spa town is mostly sought for its natural healing properties: hot springs with sulfur, chlorine, sodium, calcium, magnesium and other minerals, as well as negatively ionized air.
Before WWII, when the first modern hotel was built (i.e. H Cerna, 1930) it remained a popular destination with among western European tourists. The town has also been known as a location with a long history of human habitation, as a lot of archaeological discoveries revealed that the area has been inhabited since the Paleolithic era.
Legend has it that even the almighty Hercules stopped in the valley to bathe and rest.
The Herculaneum Spa became more famous during the Dacia’s Roman domination. Unearthed stone carvings show that visiting Roman aristocrats turned the town into a Roman leisure center. Six statues of Hercules from that time have been discovered.