Rila Monastery, Bulgaria

Rila Monastery

Most of the  hostels we stayed in offer tours to local sights so we booked a day trip to Rila Monastery, Bulgaria's biggest tourest attraction other than the Black Sea coast. The monastery is about two hours south of Sophia, accessed by twisty windy mountain roads. Our driver in his small car drove at breakneck speed like a New York cabbie and passed whether it seemed safe or not. One had to have faith and a strong heart to endure.

First we went to a cave where St. John of Rila (or St Ivan if one is Bulgarian) lived the simple life while trying to exorcise his particular demons. It isn't all that deep but has a small narrow entrance that people squeeze through to come out the other side. The belief is that one who passes through cleanses his soul in doing so. People write a prayer on a little piece of paper, fold it up and leave it because doing so will help it be answered. These scraps of paper were stuck in every crack imaginable, left on every surface, hundreds upon hundreds of them. Needless to say, Adam and I left them, too.

The monastery itself is huge. It has a rather complex history so I can't accurately say when it came into existence in its present state. I think it was built in the 11th century but moved to its present location and state in the 1400s. After going through massive gates, we entered into a huge courtyard with a covered walk that had archways all around. In the center is a little church absolutely covered with frescoes inside, under the arches and domes. They are quite colorful, as the icons tend to be, but there are also full, almost Bosch-like depictions of people being consumed by evil devils.

 

I went to a little cafe and bought sweet donuts and very tart yogurt, supposed to be a traditional delicacy. I fed a fair amount of the yogurt to the stray dog and cat that hung around. A flavored syrup of your choice was drizzled over the donuts.

 

The tourists here were way too plentiful and I was glad to leave. I was expecially glad to know that my soul was clean as our driver tested our faith all the way down the mountain.