I woke up this morning around 7:30 and took the metro out to the airport, where I rented my car from Sixt as I had done in Moldova. This time I had a little Opel.
My first stop was the little Boyana Church. The attraction/world heritage-significant feature of this church are the frescoes inside, and you cannot photograph them, so I have little to show for my visit. Also, since I do not know anything about frescoes or iconography, I have little to say about them either, but they were very impressive. They are so treasured, that you can only view them while accompanied, and there is a ten minute limit to how long you can be inside!
From the Boyana Church I drove out of Sofia and south along the highway in the direction of Greece/Macedonia. After about an hour of driving, I exited the highway and headed east towards snow-covered mountains.
I passed through the town of Rila . . .
. . . before I stopped for lunch at a roadside restaurant, where I was the only customer. Here I again ordered traditional Bulgarian food, a cold cucumber garlic soup called tarator . . .
. . . and I forget what this was called, but it was mushrooms and other vegetables stewed with meat with melted cheese on top, and it was wonderful! I was really falling in love with Bulgarian cuisine!
From lunch I continued on east, and up, and the weather got cooler and cooler, until soon there was a thick layer of snow everywhere.
Eventually I arrived at the Rila Monastery.
Up in the mountains, amongst the snow, with a crisp blue sky, the monastery's beauty was surreal.
The monastery consists of an outer building, where the monks live and study, etc.;
a tower, the oldest part of the monastery (from the early 1300s), where refuge was to be taken in times of violent trouble;
and the beautiful church in the middle of the courtyard (where, inside, you cannot, of course, take pictures). The church is only slightly younger than the tower.
The artwork outside the entrance of the church gives a sense for the beauty inside--pretty much any spot that could be painted seems to have been.
In part of the basement of the outer building there is a museum, with various artifacts from throughout the monastery's 1000+ year history.
The monastery actually has accommodations for visitors, and I am sure especially in the summer it must be a wonderful place to stay, because there are lots of hiking opportunities in the national park which is just to the east of the monastery. Presumably it is also much busier in the summer, though, and maybe not quite as beautiful as it was for me today in the bright-blue-sky, fresh-white-snow, vividly-green-trees setting.
On the way back down the mountain, I took a detour to go up to a village called Padala.
I had no particular interest in Padala, but I could tell on my map that it involved a steep ascent, and I thought it might be an interesting experience. It ended up being a fun drive, both up and down, but did not afford me the views I hoped.
I did get to see goats being herded by dogs on the hillside, however.
As I continued west towards the highway, I turned off again, this time to see what is known as Stob's Pyramids. I drove through the village of Stob south and up.
Then I began what was about a half an hour hike up above Stob . . .
. . . to where these fascinating formations sit.
There is some pretty good mythology surrounding these natural wonders as well.
Once back at the car, I headed back to the Sofia airport. This was my entire route:
Now I am off to Spain, where I will meet up with Melanie.
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