Adventures in Europe: Sofia, Bulgaria

We woke up this morning on the Istanbul-Sofia express train with rural Bulgaria passing by outside of our window.

It was just before 11:00 when we arrived at the Sofia train station.

From here we caught the metro a couple of stops to our hotel, the Sofia Balkan Palace. This is a nice hotel, but actually not terribly expensive, plus after a night on the train and the last night before Diana heads home, it felt well worth it.

The hotel was not able to check us in yet, but we could leave our luggage and then headed out down the block to find some coffee. The Bulgarian National Assembly building is right around the corner from the hotel's front door (and the presidential palace is actually part of the same building as our hotel, just along the wall there to the right in the photo below).

After coffee we went on another two blocks to the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. I was here in 2018 as well and absolutely loved it, and it was, not surprisingly, still very beautiful!

We visited the cathedral, and also the very good iconography museum in the basement. Then, we headed for lunch, where we decided we would try to visit mineral baths this afternoon. First, though, we did a little more of a walk, past the 6th century Basilica of Saint Sofia . . .

. . . the Church of St Nicholas the Miraclemaker . . .

. . . the Central Mosque . . .

. . . and the former city baths, now the Regional History Museum. 

After checking into the hotel, we took a taxi to the Sofia suburb of Bankya. Here, there is a lovely park . . .

. . . and a nicely restored baths. I did not get a picture of the building's exterior today, but this is apparently what it looked like just a few years ago! 

Here is the mineral breakdown for the Central Mineral Bath water. I do not know anything about the mineral content of water, so the list is largely meaningless to me.

I took a picture of the main pool surreptitiously from the men's change room up above. 

We spent a couple of lovely hours at the baths, then headed out, this time opting to ride the bus out of Bankya and to the metro, and then via metro back to the hotel. Something I found interesting about the metro that I have never seen before are these retractable fences that come down when the train leaves and go up when it arrives. 

We got back to the hotel after dark.

Although it is dark and somewhat cold, there were plenty of people out, especially along Vitosha Boulevard, where even in January most of the restaurants have outdoor patios, albeit covered and enclosed and with portable heaters. We headed into Hadjidraganov's Cellars for our dinner, however, which was inside and downstairs. We shared this magnificent spread of grilled meats and such. 

Adventures in Europe: Rila, Bulgaria

Yesterday over lunch I spontaneously booked a rental car for today, hoping to see two of Bulgaria's UNESCO World Heritage sites before my flight this evening to Barcelona, where I will meet up with Melanie.

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.

On the other side of Stob I arrived at a parking lot and a trail head.

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.