The Rila Monastery

After leaving Plovdiv we drove to the Rila Monastery in the Rila Mountains, relying on my GPS to get us there. Did the job but it did get dicey sometimes.  We stopped a few times on the way.  This is what we saw on the way. Bulgaria is really beautiful. The road below is typical of what we were driving on most of the time..

 One of the many villages we saw on the way...

Finally at the Monastery - we parked our car.  The entrance was nothing exciting...

Inside the entrance was information all about the Monastery.  I took a photo of it, and rather than typing it out, I've placed it here. Click on the image for a bigger size so you can read it. But basically, the Rila Monastery is the largest and most famous Eastern Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria. It is situated in the southwestern Rila Mountains, in the deep valley of the Rilska River at an elevation of 1,147 m (3,763 ft) above sea level. The monastery is named after its founder, the hermit Ivan of Rila (876 - 946 AD). Founded in the 10th century, the Rila Monastery is regarded as one of Bulgaria's most important cultural, historical and architectural monuments and is a key tourist attraction for both Bulgaria and Southern Europe. In 2008 alone, it attracted 900,000 visitors. The monastery is depicted on the reverse of the 1 lev banknote, issued in 1999.

Once through the archway door - this is what you see - amazing! The main building straight ahead is the church, and the buildings around it are the Monks quarters. The main church of the monastery was erected in the middle of the 19th century. Its architect is Pavel Ioanov, who worked on it from 1834 to 1837. The church has five domes, three altars and two side chapels, while one of the most precious items inside is the gold-plated  iconostasis, famous for its wood-carving, the creation of which took five years for four handicraftsmen. The Frescoes were finished in 1846,and are the work of many masters from Bansko, Samokov and Razlog, and also the famous brothers Zahari, Zograf, and Dimitar Zograf. The church is also home to many valuable icons, dating from the 14th to the 19th century. Porticos in the courtyard have Mamluk influence with the striped painting and the domes, which became more popular in the Ottoman Empire after the conquest of Egypt. It is truly a remarkable sight to see.

The use of cameras is forbidden in the main church - I took this from the door so technically I wasn't inside!

Outside I found a row of monks prayer seats with the brightly coloured frescoes above. The door is a side door from the main church.

Side view of the main church with the Monks residential quarters behind. The four-storey (not counting the basement) residential part of the complex consists of 300 chambers, four chapels, an abbot's room, a kitchen  a library housing 250 manuscripts and 9,000 old printed matters, and a donor's room. The exterior of the complex, with its high walls of stone and little windows, resembles a fortress more than a monastery.

The Tower of Hrelja (1334–1335) is one of the oldest buildings in the complex.

The Front of the main church with the Frescoes glowing. It's the first thing you notice when you arrive.

Three of the five domes.

At the right side of the main church we found some old graves of previous important Monks.

Steps to a basement...

The residential area...


A Gorgeous tree flowering next to a gravesite.  It was covered with butterflies and bees...

Looking up to the mountains...

The Dome - probably added later as it has the date of 1870..

More Mountains...

One of the many painted artworks on the residential buildings...

The wall of a chapel - which looks much older so I imagine this was built in the 14th century.

Stunning place to visit and I'm so glad I went. It was something so different to what I've seen before. We then jumped back into the car and headed to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.

A Morning in Plovdiv

Time to get my blog up and going again after nearly a year.  I had always meant to finish blogging my trip to Europe that I did last year and because I got so busy never managed.  However, I will now endeavour to do that and then get back into the swing of things on a regular basis again.

We got up nt too early and had breakfast at the hostel before heading out.  I was still feeling chesty but not as bad as the night before.  We had arrived in pitch black so I found what met us a delight.  The architecture was amazing but the cobblestones were very hard to walk on especially with my foot.

There was lots of art all over the buildings...

I made Anne pose...

I fired a couple of shots off in the church before getting told off - apparently it's a no no!

We wandered to the main part of the town to find some roman ruins excavated in the main street. It's an ancient stadium built in 240AD that seats 30,000 spectators and is 240m long.

We stumbled onto a market - and found some great presents.  Prices were fabulous.

Walkigng back towards the ancient stadium we stumbled on the end of the marching girls and their seemingly army band..

A little way up from the band, we found these huge carved men holding up a ceiling inside an arcade.  Ducking in we found more of the ancient stadium being excavated under the building.  Quite fascinating.

We wandered around and found the main square...

And some more ancient ruins being excavated around the town.

Walking back to the hostel, Anne disappeared up some steps.  We followed her but we came to a locked gate.  Vivie and I walked back down then waited for Anne but she never came.  So back up the steps and we fell into this stadium which was apparently closed to the public on this day.  But that gate wasn't locked afterall, so we wandered in then climbed up the top.  What a beautiful view.  It was here I learnt that Plovdiv is the second oldest city in Europe.  

 St Demetrius Orthodox Church was our next stop and again I fired off an image and again got told off!  Oops!  I took a photo of the information - built on the northern terrace of Dzhambaz Tepe Hill, probably on the site of an early Christian basilica. Archaeological investigations have found floor mosaics, remains of a massive late Antiquity walls and early christian graves. During the middle ages there was a church in honour of St Demetrius of Thessaloniki  on this site.  The present day church was built in the 19th century using marble from the Rhodope Mountain and was restored in 2007.

This is an old historic house and the architecture very typical of the area. This one was built in 1829/1830 by an unknown bulider for a local merchant.Due to the terrain displacement it has irregular foundations.

We kept wandering... past houses and ruins...

And found St Nedelya orthodox Church which was being restored.  This is one of the oldest churches in Plovdiv.  Built in 1578 and restored in the 1830s.

Nearly back at our hostel now we passed this amazing building.  Built in 1846 by a Rhodope Builder Hadzhi Georgi Hadzhiiski.  A rich merchant received this house as a dowry after his marriage to the daughter of a merchant and tailor Georgi Kendindenoglu. The house is desiged in the 'Konak Style' that was popular in the 19th Century.

While Anne and I were photographing the house, Vivie found a friend...

Still wandering...

And found another church, this one with amazing frescoes on the outside...

And back to our hostel where we picked up our luggage, piled into the car and drove to Sofia stopping a the Rila Monastery which I'll show you next.