The Rila Monastery
Today we left behind the land of minarets. Having heard horror stories of the time it could take to get through the Turkey-Bulgaria crossing at Edirne, some saying allow 4 hours others 12, we set off at 4 a.m. We wanted to escape the appalling Instabul traffic before it had a chance to build and beat the lorries and cars that would inevitably stack up as the day got going.
We were packed and ready to leave at 0400 hours, armed with instructions from the charming and effusively helpful security staff in the access lodge to the Consulate, plus the most invaluable advice from our sagacious friend Dinshaw, who had travelled the same route a month previously with his wife Dinaz. What I hadn’t bargained on was the continued effect of a little something a Pakistani pharmacist had issued to help relieve muscular spasms and nagging sciatica. I popped one of these at 10 p.m. having been advised it would work for about 6 hours – perfect. I think its half-life might have been a little longer. Navigating out of Istanbul fighting a deep drowse (I felt like Gloria from the film Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) wasn’t the best moment of the trip but we just about managed. Added to my less than sparky repartee was a dense fog (not just in my head) and a touch of uncertainty that my navigating might not be up to the job. However, we did get on the right road and couple of hours later we arrived at Edirne and crossed into Bulgaria within half an hour. Result!! We had both perked up, the sun rose and we got to Plovdiv for a full English breakfast. Simply heaven.
After some discussion and much consulting of the maps and Maps.me we decided we would avoid Sofia on this day and head to the village of Rila and then on to the Rila Monastery, a place my parents in law had visited some 20 years or so ago. My father in law had vigorously recommended we visit and so it had to be done! We traversed the countryside and made our way through the dormant ski resort of Borovets, imagining British school children populating the winter slopes, and eventually got round the mountain to climb the other side through the most amazing forest in full autumnal colour. It was a spectacular drive and one we were very glad to have undertaken.
The monastery was equally stunning in colour and form. Both Murray and I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between the Christian monasteries and the Islamic madrassas – we’d seen plenty of the latter on our travels. It may seem that we have centred our travels around religious sites but in reality much of note, historically and architecturally, has a religious foundation.
Background to the history of Christianity in Bulgaria and the foundation of Rila – the thought of living 12 winters in a cave on the mountain, as the first monk had, was quite something.
Somehow the chaotic colours of the frescos against the zebra striped render of the monastic cells worked!
Stunning frescoes which had been sympathetically preserved
Taking 5 outside the monastery . . . and because M thought I should feature in this post as my colours match the scenery!
Whitesides on the Road 