Sofia is a small city and doable in 1 and a half days max. So for one day, I took a trip up to the Rila Mountains, and this was an awesome trip. The scenery and the monastery itself was quite breath taking. Autumn colours are really very beautiful :) But first, pictures of the Rila Monastery and a bit more about it.
The Monastery of Saint Ivan of Rila, better known as the Rila Monastery (Рилски манастир, Rilski manastir) is the largest and most famous Eastern Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria. It is situated in the northwestern Rila Mountains, 117 km (73 mi) south of the capital Sofia in the deep valley of the Rilska River. The monastery is named after the famous Bulgarian saint and hermit Ivan of Rila. The monastery complex, regarded as one of the foremost masterpieces of Bulgarian National Revival architecture, was declared a national historical monument in 1976 and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.
Entrance to the Monastery is FREE, except for the museum. But honestly, the main attraction is the Monastery itself.
History of the Monastery as written on the wall, and rules concerning entry to the Monastery.
Inside the Monastery. As you can see, the interior is really beautiful, so went a little crazy taking pictures here.
Church frescoes on the outside of the church walls. No pictures allowed inside unfortunately.
I don't know if they're repainted or something, but the colours are very vibrant and lots of detailing on the frescoes.
Monastery courtyard
In the Monastery, there are small souvenier shops all around. I must say that buying gifts in Bulgaria was quite cheap, and I sent quite a few postcards back to my friends this time. There's also a post office located in the monastery itself, which makes things handy. Have no idea about how reliable Bulgarian post is, so hopefully the postcards get to their rightful destinations.
These paintings looked like a biblical comic strip of some story, but too bad I can't read Bulgarian (again!) coz I would have loved to know what the story was.
Tried Bulgarian style pork chops with mushrooms for lunch. Super tasty, but I must say that the cuisine here was rather salty. But anyhow, Salt is an important ingredient for flavour :) I must say though that after living in Europe for a bit, I've become rather used to tipping or just even rounding up my bill to the nearest dollar and leaving it. I noticed how different my mentality was during this trip as there happened to be two HK old ladies on the trip as well. I think that they were quite brave for travelling alone around Eastern europe, though I felt a bit used at the end of the day, as they relied on me for translating everything (even to the point of copying what I ordered for lunch, and asking me to book their plane tickets around Europe to back home for them to HK). Anyhow, when we were paying for lunch, I put the money I owed + tip down on the table, and the old lady actually wanted to take my tip away. Luckily I stopped her in time and explained that it was a service charge (she didn't understand "tip") which I kinda felt was necessary since the waiters were quite pleasant and the ladies were kinda stinge about their food (They ordered one main to share between the two of them). One of them actually sounded quite well travelled, as she kept on talking to me the whole time about her travels around Europe and the rest of the world, so I was quite surprised that she hadn't caught on to the concept of tipping yet. I guess I've become rather sensitive to service staff since living here... and as stinge as I am... I do try to leave a little service especially if service charge was not included in the bill... but oh well...
The Monastery of Saint Ivan of Rila, better known as the Rila Monastery (Рилски манастир, Rilski manastir) is the largest and most famous Eastern Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria. It is situated in the northwestern Rila Mountains, 117 km (73 mi) south of the capital Sofia in the deep valley of the Rilska River. The monastery is named after the famous Bulgarian saint and hermit Ivan of Rila. The monastery complex, regarded as one of the foremost masterpieces of Bulgarian National Revival architecture, was declared a national historical monument in 1976 and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.
Entrance to the Monastery is FREE, except for the museum. But honestly, the main attraction is the Monastery itself.
History of the Monastery as written on the wall, and rules concerning entry to the Monastery.
Inside the Monastery. As you can see, the interior is really beautiful, so went a little crazy taking pictures here.
Church frescoes on the outside of the church walls. No pictures allowed inside unfortunately.
I don't know if they're repainted or something, but the colours are very vibrant and lots of detailing on the frescoes.
Monastery courtyard
In the Monastery, there are small souvenier shops all around. I must say that buying gifts in Bulgaria was quite cheap, and I sent quite a few postcards back to my friends this time. There's also a post office located in the monastery itself, which makes things handy. Have no idea about how reliable Bulgarian post is, so hopefully the postcards get to their rightful destinations.
These paintings looked like a biblical comic strip of some story, but too bad I can't read Bulgarian (again!) coz I would have loved to know what the story was.
Tried Bulgarian style pork chops with mushrooms for lunch. Super tasty, but I must say that the cuisine here was rather salty. But anyhow, Salt is an important ingredient for flavour :) I must say though that after living in Europe for a bit, I've become rather used to tipping or just even rounding up my bill to the nearest dollar and leaving it. I noticed how different my mentality was during this trip as there happened to be two HK old ladies on the trip as well. I think that they were quite brave for travelling alone around Eastern europe, though I felt a bit used at the end of the day, as they relied on me for translating everything (even to the point of copying what I ordered for lunch, and asking me to book their plane tickets around Europe to back home for them to HK). Anyhow, when we were paying for lunch, I put the money I owed + tip down on the table, and the old lady actually wanted to take my tip away. Luckily I stopped her in time and explained that it was a service charge (she didn't understand "tip") which I kinda felt was necessary since the waiters were quite pleasant and the ladies were kinda stinge about their food (They ordered one main to share between the two of them). One of them actually sounded quite well travelled, as she kept on talking to me the whole time about her travels around Europe and the rest of the world, so I was quite surprised that she hadn't caught on to the concept of tipping yet. I guess I've become rather sensitive to service staff since living here... and as stinge as I am... I do try to leave a little service especially if service charge was not included in the bill... but oh well...
