Rila Mountain Roadtrip

On Sunday, we had arranged to see the countryside and Rila Monastery, one of the most historic sites in Bulgaria. Initially we had debated renting a car as we love to peel off the highway and explore villages and small towns. Thank god common sense got the best of us as the roads are horrific and the cyrillic road signs made navigation, even for seasoned travelers, impossible. The main road leading out of Sofia and heading towards Greece and Macedonia is cobblestone...COBBLESTONE! It was like a video game trying to dodge the potholes. Given the difficulty in navigating, we were lucky to have an awesome Bulgarian tour guide named Krasi to drive and share stories about Bulgarian culture and life with us as well as homemade rakiya liquour. Krasi is originally from a city called Plevin in the north and offered great background on the country's communist history as well as its customs. For example, the month of march and its weather represents women, 'somedays nice', 'somedays not so nice.' He had an immense pride in his country and shared information on how the orthodox church was created and the difficulties of living in a new democracy. It is a rarity to find a young American with such an incredible knowledge of history along with dates and details. As the drive went on, the altitude got higher and the ground whiter. We arrived at Rila Monastery on the most beautiful day Krasi has ever seen in his years of visiting the Rila mountains. The sky was radiant blue and there was not a cloud in the sky.

The monastery was founded in the 10th century by St. John of Rila, who lived in a nearby cave for 7 years before his students built the complex. The arrival of the Ottomans in the end of the 14th century was followed by numerous raids and a destruction of the monastery in the mid 1400's. The current site was constructed in the 1400's and in 1983 was designated a Unesco world heritage site. One of the most interesting relics that survived from hundreds of years ago, was a cross carved with a needle by a monk for 12 years; the detailed work led to eventual blindness.

After touring, we grabbed a bite with Krasi who recommended several traditional Bulgarian dishes including tripe soup. We were nearly through the meal when Lou turned to both of us and asked, 'Is tripe a fresh water or salt water fish?' Poor Krasi looked at me with fear in his eyes, so I had to be the one to tell Lou that it was actually cow stomach. No more tripe soup was ordered after that although we loved the shopska salad. Shopska is basically a Bulgarian version of the greek salad served with the best feta ever tasted.

One interesting thing to note from the photo of Krasi above, are his red and white bracelets. These are given as gifts in the beginning of March to friends and loved ones to symbolise peace and fertility. You take the bracelet and hang it on a branch when you see the first stork of the spring. It was really moving tradition as both men and women and the young and old participated.
After lunch, we hiked in the snow.Then we stopped by the monastery's bakery to sample banitsa, Bulgarian donuts.

After that, we needed to do more hiking. We drove through the village of Stob, complete with donkey carts, rustic buildings insulated with horse manure and locals enjoying the sunshine. We hiked up to look at some really cool rock formations and enjoy the view.

On the way home we ran into a large traffic jam.