Rila Monastery, Bulgaria

After a couple of leisurely days in Sofia we thought we'd try a bit of hard graft at a monastery. Rila is renowned in Bulgaria as the place that kept alive their culture during the centuries "under the Turkish yoke". It's a wee hike up into the mountains off the beaten track but nothing the clio can't cope with.


As it turns out there was no hard graft in exchange for staying the night, just ten Euros each. The hard graft we could have had was getting up at 6.30 to go to this church, but on deliberation we felt we wouldn't get much out of the experience as our Bulgarian is limited to say the least. But we did get to stay in a monk's cell:


The monastery was founded by Saint John of Rila who was a hermit in the 10th century. In the church there was a small alter with a draw of relics; most people seemed to be a bit overcome so we didn't like to ask which bits of which saints were there!


It was our first day of rain in weeks which made the setting very atmospheric in the morning mist. Our new found serenity went well with our breakfast of donuts from the local bakery that was doing a roaring trade (helps to have a monopoly on brekkie).


Ben failed to shut the roof fully the night before so the rain not only gave the outside of the clio a much needed wash ... everytime we turned a corner, we got a little shower as well. Still we weren't as wet as these travellers on the road.