Predictably, we step out to be met by three buses... all of which are white. People shuffle onto the buses, and then it is all teary waves goodbye and promises to see each other again. This conference has really felt like a school trip.... very strange....
We take to our bus, and set off... we are a party of ten with Italians, Canadians, Brazilians, Portuguese and Belgian....Cosmopolitan as always. Our Bulgarian driver doesn't speak any english, so we are putting a lot of trust in whoever gave him the instructions...
We reach the end of the road to the hotel and turn left.... I'm pretty sure Rila is to the right, but I keep my mouth shut for an easy life.... 10Km down the road, I realise I was right... what I didn't know is that we are heading for a trip round Bansko......I'm pretty pleased, as I didn't feel that our trip to "Club with no name" gave it it's full coverage as a town.
We hop off the bus in the centre and take a wander around. Immediately we are standing in a picture postcard pirin mountain setting:
There isn't actually that much to see in Bansko. It;s a ski resort... and given that it's 30 odd degrees at 1000 feet, there isn't much skiing in June.
We visit the Church:
It is quite nice inside... a little too dark to see many of the ikons, but a good appetizer of what's to come in Rila and Sofia. After this we take a wander around the little winding streets:
I amuse a family when I take a photo of their horse and cart....
We pass the "Club with no name":
We try to use a Cash Machine... the Italian is first told that France is unavailable and then on the second attempt he gets the following:
He;s a linux, geek, so is none too pleased with Bill keeping his card. Luckily it spits it back out when it's rebooted.
Back on the bus, we get back on the road for Rila.... It's about a 2 hour Journey through the Lush Green mountains which are now so familiar.
An hour into the trip.... we turn off the road towards Rila, and Portugal and Brazil start a sing song.... it's really sweet and reminds me of Scottish road trips.... there's something about singing on buses with strangers. Some cultures do it and some cultures don't. If you ever get the train from London to Glasgow, and you're lucky(or unlucky), you'll notice that as you leave london, various people in suits are typing away on laptops. There's the odd few people who look like they are out on an adventure to london...The special clothes bought for the occasion. Shouting at their companions in amazement at the fact that the tables fold down or whatever... all in all good quality Scottish trailer trash scum...
The ratio of suits to scum changes as you move up the country. People are less relaxed and have less inhibitions... they are more likely to talk to you. By the time you cross the Scottish border, there's a full sing song going on with most of the carriage. If you don't join in, you look like a prude....
Anyway, we are being treated to some Portuguese and Brazilian songs, and the odd bit of Italian Opera.
The road climbs steeply up the mountain as we pass through Rila village. It's very backwater and traditional....
Eventually, we come out through the tree covered roads into a clearing, and the Rila Monastery appears before us. The place is immediately impressive. A large gate surrounded by tour buses sits before us, we head through and are greated by the colourful wonder of the Rila courtyard:
The courtyard is surrounded by a hexagon of walls, which house the church and tower that sit in the centre:
It is decorated on almost all sides by ikons and religious murals:
Inside the Church, no photography is allowed. It is a really beautiful Bulgarian church. Very dark.
The Rila Monastery has a museum with the standard 5 Lv for Foreigners and 0.5 Lv. The museum is bland and has no descriptions in anything other than Bulgarian. There's various elements of Rila's history; Ikons, Lithographs of Ikons, and (curiously) the priests' armoury of guns and knives, in case of attack.
The highlight of the Museum is Raphael's cross:
It is a cross which is intricately carved with religious scenes.
We head out the back of the courtyard and have a wander around. The heat is almost unbearable. There's various cafe's and restaurants catering for visitors.
It appears to be cherry season, cos their have been people selling them on the street all over the place:
We have a walk around the woods which surround Rila. The Rila mountain range is beautiful. Somewhere down the line Rila is derived from a word for water. It seems to be a good name. The mountains are covered in a lush greenery, and it's a pleasure to walk through the woods. A river flows down past the Monastery.
We settle down to a lunch of fresh trout from the river:
WIth the ubiquitous Shopska Salata:
A refreshing Zagorka(Even though we are well over the height of Ben Nevis, it's absolutely roasting)
Some people have the Shkembe Chorba which is a tripe soup:
I also see Banski Starek on the menus, so order some of that, cos I didn't see any in Bansko.
After lunch, it's back on the road to head for Sofia. we go in on a different road, a road that seems to travel at 10Km an hour for the whole way through road works. Eventually, we trundle into Sofia and arrive at the hotel:
It's a really lush affair, with a big swimming pool and a casino. Once we've refreshed ourselves with a very expensive(For Bulgaria) beer, it's time to go on a quick guided tour of Sofia. Our first port of call is the National Library....
...from here we walk over to the Alexander Nevski Church:
It is really beautiful and very grand, especially inside. Unfortunately you can't take any photos, and the postcards that they offer for sale aren't up to very much.
I've now seen my fair share of Orthodox churches. The Alexander Nevski is very nice, but I still prefered my own little trip to Nessebar, where it seemed that I had all the Ikons and history to myself. I'm also in a group, so I don;t have the iPod pumping out Nine Inch Nails, which really seems to improve the experience, maybe next time.
From here we walk closer to the centre, past the Ivan Vazov National Theatre....
..... and then on to the St. Nikolai Russian Church...
The style is completely different, and you can tell it is Russian from the different cross on it's spire.
We near the end of our walking tour at the Party Headquarters.....
There used to be a big red star on the spire... which they are going to replace now that Communism has been gone for long enough. Just across from here is Presidency, which has some uncovered ruins of Serdica(The roman Sofia) in the middle:
We then finish our tour at the Svetka Petka Smardjiiska Church:
From here. its very close to the shopping street. We stop for a well deserved coffee in Lavazza.
It's getting late and I have an early flight, so a large group of us go for out last Bulgarian dinner while we watch Italy draw with USA at football.
It's been a wonderful trip to Bulgaria.. and I'm sorry to be going home... there seems so much more to discover..... but there are more adventures to be had back in Amsterdam...
.................
I arrive back just after The Kiwi has arrived home from clubbing, so I have a few hours sleep before heading over to Diemen. My first meal back in Amsterdam is a Bulgarian one:
I'm home!!!
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