Rila Monastery

The big cultural attraction of our area is the Rila Monastery.  Anne and Mark had the opportunity to head up into the mountains to take a look around the grounds last weekend.  The Rila Monastery traces its history back over 1000 years (although the current buildings are newer, to varying degrees).  It is recognized as a cultural heritage site by UNESCO and is one of the most culturally significant sites in Bulgaria.

Not a bad view from just inside the gate.

Monastery resident in the distance

Our guide, Plammen, knew the person working at the ticket desk at the museum portion of the Monastery.  I know we did not pay for tickets, but it was not clear to me whether he pulled some strings for us or if there is simply no charge for admission.  In any event, the Monastery has quite a collection of artifacts.  During multiple periods of foreign rule, Rila was used as a cultural "safe house," and the efforts of the bishops and monks of Rila saved many relics of Bulgarian and the Eastern Orthodox Church that otherwise would have been lost to history.

After walking through the museum, we took a self-guided tour of the Monastery grounds, discovering the Rila cat, the surprising sturdiness of old bridges, and some buildings that have been allowed to fall into disrepair.

Rila cat

Oh, yeah, feels sturdy to me.

After our mini-walk around the grounds, we decided to have lunch at one of the restaurants in the area.  Anne read from a guidebook that the restaurant's specialty was the trout, so she ordered it.  Unfortunately, the presentation of the dish was a little off-putting for her.

In that picture, it kind of looks like she ordered one of those "Big Mouth Billy Bass" wall hangings that sings.  Anyway, it was a great day at a very impressive cite.