Day 288: Rila Monastery

Rila Monastery is named after the hermit, Ivan of Rila who lived in a cave in the mountains above where the monastery stands today. We debated if we were going to check out the monastery on our own or go with a tour leaving from our hostel. It seemed easier to just go with the hostel (even if it was a bit more expensive) and they took you to the cave where Ivan of Rila resided. After a two hour drive, we began our tour by climbing up into the mountains to see the cave, and then had the afternoon to explore the walled in monastery below.

The walk through the woods was nice, a little bit tricky in flip-flops, but nice. It wasn’t a long climb up, about twenty minutes or so and then we stood before a closed church. Our guide kept apologizing for his poor English. We didn’t get much information on the little church that was standing, but instead were lead behind the church to the infamous cave. Our guide lit a few candles, and then told us there was only one way out of the cave. We had to climb through a tiny opening, a far contrast from the big opening we all walked through to get inside. We were told that all of our sins would be washed away by climbing out the smaller exit way. It was a tight squeeze, but we all made it out, cleansed of all of our sins.

We drove back down to the Monastery below and upon entering the walled in compound, I was impressed by the size and grandeur of the place. Sometimes, the religious really know how to live, you know what I’m sayin’? It was beautiful. and peaceful, even with the tourists milling about.

Andrew and I sat on the outskirts in the sun people watching for awhile. Then we walked around the courtyard. Wandered under the murals painted on the ceiling of the church in the center of the courtyard. We wandered in the church, and I wondered why the woman (and one of the monks) blew out prayer candles, throwing them out before they were burned all the way down. This isn’t the first time I’ve noticed this. It happened in Greece as well- all in the Orthodox Churches. From my observations in the Catholic Church, they are always kept lit until they go out on their own. Am I missing something? I wonder if it has to do with the smoke and trying to preserve the ancient murals in these churches. Why not sell shorter candles?

Back outside of the church (I didn’t stay long inside as I was wearing shorts… and they were technically forbidden) I couldn’t take my eyes off of the murals and so, I give you one too many pictures of the murals with the contrasting monks’ cells in the background.

If you find yourself at Rila, I suggest getting some of the donuts for sale just across the entrance to the monastery. Made to order. Also, the little souvenir shop had such lovely bells for sale that I desperately wanted, but feared they wouldn’t survive five months in my backpack or being sent home. I’ll pick a few up next time…

Day 287: Sofia Free Walking Tour

What’s better than a hop-on hop-off bus tour around a new city? A free walking tour. This was our first one, you know, with a guide and not Andrew reading from Lonely Planet or Trip Advisor where we should go and what we should do. I’ve become more and more appreciative of opportunities on this trip where we can hand over the reigns to someone else for a couple of hours, and this was no exception. I don’t know if this is a trend or not (being as it is my first one) but it seems as though guides for free tours are exceptionally better than guides for paying tours. Our guide, Radina was nice, knowledgeable, and made all of the historical facts and timelines entertaining! For a complete list of free walking tours around the world, check out their post on the Sofia Free Tour Blog. (They’re the free tour that just keeps giving!) You can also find them on Facebook here, if you’re interested.

As always, on this trip, I find myself facing the fact that I did not pay nearly enough attention in my history classes in school. Andrew and I have talked about this many, many times. I feel like I did everything backwards. I should have gone on a trip around the world and THEN school. I would have been a much better student if I had. Now I find myself playing catch up and going down the rabbit hole of Wikipedia every other day. If I’m not looking up history, I’m looking up religion, or at least adding to the growing list of books I want to read about both and cursing the Kindle makers for pricing e-books so high. The more countries we add to our list, the more my news feed grows as well.

When we first started traveling, we would send each other articles about North and South Korea. Then articles on India were added to the list. Then Palestine and Israel. Then South Africa. Lately we’ve been keeping up with Turkey, Greece, and now Bulgaria. Sometimes my head is so full, I have to clarify who is what and from where and what politics they practice to keep up (ahem, to attempt to keep up) with it all. Instead of trying to remember, and/or spend all morning looking up the history that Radina shared with us on the tour, I’m simply going to post pictures and let you enjoy. You know how to look things up on Wikipedia if you need to, right? Right.

Within one square in the middle of Sofia, there were four different buildings of worship, each of a different religion, and each from a different time period. Our guide also told a fun story of how the department store (the first in the country) was also built on this square. When her family would come into Sofia, she would be so excited to ride the (first, and only- if I remember correctly) escalator during communist times.

When we were in Africa, we met and became friends with a lovely Romanian girl, Christina. She was ecstatic when we shared a box full of melty chocolate with her (that Andrew’s mom had sent to us in Tanzania). She told us about growing up without chocolate until one day it was available and she went crazy. Isn’t that fascinating? Can you imagine chocolate and escalators being a special thing?

Government buildings. These poor guards were wearing such heavy, heavy uniforms. I felt bad for them having to stand outside in the HOT sun, but then we were told they change out every hour because it is so hot standing outside in the sun even for just one hour.

Churches were Everywhere. The biggest, and most impressive was the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. It’s one of the largest Eastern Orthodox Churches in the world. We weren’t allowed to photograph the interior, but I assure you it was equally impressive. And dark. Not many candles nor lights were lit, I’m guessing to help preserve the murals on the walls. We sat for awhile inside. To escape the heat outside, and because we’re both fasciated with religious traditions around the world.

Fun fact: Sofia is not named after Saint Sofia. We were told this is a common mistake, even in Bulgaria. It’s named after Ayasofia, which in Greek, means wisdom. If this question comes up in your next trivia game, you’re welcome!

Another fun fact (one that might not be as useful in your next trivia game): It is unbelievably awesome to have friends scattered around the world. Who knew I’d have a friend in Sofia who we could meet up for dinner with?! He ordered a mountain of food for us, insisted we try the Bulgarian rakia. When in Bulgaria… Despite having a baby on the way (update the little one was born a week after our visit) he insisted on contributing to “our cause” of trying to make it a full year (or more) around the world. So, not only are my friends leading amazing lives in foreign countries all around the world, they are generous to boot. (Thanks a million, Mark. Dinner is on us next time!) Below, he threw up the Bulgarian thumbs up and I threw down the Korean peace sign. Because we’re gangster travelers like that.

Day 286: Protests in Sofia

We’ve had some pretty interesting timing on this trip, to say the least. Most recently, we were in Istanbul right before protests got serious (and violent). We left Athens before protests and strikes began. But today, we seemed to arrive right smack in the middle of another country protesting their government. We actually missed them the day we arrived, as we were exhausted and didn’t stray too far from where we were sleeping, but we heard all about them the next morning over breakfast. I filmed the video above on the 18th. If you’re interested in this country’s battle with their government, you can read all about it here!

The reason we didn’t make it out to see the protests is because we were ‘up’ but not exactly ‘at ’em’ in Sofia before six in the morning. We had just gotten off our overnight bus, but were warned not to take a taxi in Sofia, unless we wanted to get ripped off. So, we walked. It was a couple of kilometers. Enough to wake a girl up after an overnight bus from Greece. We were hoping, but not expecting to be able to check into our room sometime in the morning. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to until around noon. Fortunately, the hostel was equipped with a nice lounge area, wifi, and a buffet breakfast (with drip coffee!) so we were able to eat and relax (as much as we could) until our room was ready.

When our room was ready, showers became the priority, followed by sleep. Some sleep, but mostly just kinda laying.