Great Journey 🏍 Day 246
We should definitely visit the "Rila" monastery. It is known throughout the world, or at least throughout Bulgaria, and everyone we tell about it lights up their eyes.
The evening before, we phoned my mum and told her we were going to the monastery. She said, like my mum, "Well, they'll send you away again, you're not cut out for a convent! She probably already knows me quite well.
When we arrive, the car park is packed. Ah well, Easter holidays! There is a policeman at the entrance who nods his approval as we park on the hard shoulder and from now on we keep a watchful eye on Malou with her piled-up panniers. (We are especially pleased that he takes photos of us with our camera after our visit).
We are ready for the monastery. Gerd continues to learn the letters, which sometimes drive him to despair: Рилски манастир or поща or simply тоалетна. Meanwhile, I read some information about the monastery.
That it lies in a beautifully meandering valley in the Rila Mountains, we already noticed on the approach. (By the way, we are once again glad to be "so close" on the motorbike). That it dates back to the 10th century is not at all apparent from the old ham. At that time it was probably just a hermitage, but later additions and alterations, major fires and new construction gave the present monastery its appearance.
The monastery is a popular place of pilgrimage, but today we realise that it is also a popular place of excursions. It soon becomes clear why. It is rare to find so much craftsmanship in one place. The main church is bursting with filigree wood carvings, goldsmith's art and wall paintings (they are called frescoes, aren't they?) Unfortunately, it is forbidden to take photos inside the church, so we make do with photos from outside, which impresses us a lot.
And the fact that it is once again a Unesco World Heritage Site suits us just fine. Because we often look at the Unesco lists of the respective country when preparing a trip. Among them we always find treasures worth visiting.
#rila #rilamonastry #Klosterrila
