This morning we were up bright and early for our final tour on this trip – Boyana Church and Rila Monastery.  We were to meet our Viator tour group at Alexander Nevsky Cathedral at 0900hrs, but they ask that you show up at least 10 minutes early, so naturally we were there by 0820hrs.  We were fine with that though, because we had awesome light to capture the outside of Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (which we will be checking out tomorrow).

Once everyone had arrived (not everyone on time, ahem), we all hopped on the mini bus and were on our way to an affluent community just 20 minutes outside of Sofia called Boyana.  In Boyana there is an old and very small church, built in the 11th and 13th centuries and featuring some very early painted icons in the orthodox tradition.

We pulled into the parking lot and enjoyed the beautiful yard, peaceful and quiet but for the chirping birds.  The leaves are starting to turn colour and the air was crisp, definitely autumn.

As previously mentioned, the church is a very small UNESCO world heritage site, and there could be only 10 of us in the church at a time, so we took turns.  No photos were allowed, but inside are icons describing the saints, the king and queen, and the nobles who donated the money to build the church and earn their fast-track ticket straight to heaven.

Once all 3 groups of 10 had made our way through and gotten the mini tour, we all piled back on the bus and we hit the road for the 2 hour drive south of Sofia, into the Rila Mountains for Rila Monastery.  Our tour guide Marina told us stories of Bulgaria, the different ethnic groups, the story of how God created Bulgaria:

“When God was dividing up the lands for the different nations, Bulgaria was last because we’re always late.  We it finally came to us, all the lands had been assigned and there was nothing for the Bulgarians.  We said ‘who are we supposed to live with?  The Greeks?  The Serbians?’  God felt bad so he told Bulgarians ‘don’t tell the other nations, but I will give you part of paradise – mountains and sea.'”

The drive up to and through the mountains was really lovely – like a more mountainous Okanagan.  Lots of wineries, lots of vineyards, lots of houses with with beautiful grape vine trellis shading their yards, which were full of ripe tomatoes and cucumbers.

We pulled into the lot and entered what looks from the outside like a walled compound:

We entered to find the gobsmacking striped and arched brilliance that is Rila Monastery.

Rila Monastery is the largest monastery in the country and is named after Ivan of Rila, a reclusive hermit of a man who loved to live in nature (apparently once lived in the trunk of a tree) and whose relics allegedly have healing properties.  The monastery itself was founded in the 10th century, but due to years of religious turmoil in the country (Ottoman Turks would knock down any church they could), the buildings we see today are from the mid 19th century.

We as tourists and pilgrims are only allowed on the ground floor of the structure as it is still a working monastery, able to house up to 400 monks.

We then moved on to the Cathedral, again Orthodox (the main religion in Bulgaria) and again, no photos in the sanctuary, but the outer domes housed some icons, showing the Garden of Good and Evil, Judgement Day, and why we should always confess (spoiler: you go to hell if you don’t).

The iconostasis is quite the thing to behold – it took 5 years to carve out the incredible detail and is covered in 17 kilos of gold.  The sanctuary also houses the bones (relics) of Ivan of Rila, kept in a box under a cloth in front of the iconostasis.  Our tour guide told us that there are often many people who make the pilgrimage to Rila for Ivan’s healing powers, and we even witnessed several orthodox monks line up, crouch down and kiss the box.

After the tour we had almost 2 hours to ourselves, so we grabbed lunch at a restaurant just outside the monastery walls, recommended by our tour guide, so we stuffed our hungry faces with chicken kebab, shopska salad, homemade bread and beer.

We finished up and headed back in to the monastery to get more photos and just enjoy how beautiful the buildings are and how peaceful the setting is.  Pa decided to climb the tower, so Ma and I bought a book on the monastery and a few fridge magnets (as always).

By the time Pa got back down from the tower, it was time to meet up with the rest of our group and get back on the bus.  We grabbed a few last glances and boarded, dozing on the 2 hour drive back to Sofia.  We were dropped back off at Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, so we grabbed a cab to our little neighbourhood, had some treats and lemonade at a cafe and turned in for the night, ready for our last day of vacation tomorrow before our sojourn back home on Wednesday.