Sofia and Rila Monastery: Day 29 & 30

Having walked across Bulgaria I thought an extra day for sightseeing was warranted before returning home. 

At breakfast at the hotel, there were three large TV screens showing different episodes of the "Hairy Bikers", busy cooking, above the breakfast buffet. Dave Meyers brought back to life in the streets of Bulgaria. Surreal.

Rila Monastery was the most popular destination for tours from Sofia, and a UNESCO heritage site, so at 9 am I was on a bus heading for this centre of religion in Bulgaria since the 10th century. The monastery was a stronghold of the Christian faith during the five centuries of Ottoman, Muslim rule. Although the Ottomans permitted their subjects to practice their own religion, it was not encouraged. The current buildings dated from the 19th century after their predecessors burnt down, possibly by those allied with the Ottomans. One defensive tower survived and was from the 14th century. With its distinctive colonnades on multiple levels, creating tiered arcades, and the black and brown detailing against a predominantly white background, the monastery was immediately recognisable from pictures I had seen. In the church at the centre of the rectangular complex the guide was helpful explaining details of the iconostasis. Made of wood and gilded with gold, it kept the general public out of the most holy part of the church containing the altar. On the iconostasis, following tradition, Jesus's appeared in an icon to the right of centre, the Virgin mother and child were on the left. To the right of Jesus was the person responsible for the monastery being built here, St John of Rila, to the left of Mary was John the Baptist. They were becoming dirty from the smoke of the many candles, a few icons had been removed for cleaning. Frescos covered the inside of the church, it's walls and ceilings (they were also being cleaned) and the lower arcade level of the outside of the church. There were illustrations on how your soul (depicted as a child) was encouraged by an angel to do the right things while devils tempted you to do sinful things. All the people depicted seem to have hooded eyelids.

As I have found common in these tourist sites, it is difficult to get a sense of the spiritual. Despite the size of the monastery only eight monks live in it. As the guide said, 80% of Bulgarians profess to be Orthodox Christians, but only 5% regularly attend church. The importance of the monastery seems more cultural and historical than religious in our secular age.

Inside Rila Monastery.

The child is your soul, listen to the angel rather than the devil.

After a couple of mekitsas for lunch we visited a cave on a wooded slope where St John of Rila lived an ascetic life as a holy man in poverty. There was a narrow upward exit through which I crawled to cleanse me of my sins (at least that was what the guide said would happen).

I also visited the 6th century Basilica of St Sofia today, which gave the city its name.

There was then not much left of the day after my return and planning details of my trip home tomorrow. However I decided on a glass of wine in the hotel's basement bar for my final night in Bulgaria. 

Next day, it was a tedious journey home by metro, air and train, into the arms of my wife with ecstatic greetings for the dogs.