Rila

Since we were enough to form a group, we went to the Rila Monastery yesterday. Basically, we were driven there by two Bulgarian in their car (we were enough to fill two cars). We went first to the cave where St Ivan of Rila spent years as an hermite; it is... cramped. Nowadays, the main rock shelf is an altar where people can light candles. Around the cave, people put bits of paper with prayers in every crevice possible; some are written on paper, some on anything: piece of cigarette pack... To leave the cave, two choices: to go back down the stairs, where the ceiling is so low one cannot stand, or to go up a ladder and through a natural chimney -which I had to decline, being to tall to fit in it!

It is a short hike to this place, up the mountain. There is also a small spring, also surrounded by prayers, with a cup to drink from it. In the monastery itself there are numerous fountains, and all have a cup or a ladle to drink from them.

We were lucky, I think, to share the visit with few tourists. It meant being able to move freely and see things quietly. Of course, women had to have their shoulder covered, which I took care of by having a pareo (Eric, you brought that one back from Hawai!) with me.

There are several exhibitions inside the monastery, each with a different entrance fee, which starts to add up! I chose to see an exhibit a farming implements and the gallery of icons, but maybe I should have chosen the main museum and the bell tower! But I saw an icon of St Demetrius of Thessaloniki from the 19th century.

The church is beautiful, very orthodox (hum... the fact that it is an orthodox monastery may explain it!). I think that every inch of wall or ceiling is covered in frescoes or icons. Inside and out.

I had my first Bulgarian lunch, where I avoided the traditional salad but still fell prey to the ubiquitous goat cheese: having asked for potatoes with cheese, I got fries with grated goat cheese (a first for me). People who know me know of my great love -or lack thereof- for goat cheese.

The journey back was as uneventful as the journey in; there are many roadside vendors with watermelons and, near the mountains, selling honey, sometimes with nuts in it. The villages we drove through are a mixture of decrepit houses and beautiful greenery, and we saw storks (cigognes) in their nest in one of them.

Now, it's time to catch some breakfast, and maybe a few more minutes of sleep...