Rila Monastery, Kiustendil, Bulgaria

Rila Monastery is the largest and most famous Orthodox Monastery in Bulgaria. Founded by Ivan of Rila, and is situated in the Rila Mountains, in the Rila Monastery Nature Park, along the Rila River. Getting to go was a big... th-Rila for us.

This site was one of our main reasons for coming to Bulgaria. This UNESCO World Heritage site is one of the prettiest Orthodox Religious buildings in the world. Located 2 hours south of Sofia, it wasn't that hard to get to, but it was worth the trip. It's still an active Monastery, but is nowhere near the 500 monk capacity it once held. Today it is a pilgrimage site for Orthodox Christians.

Founded in the 10th century, the frescoes are continuously renovated to keep them from deteriorating. Although, as we've seen with most Orthodox buildings, the frescos inside are covered by a layer of ash from the constant lighting of candles by visitors. In fact we observed there was one guy whose job it was to keep throwing out candles that had melted down. There were so many visitors, he was frantically doing a circle around the interior with wax covered fingers.

We were not supposed to take pictures inside but we did sneak a few. I also took a picture of a postcard showing the interior for posterity.Read more