Rila Monastery

On our weekend trip to the festival in Pernik, we made a spontaneous decision not to return to the festival for a 2nd day, but instead drive for two hours to the Rila Monastery. Founded in 927 AD, Rila is Bulgaria's most important religious site and many Bulgarian pilgrims come to pay homage. The monastery itself has been plundered, burned, restored, and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. It was founded by a hermit monk Ivan Rilski, who lived in a cave for twelve years and slept on rocks. He dedicated himself entirely to a life of isolation and prayers to God and became the founder of Bulgarian monasticism.

Most Bulgarians recommend seeing this retreat in the spring or summer because of the green beauty of the Rila Mountains and cold running trout streams. Tom and I thought we would wait, but when we realized that we had a car and were within striking distance, we decided to check it out.

To get to this very remote monastery requires commitment and patience. When we turned off the main highway towards the town of Rila, we thought we were almost there. No, Tom drove through a very curvy mountain road for another thirty minutes. Because the monastery rests between two mountains, sighting it from afar was impossible. We didn't know we had arrived until we took a curve in the road around a bend and saw a very small parking lot.

The reward was greatly worth the drive. I thought the retreat magnificent in the snow. It was certainly not crowded and evoked the beauty of a solitary retreat for spiritual contemplation.

Within the monastery walls is the Church of the Nativity with vivid frescoes covering the outside walls, telling stories of the damnation of sinners and the ascent upward toward the angels and saints.

Another architectural attraction of the compound is the four levels of wooden balconies that all turn inward facing one another and looking down on the shared grounds.

Snow and ice covered the interior lawn. A few black-robed Eastern orthodox priests walked throughout. The inward facing balconies, folk type paintings on the facade, and the meditative atmosphere reminded both of us of the many Dzongs we saw in Bhutan with the saffron robed monks.