The Rila Monastery
The Rila Monastery
One more for my list of places to visit. The Rila Monastery is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Founded in the 10th Century in the Rila Mountains. Although it was destroyed once by the Ottomans and then again by fire so its current buildings were constructed during the Bulgarian Revival of the mid 19th century. None-the-less they are stunning. Nestled between the mountains it seems like an oasis in a boundless forest. From within the compound both the outer walls of the Monastery and the mountains themselves seem to rise up and surround you.
View From Inside the Rila Monastery
Filled with frescos and considered a repository of Bulgarian language and culture this is also right up at the top of my places to visit list.
Filed in Uncategorized 5 Comments so far
Reverend on 09 Feb 2009 at 5:10 pm #
Wow,
These places look almost surreal. And the arches in that second photo remind me of the Mezquita in Cordoba http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezquita
Beautiful stuff, and I have to say that I love that you are pre-blogging your semester abroad, it looks to be truly fascinating. And while I went through Bulgaria on a bus ride to Turkey briefly, I can’t say I know much of anything about the country, so I look forward to this.
ehalsey on 09 Feb 2009 at 7:45 pm #
I don’t think anything can match the mystery and the wonder you get from exploring a rarely explored country. I’m glad you are enjoying my blog thus-far. That will be good motivation to keep posting. On another note, who are you exactly?
Reverend on 09 Feb 2009 at 8:33 pm #
I’m the Reverend.
ehalsey on 09 Feb 2009 at 8:44 pm #
fair enough
Hex on 11 Feb 2009 at 6:35 pm #
It’s only 40km away from AUBG, so it’s quite easy to get there.