Bulgaria
Veliko Tarnovo Sofia Rila Monastery
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Veliko Tarnovo
Veliko Tarnovo stands out as one of our favorite places in Eastern Europe. Once the capital of Bulgaria, the city is quaint and inviting, the food was excellent and inexpensive, we met lots of fellow travelers, enjoyed good company, and the ruined citadel atop Tsarevets Hill was one of the great archeological sites of the tour. The church is still intact and is now a museum. Every wall of the interior has been painted in a very modern style to reflect Veliko Tarnovo's history. Pictures weren't allowed inside, so it's hard to describe exactly how cool this was. But after visiting literally dozens of churches in Europe, this one stands out as something completely different and unusual.
| We met Mitch and Jen on the train from Bucharest. They led us to the awesome Backpacker's hostel. |
| The ruined citadel - it's huge and much of the town faces it. |
| It's a massive structure and much of it is still intact. |
| The church is still intact and the city's history has been painted on the interior walls. |
| The ruins are lined with bells. |
| The central courtyard where the palace once stood. |
| From the hilltop citadel one gets awesome views of the town, the Yantra river |
| and the surrounding hills. |
| This river gorge acted as a natural moat. |
| This view of the hillside, church and citadel ruins is from our hostel! Not bad for budget travel |
| Photos of the sound and light show that illuminates the entire hillside. |
| Both photos compliments of Mitch Seper. (We didn't have our camera with us when it started.) |
| Veliko Tarnovo's new town center |
| The "Happy Man" restaurant - great food, cheap! |
| All of the hostel dwellers at the Happy Man |
| This beautiful modern monument sits on an island in the Yantra river. |
| These dogs were kind enough to line up for our photo. |
| Tsarevets Hill and the surrounding area in the morning mists. (Taken from our hostel.) |
Sofia
Sofia's stark urban jungle stands in contrast to the laid-back, rolling hills of Veliko Tarnovo. We may not have appreciated all that Bulgaria had to offer if we'd just stopped in it's modern industrial capital. Despite being a mostly unattractive city, we enjoyed our stay there. The best thing about Sofia was the awesome hostel, Hostel Mostel. It was our first stay in large dormitory style room, but the people were great and the service was unbelievable, especially for a hostel.We spent some time wandering around the city, but a lot more socializing and even catching a couple of movies in English with Cyrillic subtitles. One of the interesting things about Sofia was having a detailed map in English when all the street signs were in Cyrillic. A Cyrillic map would have been better since we would have at least been able to match up the symbols. We didn't manage to take very many pictures while we wandering around, but here are a few.
The highlight of Sofia was the breathtaking Rila Monastery, which actually lies a couple of hours south of the city. Photos of the monastery are in a separate section below.
| Sofia's answer to the mini mart. These common grocery stores sit underground. |
| A small hole in the wall (literally) is where you order and pay. |
| Impressive looking guards stand watch in front of a building whose purpose we can't make out. |
| A soviet-style church. |
| A Roman-era fortress with further excavations in the foreground |
| Our buddy Carl poses in the "head park". |
Rila Monastery
Founded in the 10th century, Rila Monastery is a center of Bulgarian Orhtodox Christianity. It has been destroyed and rebuilt many times, with the oldest building on the current site dating back to the 14th century. Like many of our other stops in Europe, this monastery is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
| One of the two main entrances to the monastery. |
| The Birth of the Blessed Virgin Church, the main building of worship. |
| The Hrelyo Tower is the oldest building, dating to the 14th century. | |
| A view of the central courtyard and church through one of the side arches. |
| The monastery is the largest in Bulgaria, and larger than we were expecting. |
| One of the residents concentrates on his studies. | |
| Some of the 5 domes of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Church |
| One of the rich paintings from the churches exterior |
| An ornately painted walkway | |
| A great view of the church, the painted walkways and the surrounding buildings. |
| This natural "washing machine" was devised out in the back of the monastery |
| Diverted river water agitates the clothes and then runs back into the stream. |
