Sofia to Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Sunday, May 18

We set off early this morning, as we'd added an extra stop to our itinerary for the day.  At the suggestion of our host in Sofia, we planned to visit the Boboshevski Monastery, as it was near our planned route to the Rila Monastery.  It was a good thing that we allowed extra time, as we made two attempts to find the monastery using our GPS, we were severely hampered by the fact that there were several churches honoring the same saint, not to mention that we couldn't read the road signs.  We found a couple of them, in very isolated locations (Calling them villages would be a stretch!), but never did get where we wanted to be.

Deciding that the third time would not be the charm, we decided to head to Rila Monastery, our original plan for the morning.  This extraordinary place, the home of Bulgarian monastic tradition, is set in a high valley of the Rila Mountains, which tower over the monastic complex.  The setting is majestic -- above the large courtyard of the monastery, the mountains loom, the lower slopes carpeted in green, the rocky peaks snow covered.  The monastery itself is every bit a match for its surroundings.  The large, irregularly-shaped courtyard is paved in large stones and encircled by three tiers of colonnaded and decorated porticoes fronting cells for 300 monks. The centerpiece of the complex is the Church of the Nativity, which is simply glorious, inside and out. 

 There are 1200 murals adorning absolutely every surface, from the exterior porticoes to the highest domes of the interior.  The murals are richly hued and represent depictions of biblical scenes, saints, demons, and divinity.  As in most of the churches and monasteries we've visited here, no photos can be taken inside, so I guess you need to see this to believe it --candles, pilgrims, a massive gilded chandelier, monks counseling the faithful, icons, and murals, murals, everywhere!  What an experience!

Then, it was back to the real world and on the road to Plovdiv, a city whose origins can be traced to prehistoric times.  It's chock-full of Roman ruins, but brimming with all the activity of a living city. 

After checking into our apartment, we walked along the pedestrian main drag, where artists and craftsmen had set up booths on this Sunday afternoon.  As we strolled toward the central shopping area and civic plaza, we found the remains of one end of the Roman stadium exposed below street level.  Most of the stadium remains unearthed beneath the pedestrian shopping street, but it's possible to descend staircases and walk among the rows of the original structure.  The exposed portion of the stadium is now used as a performance space, with spectators gathering at street level and looking down into the stadium.

We wandered around the central city for a couple of hours before taking an evening walking tour with a young guide who led us through the streets, parks and centuries of this city.  The Soviet-era post office and Communist party headquarters, a leafy park with chess-playing old men, the graffiti rocks depictions of notable artists, writers, musicians, and thinkers, the recently-discovered Roman theater, now used for cultural events, historic Orthodox churches and a surviving mosque, the narrow streets of the Old Town, with their symmetrical houses, and the fortress walls, high above the city were all parts of our interesting itinerary and potential sites for us to explore in more depth tomorrow.