Visiting Rila Monastery near Sofia, Bulgaria

 Having explored the city of Sofia it was time to explore the countryside around it!  Rila Monastery from the 10th C is around 1.5 hours from Sofia, in the mountains so perfect to check out.......

The entry was quite impressive but then it opened into a huge courtyard....it was a Sunday so quite a number of local Bulgarians were there......

...it had a very impressive church..... lots of gold inside......no photos allowed!

The tower was where it all started...given by a feudal lord in the 10th C

Another church visited in the countryside was the Boyana church from the 4th C.

The frescoes inside were amazing and original.......no photos allowed!

But found a few online.....

Later that evening we again went into the mountains to see a ritual fire dance! Amazing!