Rila Monastery

Ahhhh............ just look at that.............. isn't it pretty? Saturday we went to Rila Monastery, an Eastern Orthodox one about 40 miles away, but a 2-ish hour drive. It's tucked up in the Rila Mountains, and was just lovely!

I look pretty good here. Nuala...well, she's had better moments. But I look good. Isn't that the hugest frown ever? I mean, her mouth is actually an upside-down "U". Amazing. If you saw what she was looking at, you would say, "Of course! That explains it!" So, HERE is what she was looking at. Well, actually, not the EXACT picture, but a very similar one:

And honestly, these pictures of poor souls being dragged down to the fiery pits of hell and being devoured by monstrous dragon-thingies didn't really bother so much as fascinate them. I just thought that would be a good explanation for the hugest frown ever.

The inside of the church was very cool, too, but we couldn't take pictures inside.

In Bulgaria there are water "fountains" all over the place. It's spring water, and people stop for drinks, or to fill up their water bottles, or splash their heads or wash their feet. Even along the sides of the roads driving between towns there are little springs like these. This one was, obviously, in the monastery. And of course whenever we come across one, N&B have a hay-day getting drinks...splashing...you know...

This one was all fancy and had a little scoop chained to it. Even MORE fun!

So pretty..... did I say that already?

The rooms, etc. on the inside of the walls surrounding the courtyard and actual church. You can stay overnight here.

Another fountain...another water scoop...another cute and "thirsty" kiddo.

A little monastery cat. He was awesome. Didn't crack an eye from the moment these two excited 2-yr olds ran over to him and proceeded to pet (nicely, for the most part), poke, gently tail-pull, and even kiss him. The kissing thing I was okay with until I went to pet him and felt how grungy and scabby he was. Yeah, I didn't encourage any more besos... And yes, he was definitely alive. The tail twitched, he moved ever-so-slightly, but never looked at us or panicked, which is quite amazing when accosted...I mean approached by young and exuberant children. He didn't seem to be sickly either, despite his grunginess. Just a peacefully pooped cat who couldn't be bothered to move from his comfy stair.

Some of the icons for sale. I still hafta get a pic of the oodles of icons for sale downtown. But these were pretty nice. And expensive. Pictures are our only souvenirs from here. We really liked this nice carved one of St. George and the dragon (the wooded one above...with the guy on the horse spearing the dragon), but it was over $100! There was another one I really liked, a sweet one of Mary and the Christ child, but it was a lot, too. Most of the Madonna/Child ones are kinda severe looking, but this one was very loving and warm. If only we weren't so cheap! Frugal. I mean frugal... No, really, it was nice, but expensive. I'll find a cheaper copy one day, and if not, eh. We have lots of nice pictures already.

We bought some doughnuts at the bakery outside the gates afterwards. They were very scone-like, and really good with the all-natural, homemade sheeps milk yogurt we got, too. It was good, very tart and tangy. At the bottom it got quite lumpy, which mentally grossed me out a bit, but it tasted delicious.

Then we frolicked down a path through the woodsy area. We like to frolic.

I wish this picture turned out better. Despite my considerable skills, I couldn't fix it, but it's still cute! :)

Hanging out on a big ol' bridge. It was really gorgeous there. We want to go back when the snow starts. Just a little, not a lot. Of snow, I mean, not how much we want to go back.

The small villages we drove through to get there and back were loaded with grapes. All along the streets, the houses and stores had awnings/frames above the sidwalk with grapes growing super thickly. It was so neat! They were getting fat and purple...yummm...