Monks and Gladiators

Two of our days in Bulgaria we were able to leave Sofia and visit the beautiful Rila Monastery and Bulgaria’s second largest city, Plovdiv. We booked our day trips with a local tour company called Traventuria- and on both tours had amazing tour guides.

Rila Monastery
On route to Rila, our guide made a slight detour and took us to Boyana Church, a UNESCO designated site about 15 minutes outside Sofia. Although we were not able to take pictures inside the church, the walls were layers of frescos painted in the 11th and 13th century.

Outside Boyana Church

We then started our drive to Rila which follows partially along the route to Greece. I’m usually pretty good at planning out our trips and sites before we go, but I was so focused on the city of Sofia that I didn’t notice it’s close proximity to several other destinations including Belgrade, Thessaloniki and Istanbul (we can save those places for another trip!).

Rila Mountains

Rila Monastery was built in the 9th century and at one time was home to 7,000 monks although today there are less than 20. Much of the monastery is original, including the toilets which were “squat toilets” aka holes in the ground with no toilet paper. M is particularly squeamish about toilets and if the bowl even had a little rust of brown water, she refuses to go. O, on the hand has tried out port-a-potty’s with no issue, but these toilets were on another level. I made the executive decision that we “hold it” as long as possible and hope that somewhere there is a functioning toilet. (Note to self: always pack a roll of toilet paper).













Rila Monastery is the resting place of several famous Bulgarian figures, including the last Bulgarian king, Boris III. Bulgaria doesn’t usually come up in many world history classes, but the story of Boris III for WWII buffs is particularly interesting. Boris III was Bulgaria’s king during the rise of the Nazi Party and WWII, and was one of the righteous gentiles I had mentioned earlier who was instrumental in saving Bulgaria’s almost 50,000 Jews. What’s most interesting are the circumstances surrounding the death of Boris III. Hitler tasked the Bulgarian king with rounding up the Jews in 1941 to be sent to the camps and each time the trains were scheduled to depart, the deportations were delayed by Boris III. In 1943 Hitler invited Boris III to a special dinner in Germany to discuss their alliance and Bulgaria’s Jews; days after the meeting, the healthy 49 year old king suddenly fell ill and died. Although not officially written in any history books, all four tour guides we met believe it a fact that Hitler poisoned Boris III.

Eating Mekitsa

Shopska Salad

After our guided tour of the monastery, our guide gave us about 90 minutes of free time to further explore the grounds or eat at one of the two restaurants on the mountain. He described the two restaurants as rude and ruder, but offered an alternate option of mekitsa, the Bulgarian version of a donut. For one leva (equivalent to .50 cents) you can get two donuts - flat pieces of fry bread - that are traditionally topped with powdered sugar or blackberry jam. Although delicious, the mekitsa wasn’t exactly a proper lunch so we took a chance at the first restaurant which was definitely the ruder of the two, so instead of taking a seat, we opted to try out the second restaurant, which thankfully was pleasant, delicious and had a very clean modern toilet with toilet paper! The traditional meal of Rila is bean soup, a recipe that has been served for centuries; we ordered soup, shopska salad (traditional Bulgarian salad) and some homemade bread.  

If you ask M what her favorite part of the day was, she’d likely tell you it was meeting a little puppy that Australian backpackers had found in Albania and taken on. For O it was probably our tour guide Chris, who took an instant liking to her, telling her stories of his four-year old twin daughters and secret tales of Rila. O is usually a good gauge of our tour guides and if they are friendly and personable. She quickly tries to buddy up with them, asking questions and of course sharing her life story. Usually those who engage with her turn out to be excellent story tellers and guides and because of this O is tasked with giving them their tip.

Plovdiv
Before ending our Rila Monastery tour, both girls were eager to know if Chris would be the guide for the Plovdiv tour later in the week, but much to their disappointment, he was not. Our tour to Plovdiv was also a small group tour of about 18 people, the majority of whom were Israeli. If people weren’t speaking Bulgarian in the city of Plovdiv, they were speaking Hebrew. I had never heard of Plovdiv prior to this visit to Bulgaria, but interestingly the city there are several accomplishments it can boast. Plovdiv is the oldest inhabited city in Europe, it has the longest pedestrian street in Europe and was voted the 2019 cultural capital of Europe. While Sofia is a larger more hip city, Plovdiv is beautiful and charming and reminiscent of Tallinn.

Roman Ruins of Plovdiv

Plovdiv, similar to Sofia, is home to ancient Roman ruins, specifically a Roman amphitheater and stadium from the 2nd century. The girls took turns pretending to be gladiators as they entered the stadium (lucky for us, we were the only tourists at the time in there). The Ottoman/Turkish influence is especially stronger in Plovdiv with several Turkish bakeries and doner kebab stands. We were hoping to get a taste of Bulgaria’s version of baklava, but much to our dismay the two sweet shops serving these types of treats were closed; of course there is always mekitsa.

Roman Amphitheater of Plovdiv

Entering Roman Stadium

Modern take on Mekitsa

Roman Stadium, Plovidv