Wednesday, Sep 6th, Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria

Greetings!

Yesterday, we spent the last day in Plovdiv with a trip to the Rila Monastery.  It's the number one tourist destination in. Bulgaria, and has been for a thousand years.  Almost defining the monastery design in eastern Europe, Saint Ivan of Rila hosted many others seeking isolation, tolerance,  and self-reliance.  Reaching a peak of over a hundred monks, the mountain site faded during the soviet era, and has been rediscovered since.  

Telling the stories of the Old Testament in frescoes to those who couldn't read the text, this recipe for getting into heaven or hell instruction manual attracted some of the finest artists from several civilizations from the ninth century to the present.

Toward the end of our visit, we hiked down the hill to the monastery cemetery for those serving there in recent years.  After sitting on the bus for hours, the sound of the trailside stream, and long stretch of our legs, was a welcome change.

On the way back to the hotel, there was a request from one of our travelers that we visit the Boyana Church.   Taking a chance against evidence that we wouldn't be allowed entry, we decided to try anyway.  Joe negotiated a reluctant caretaker to allow our large unregistered group to squeeze into the small chamber.  To our amazement, the visit was spectacular in its display of icon frescoes which included perspectives, facial realities, and painting techniques which were to appear in great Renaissance works many centuries later..  Unfortunately, no photos were allowed.
 
This morning was a transit day as our bus driver took us for nine hours from Sofia to Veliko Tarnovo via Plovdiv.  The City of Plovdiv contained a Roman  amphitheater and a large wooden Ethnographic Museum featuring 40,000 exhibits distributed among agriculture, crafts, fabrics, clothing, furniture, musical instruments, and art.    

Finally, our stay tonight is in a hillside boutique (Hotel Gurko) overlooking a twist in the Yantra River that we'll explore tomorrow.  We ended the day with at the hotel restaurant with a cucumber/tomato salad, stuffed pork and beef bell pepper, and baklava/gelato desert.  

To see all of the photos taken yesterday and today, click on Wednesday, Sep 6th, Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria.

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