Do you remember those places that leave you open-mouthed when you start to see them from afar, that can surprise you even more than you had imagined before the trip? The Rila Monastery, 120 km from Sofia and one of the most famous in Bulgaria is precisely one of these places! It was founded by the hermit Saint John of Rila in the tenth century, in 1976 was declared a national historical monument and since 1983 is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Apart from the guided tours organized by several tour operators, it is possible to arrive at the monastery by taking a bus that leaves at 10:20 from the Sofia West Station reachable by tram number 5 (2 crosses behind the courthouse, 1.6 ticket lever and 11 stops away from the courthouse itself). You can buy the ticket only on board the bus, it costs 11 leva each way per person, and you can not book the seats: you will able to take the places you prefer on the bus only if you arrive quite soon to the station.
I advise you to come as quickly as possible especially if you suffer from car or bus sickness. The journey takes about 2 hours, including a change of driver just before taking the mountain road, and remember that the only bus to return to Sofia leaves at 15 from the entrance of the monastery: you have about 2 hours to visit it and to eat something quick for lunch (I suggest something very quick not to spend time sitting at the restaurant instead of admiring the splendour of this place).
Admission to the monastery is free, there are entrance tickets only for the kitchens (3 leva) and for the defensive tower (5 leva); I found the kitchens very interesting to visit, I have always intrigued these huge rooms dedicated to the kitchens, while the defensive tower left me very perplexed: you pay the ticket, you climb 70 steps rather narrow and difficult to climb, and once you get to the top the view is really minimal if not non-existent!
Unfortunately, it is not possible to take photographs inside the religious building: I was sorry I could not do it because I would have liked to bring home a visible memory, so to speak “tangible” of all that gold, those frescoes with colours so strong that seem made yesterday and that chandelier so low and so full to occupy a lot of space. Regarding the visit to the religious building, obviously, you must have a proper clothing with covered shoulders and legs. What is striking about the structure, besides the frescoes found on every corner of the monastery?
Admittedly, for me, the structure as a whole: from the outside it looks like a fortress, a defensive structure! Once crossed the entrance it seems to find itself in a parallel world, remained precisely as when the monastery was built (if it were not for the tide of tourists), with the square on which overlook the balconies on which they are the monastic cells and the refectory for the monks.
If you need to buy something to eat, there are restaurants and stalls on the other side of the monastery from the entrance where you get off the bus. I “had lunch” with a pre-packaged ice cream and some biscuits, preferring to use the 2 hours available to turn the monastery, so I can not recommend a place to stop you. However, I would like to point out the presence of places to eat (and also to buy trinkets and knick-knacks to bring you home). I recommend, to close the post, to keep a day to visit this UNESCO heritage site because I think it is a place to be visited entirely during a trip to the Bulgarian capital.