Rila Monastery, Rozhen Monastery and Melnik, aka "the whirlwind tour with the Rizovs"

Actually, a better name would be something like "How many famous places in Bulgaria can you visit in one day" or "We came, we saw, we left"! So, let me elaborate a little more about our latest day trip because as you know by now, I generally prefer to spend more time in places to enjoy them fully:

Some friends in Sofia wanted to take a trip with us and since my father hadn't yet been to the SW part of Bulgaria near Melnik, that was to be our destination. Then, we were introduced to another friend of theirs who had also lived in the U.S. for a while and who also invited us to take a trip with him to Rila Monastery. We all decided to combine excursions and go together in one car. Nice idea, right? One car with everyone saves on gas and we get to travel with old and new friends. However, the one car happened to be driven by the most aggressive driver we've yet ridden with. Skilled driver, yes, most kind and generous person, yes, good friend, yes, so scary that you fear for your life and stomach, yes! And, a 12 hour ride in the back seat of a compact car is not so comfortable for three not so small adults... but anyway, this is all beside the point since we're alive and well.

We drove first all the way from Sofia to Rozhen Monastery which is near the border with Greece. I don't have pictures of the inside because they asked you not to take photos. However, you can see the neat monastic architecture of the outside!

Then, since we were tired of sitting in the car, I convinced everyone except our driver, to walk to the nearby town of Rozhen. It was a pleasant walk but when we arrived, we discovered that our friendly driver had already made friends with an older gentleman in town and was being led away before our very eyes to the basement where a table of snacks and drinks, (primarily the latter) was to be laid. ( This is the most famous wine producing area in Bulgaria). I followed out of curiosity to see where they were going and then my dad followed me. This left, poor Tsveta, the driver's wife, waiting for everyone to return and wondering where they had gone. I took one look at the glasses coming out for rakia and wine and went back to let her know her husband wasn't making a short visit :) However, Tsveta, ever the punctual and concerned, sent me back to retrieve everyone. I, of course, was unsucessful, although since my dad doesn't drink much, he came with me. Then, Tsveta saw that I was mostly empty handed and so she called her husband on the phone. Then she called her daughter's partner to have him call her husband too. Then, when all that failed, she marched in and dragged the two dawdlers and their newly bought 4 liter bottle of homemade red wine away from their new friend. Probably a good thing too since her husband needed to drive.

After this, we headed into the town of Melnik, a small town in the SW of Bulgaria situated in one river-carved valley of a sandstone alluvial fan at the base of the Pirin mountains.. It is very picturesque and there has been a lot of tourism development since I was last there 9 years ago. However, the neatest coincidence is that I met Baba Neda, the woman with whom I stayed when I was here those many years ago. I had intended to look for her, just to say hello, and so when I saw a local grandmother on the street who could have been her, I asked if she knew Baba Neda. "That's me" she cried! and so we were reacquainted :)

Originally, we had intended to eat lunch in Melnik, but as the prices were very high and we had finished our one promenade through town and back, we decided to continue on to Sandanski where food, reportedly, should have been cheaper. Tsveta vaguely remembered a nice area of town to walk and to eat so we drove off in search of that. However, we managed to long pass the edge of town and head into the hills before we could convince the driver that no, indeed the little city lake we were looking for was not ahead :) Anyway, we eventually found our river walk, sat down at a nearby restaurant and realized that the food was equally expensive and so kept going until we found this particular menu item (which i've forgotten the name of) at a decent price.

So, after all of this, by the time we left for the Rila monastery, our original destination, it was already 3pm! By the time we arrived it was closer to 5pm. (Luckily, the bakery where the monks sell fry-bread was still open... :) )We wondered around for not too long and then our hosts, who have seen the monastery several times, were ready to leave. So, after dawdling as much as possible to extend our time out of the car, we had to return home. Let's just say that when we finally returned home, my dad walked straight to his bed, lay down, and didn't get up again till several hours later! What a long day! However, papa can now check off four more places he has been too... (I'd already been to all of them except Sandanski). And, except for the crazy driving, it really was a fun trip!