No, the unknown is NOT the Rila Monastery from the picture above which is probably the Symbol of Symbols when it comes to Bulgarian heritage and culture, and is on every second postcard and travel schedule. The Monastery has been next to my door for more than 20 years now and I have taken there every single guest I’ve had in this period. There may be a thing or two I still don’t know about it but the revelation from about a month ago concerns another iconic site a little higher up in the Rila Mountains – the grave of St. Ivan Rilski, the medieval patron-saint of the Rila Monastery. After walking up to the site, like 100 times along the same path everyone uses, I suddenly discovered there was another, much more pleasant track which I will show you now.
It starts at a stone fountain on the main road up the mountain and quickly ducks into the forest. As the other name of Rila Mountains, as some may know, is the Water Mountain, the path is surrounded by damp places like the above. It is quite pleasant even on a hot summer’s day. Every now and then, there are openings in the forest, and one can catch quick glimpses like this:
The path takes you to the locality of St. Lukas where you find the house in which the second most important person in the history of Rila Monastery (obviously after the founder St. Ivan Rilski) spent the last years of his life. The name of that person is Neofit Rilski – I agree the family names of people related to the Rila Monastery cannot really be called inventive – and we Bulgarians owe him the secular education that took the nation much closer to Renaissance than it would have been otherwise. Part of the forest close to that spot looks very tropical because it is probably the youngest one in Western Rila – some 15 years ago a huge avalanche passed here and practically shaved the slope clean. Since then, the landscape has changed into this:
After a really quick forest climb, there you are at the grave of the founder-saint, and the cave he lived in before founding the Rila Monastery. You may or may not decide to pass through the Sinner’ Hole which is a short but almost vertical and narrow tunnel through the rocks above the cave. The legend has it that whoever is able to pass through, is sinless – or at least relieved from past sins. There have always been sceptics, of course, who ask what happens if you go through the hole backwards – do you get sinful then, or what? Can’t tell you, evidence is missing both ways. But once you finish that ritual, you can then return via the ‘official’ route and make a loop trail. That will take you 2 kilometers above the place where you’ve left your car; and these kilometers are all on asphalt. The only compensation that I can suggest are views like this:
Join me for a visit to another Bulgarian landmark – Asenova Fortress.
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