Day 4 - Rila Monestary

The Rila Monastery is the largest and most famous Eastern Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria.  I had been wanting to go to the monastery for a long time, so I was excited to find out that we would be staying in a village that was less than 30 kilometers away.  I was even more excited when our attendant suggested a trip to this beautiful place.

On Tuesday the weather was great, so we decided it would be a good day to visit.  Our group consisted of us, our attendant, the social worker, little brother, foster mother and foster father.  As we drove up the mountain we saw more and more snow on the ground.  

The main church was amazing.  Everything was so detailed.  We could have spent so much more time there.  While we were there Little Brother's foster mother explained that he had been named after the saint who founded the monastery.  Before leaving the church, she asked us to all light a candle together for him. 

We walked around the grounds for a bit longer and took everything in.  We also stopped by the gift shop to purchase a few postcards of the inside of the church before heading back down the mountain for lunch. 

We stopped at a cute little restaurant near the river and enjoyed a traditional Bulgarian meal.  While we waited for our lunch Little Brother enjoyed checking out the stuffed animals that were mounted on the wall and checking himself out in the mirror.  His foster mother ordered him a meatball and some French fries, but he preferred Jason's chicken dish over his own meal.

After lunch we said our goodbyes and headed back to the village.  On the way we talked about our plan for the rest of the week.

We arrived back in time for our daily Skype session with Nikolas.  After that we took a walk around the city center and also down to the small church down the road.  We always felt comfortable when we were out, and the people we met were very friendly.  We definitely enjoyed the slower pace of village life.

As normal, we had our nightly dinner in the hotel restaurant with our attendant followed by relaxing upstairs before bed.