Rilski Manastir Off The Beaten Path

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Despite the main interesting thing here is Rilski Manastir, in his surroundings are very beautiful mountains where you can do very pleasant trekkings.
Mountains are high; I remenber we were in august and the water at monastery´s font was extremely cold,

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The crystal mountain waters of Rilska river , that owns the valley , are jumping from stone to stone . You can find her by taking the road to the Ivan Rilski grave than after awhile look for a bridge situated on your right side....

From the Rila monastery there is along the road that goes to the Kiril meadow, a trail that goes to the st. Lukes hermitage. Following the road to the meadow, at about 4 km ther is a trail on your left hand that goes to this place. The trail takes some 3 km to the st. lukes hermitage. And then follow the signs (in cyrilic, but there are pictures of st Ivan to follow)
The hermitage is build somewhere in the 18 th. Century and has a very serene or, since lying in the woods, a quasi-mystical athmosphere: The whole place has something special: i think it is the nature, the trees, the light...(I thought the whole place had something of the Cure s a Forrest clip)
There is a large courtyard (maybe that is the gothic thing about the place then) and a church. When you walk along the trail you can continue your way to the St. Ivan Cave: yes: the place where st. John, the founder of the monasary, lived. A legend thing: whomever is able to pass the hole in the roof of the cave is not a sinner. Well, in that case there are not many sinners in the world since anyone can get trough the hole!

From the Rila monastery it is about 9 km to Kiril meadow, following the road east of Rila monastery. The meadow is a place with pine trees, caf?, views from the cliffs and picnic occasions. The road to the meadows from the monastery is flat, so you can walk it in one hour or so. You can stay at the meadown for the night: there are rooms with but they are rather expensive: some 30 lv. The place is a good side kick for people who want to change the busy touristic monastery for a desolate, quiet area

The park has thirty-six peaks over 2000 m in altitude. The highest of these peaks are Goliam Kupen (2731 m) and Tcherna Pollyana (2716 m) Many rivers run trough the park (Rilska, Iliyna, Drushljavitsa, Otchova) and there are about 1000 plants are found here and there is a diversity of the rich forest: you find birch, oak, fir, pine, beech and other sorts. Also some 150 animal species live in the park. The park is permanently open with free admission. As said, the park boasts a marvellous array of landscapes, including also mineral springs (Rila comes from the Thracian word ?mountain of water?)

From the Rila Monastery you can start off your way into the Rila Monastery natural park. There are several trails of differing length and difficulty. This park was founded in 2000. The park a lot of natural beauty to explore. Dued to the local weather conditions and gravitational forces there have been formed typical landslides, taluses and talus-cones. The area of Kirilova Pollyanna has interesting sites to see, such as the beautiful rocky ark (with the the peaks Iglata, Orlovets and Eleni Vrah). The valley of Rilska River is cut by numerous steep gull?s, which are charistic forms. There stone-falls among which the Dalgia Uluk and Varnika are the most famous. There are many lakes in the park, at least there are about 27 glacial lakes. The highest lake is the first of the Djavolski Lakes (2445 m) Here you can find also the biggest mountain lake in the Balkan which contains an area of 21 ha and which is about 20 m deep.

Nature park "Rila Monastery" Includes the surroundings of the monastery and was created in 2000 to preserve the unique nature of the region.