Dean Christakos« Dodging a Metaphorical Bullet So I Don't Have to Dodge Real Ones | Main | The Summer Spike In Gas Prices »
July 25, 2006
Into the Rila Mountains
The last part of my stay in Bulgaria involved a 2-day hike through the Rila Mountains, through the 7 Lakes and down to the monastery of St. John of Rila (Sveti Ivan Rilski). The mountains are primarily granite allowing the formation of lakes since the water doesn't soak through the ground.
Some locals use the park for grazing horses, which can be seen along the way:
St. John of Rila lived in the 10th century in a cave near these mountains and ultimately founded a monastery which I reached after a couple of days of hiking (there is, of course, a means of getting there by car, but I started at the other side of the mountain and reached the monastery on foot):
More pictures of the Rila Mountains in my photo archive.
See also: more info on the Rila Monastery.
Posted by Dean at July 25, 2006 10:04 PM
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Comments
wow, that looks lovely
Posted by: t-rat at July 26, 2006 11:56 AM
Great pictures. Some of them look like they could be the Sierra Nevada, which isn't too surprising given the granitic nature of the landscape.
Posted by: Tom Hilton at July 26, 2006 5:30 PM