Rila Monastery

Surrounded by heavy low-hanging fog and incessant snowing, Rila Monastery is every bit as impressive when seen in person as the photographs taken of it with clear blue skies in Summer.

I could only enter the main church of the monastery, and not the surrounding residential blocks.  Not sure if it was a time constraint or that tourists are simply not allowed up there.

But the main church itself was the most impressive Eastern Orthodox monastery I have visited since the Savior on the Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg, with all that beautiful frescos and the large chandelier with ostrich eggs.

I could and would have spent an entire afternoon just looking at each and every fresco, but unfortunately being in a group meant this was impossible.  Perhaps I could return to Rila again in Summer and spend all the time I want at Rila Monastery.