15 April
2025 – No Junk Today & A Hidden Cave
Miles
driven today = 52
Total Miles
to date = 3,534
I’m fairly
certain that the missing hose nozzle has now dropped down into the water tank,
so it should be a simple case of fishing it out at some point but it was
lashing down with rain this morning and we have enough water on board for the
next couple of days so I’ve put off the job of retrieving it until conditions
are more clement.
So we got
underway in good time and gingerly inched our way back down the winding and
bumpy road from Stara Kresna to the main Sofia highway. Lisa hates hairpin bends, and especially when
we are going downhill, and even more especially when the weather isn’t great so
the first 6 kilometers of our journey probably took a good 20 minutes. After that we followed the impressive narrow
gorge of the in spate Struma River upstream to Blagoevgrad. The Eco Village we were staying at run
Kayaking and Rafting adventures and conditions looked perfect for both.
At
Blagoevgrad we had our first Bulgarian shopping experience at Lidl. I had a pocket full of 1 lev coins ready for
the shopping trolley but we were completely flummoxed to find the slot only
accepted 50 stotinki (cent) coins. A
friendly old guy spotted our dismay, rummaged around in his pocket and presented
us with a token so we didn’t have to mess about getting change. It’s the little things. Such a kind gesture.
Next stop
was Kocherinovo.
I had spotted on Google
Maps that the town has a “Junk Museum” which looked absolutely fantastic from
the photos, so we headed there and pulled up opposite.
The gates were firmly locked but there was a
contact number so I rang it.
When a guy
answered I asked if the museum was open today.
His response was very simply “Medical Problem”.
I’ll take that as a “no” then, so I had to
make do with taking a few photos through the railings before we moved on again.
We passed
through the town of Rila but there didn’t really seem to be anything there
worth stopping for so we carried on for another couple of kilometres and pulled
over for lunch in an area which supposedly has a number of waterfalls to
admire.
It was
still raining quite heavily but I popped on my waterproof and went to
investigate while Lisa sensibly stayed in the van.
This almost certainly isn’t the waterfall
indicated on Google Maps but it was the most impressive I found before
scurrying back to the dryness of the van.
The famous
Rila Monestary is a further 20km down the road and we are stopping over tonight
in its car park, but rather than battle with the coach parties in the rain we
made our way along the narrow cobbled road to the rear and on into the
foothills of the Rila Mountains.
We pulled
over in a layby and entertained ourselves for an hour or so until the rain
finally abated, at which point we drove on a little further to a small car park
in the woods.
From there
we followed a steep, rocky uphill path to find the Cave of St John of
Rila.
John (also known as Ivan for some
reason) was a hermit born in the 9
th Century.
He lived in his cave for 7 years, existing
solely on what he could forage in the woods.
He subsequently founded the Monastery but more about that tomorrow, no
doubt.
What with
Lisa’s vertigo and my dodgy knees we were glad that we had the foresight to
take our walking poles with us, otherwise I would have probably come back down
again on my backside.
All the
noticeboards were only in Bulgarian and we couldn’t get enough signal for
Google Translate to work so we were flying blind and starting to wonder if we were
on a wild goose chase when we came across this Church.
There was another
building next door, built into the rock face like a hobbit home with the number
3A on its door.
Very strange!
The path
continued onwards and upwards past this drinking fountain.
And then to
St John’s Prayer Rock.
Still no sign
of his cave though so we started heading back down the hill, slightly
disappointed.
It was only
when we got back down to the Church again that we realised there was a secret
path leading around the back to the right.
This in
turn led to a narrow stone staircase where you had to duck right down to
prevent cracking you head on the rock.
And finally
at the top of the staircase a motion sensor activated light revealed a small shrine.
We’d found it!
Hurrah.
We headed
back to the Monastery and are now parked up in the car park directly in front
of it.
It stays open until 7pm but with
better weather forecast tomorrow we thought we would leave it until the morning
before we have a look around in relative peace and quiet.
Yeah I know that didn’t exactly go to plan at
Hosios Loukas but tomorrow isn’t a Sunday so we should be OK.
We did take
a stroll around the back though to look at some of the other older buildings in
the vicinity.
Most contain
bars, restaurants or tourist shops these days.
We bought a fridge magnet but resisted the big jars of honey.
This place
with its impressive curved balcony looked like a nice place to sit outside with
a cool beer but the waiter would only serve us inside so we shrugged and left
and raided our own fridge instead.
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