Blogs from Rila Mountains, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria, Europe

Bulgaria day 7: Mountains, lakes, thunder and lightning So today was to be our day on the narrow gauge railway but we thought about spending 10 hours (a return trip) on a train going through scenery we’ve already seen....and photographed...and changed our minds. Instead we went back to the Rila Lakes idea as Claire found somewhere nearer to get to them rather than the two hour drive it looked like before. Instead we drove for less than an hour, a lot of it uphill and arrived at a car park which cost us £2.50. A little further on we paid for another trip upwards as we were to take a ski lift. Nearly forgot....on the way Pokemon Go helped us to discover something that was not signposted anywhere or mentioned in either of our guidebooks. Half ... read more

Mountains generally have a variety of routes up that are labelled for the competency of the climbers. In the Rila Mountains, Glyn and I needed the incompetent route but ended up on the complete and utter numpty path. There's no mountain rescue in the Rila Mountains that I could see. Not even a map or sign telling you how far it is to the top (yes I know we could google it but where's the fun in that?) The weather forecast for today in Borovets was sunny, so Glyn and I decided to take the gondola up to Yastrebets and then take a hike to Mount Musala. Nothing like the gondolas in Venice, these cable cars are for carting skiers and snowboarders up to ski slopes. At 12 lev each return (£6), it wasn't much to ... read more

As the crow flies, Rila Monastery is really close to us in Borovets. However, those who know me can verify that I'm no crow and so Glyn had to drive us around the mountains, taking around 1.5 hours to get there, but it seemed a lot longer. The sky was dark with storm clouds, but it was very warm. The last bit of road up the mountain was twisty as always, with a huge landslide covering half the road at one bend, that wasn't worrying to see, no not at all! I struggled to stay awake as did Glyn, but we got to the Monastery safely and soon woke up. There were a few tourist coaches, a car park attendant who charged us 5 levs and the obligatory stray dog. Rila Monastery is buried deep in ... read more

Terwijl de Nederlandse winter storm en wateroverlast met zich meebracht, vertrokken Baukje, Marjolein en ik richting Bulgarije voor een weekje wandelen in de sneeuw en de zon! In Sofia stonden onze gidsen Kantjil (schrijf je dat zo?) en Vasko klaar met onze goedlachse buschauffeur! Met een stop bij een echte supermarkt onderweg, reden we binnen twee uur naar ons gastvrije pension ten noorden van het Rilagebergte. Hier verbleven we met 16 personen in sjieke tweepersoonskamers, die uitgebreid bij elkaar bewonderd werden. Vooral de kleuren van menig kamer/badkamer vielen erg in de smaak. De volgende dag stond in het teken van oefenen met de sneeuwschoenen en lekker genieten van de verse sneeuw die naar beneden kwam en alles om ons heen inclusief ons zelf mooi wit kleurde. Een mooi tochtje door het bos met nog een spannende ... read more

The Rila Mountains are awesome! Not in a rubbish jumping over a shoebox on skateboard way but in a truly awe inspiring this is nature and you are small and insignificant alongside it and you'd better learn some respect kind of way. Came out here Wednesday, a little later than the 9 O'clock start due to a crippling hangover. Had no time to really prepare no food, no Bulgarian currency etc.. Got a taxi to the Yug Bus Station and a bus to Samakov. Here I changed buses for the one to Maliovitsa and the start of the hiking. Maliovitsa is a good base for hiking from. The huge hotel is only 15 levs a night including breakfast and offers the last taste of comfort before the mountains ahead. Met a couple from Slovakia ... read more