It was approximately for 2 hours drive to the destination, kind instruction was given to the participants. Even though there was the trace of snow that had been still remained in Rila, it was not so much cold than I expected in the mid of February when I had the tour. The time in the Rila Monastery was approximately for 3 hours (12.00 arrival, 15.00 to get on the car for return, verily enough, everything was possible, including museum, restaurant, strolling around the monastery that has the water fountains, drinkable waters, famous for clean, non chemical.) The fascination of this destination is not only the renowned sanctity, but also the surrounding environment, rocks and mountain ranges, superb scenery of Bulgaria can be enjoyed on journey.

Meeting point in front of the restaurant "La Cattedrale" there was the guide with a "rila Shuttle" sign, the guide did not come to the monastery but explained us before departure times, meeting point and a description of about 5 minutes on the Monastery and its history. The guide also spoke Italian but the directions were given in English as we were of different nationalities on the 8-seater van. Departing at 10 am, the journey lasts two hours, of which an hour and a half on the motorway and half an hour on the mountain road. The monastery is very beautiful, it is worth a visit, the only flaw is the excessive stay time; arrived at 12pm and the return was scheduled for 3pm. in my opinion, a couple of hours were more than enough, even for lunch. at 17:00 we returned to central Sofia.

What a fantastic day! The tour ran even though I was the only one on it. The monastery is beautiful and two hours there is plenty of time to see everything. My driver, Bobby was brilliant, I learned so much about Bulgaria’s history and culture from him. Thank you so much!