FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: Slipplin' from Sofia to Plovdiv

The gorgeous Rila Monastery set in the mountains. Behind was the church building

We didn't seem to be too badly affected by jetlag. As part of Mal's melatonin experimental regime, we travelled with a whole range of melatonin dosage strengths that would make any pharmacist proud. He had a mix of 1mg, 2mg and 10mg slow release tablets, 5mg rapid onset tablets and had been experiementing with various combinations over the past week. The children woke up briefly at 0230am but managed to get back to sleep until 6am.

The group met up in the lobby. Our travelling party of 11 consisted of our family of five, Oma and Opa (my parents), Nana and Grandpa (Malcolm's parents) and Wayne and Luan (church friends and Disney buddies. We had organised a private 10 day tour of Bulgaria and Romania through Tours of Romania. I had been corresponding with Andrei. He was responsive to emails, had an excellent command of English and was helpful and very easy to work with. He was very relaxed, and happy with only a 10% deposit with the rest payable by cash on arrival. With the price of the tour so reasonable, I must admit I had the slight case of nerves in the morning that it was a scam....

But a scam it was not! Nick our Bulgarian guide arrived at 0750am sharp for 8am departure time. Our van was nice and clean with an amazing contraption attached to the back for the luggage. First up was a Sofia city highlights walking tour. We were dropped off at Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, the seat of the Bulgarian Orthodox church's patriach. It soon became apparent what was going to be our eventual downfall, both literally and figuratively...ice. Within a few seconds, we had our first casualty. Malcolm! I was not quick enough to capture it on film but he ended up on his back like a turtle with a few bruised ribs. The rest of the adults moved cautiously as most of us slid and slipped in some way or another. The children thought it was a blast pseudo-ice skating their way around...I had to be content taking my photos from where my feet were, paranoid that I would fall and damange my lens!!

The Cathedral was built to celebrate the independence of Bulgaria from the rule of the Ottoman Empire. With most of the help coming from Russia, a Russian saint was chosen to be the patron of the church as a gesture of gratefulness.

You all know how much we love our hotel buffet breakfasts! The Hilton didn't disappoint

Helping himself to honeycomb

Cold pressed juice with an array of interesting combinations. Malcolm chose nutmilk with chocoloate....bleughh

Local specialties. It was ok without being brilliant

Our van for the next 10 days!

With seats to spare inside! And to the joy of the children USB charging ports...

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

It was very dark inside

Made it difficult to appreciate the walls and ceiling which were covered with paintings

No pews. Church goers stand during an orthodox service

Walking this far from the catherdral was a feat! Here's a group photo to celebrate!

Along our perilous walk, we also saw Sveti Nikolai Russian Church. It's onion shaped domes giving it away as Russian. The Sveta Sofia Church, the church with the honour of giving the city its name. We nearly made it to the Church of St George, the oldest building in the city, believed to be built by the Romans in the 4th century. Alas we had to call it quits. Our progress was so slow, with so many near mishaps, that we finished the rest of the tour via the minivan. Many monuments and national buildings later, we were on our way to Rila Monastery, the most visited site in Bulgaria. Luckily for us, we were visiting in low season!

Sveti Nikolai Russian Church. Yup sorry not moving to get a better photo. This one will do!

Sveta Sofia Church

Rila Monastery, a UNESCO Heritage Site, is the largest Eastern Orthodox monastery in all of Bulgaria. In its peak it housed about 300 monks. However today only about 10 monks remain, and you are able to stay at the monastery in a "monk cell" if you wish. Founded back in the 10th century by the hermit Ivan of Rila, the original monastery was in a cave a few kilometres with the move to the current site needed because of overcrowding. The only original building left from the inital move was the fortress tower, needed to fend off attacks from the muslim Ottomans. The other buildings had at some period in time been rebuilt due to fire. The church in the middle of the square was stunning with its distinctive black-and-white striped porticoes juxtaposed against brilliantly colored frescoes. It was unlike anything we had seen before and we have visisted a lot of churches!

Rila Monastery. The church in the courtyard

The surrounding "monk's quarters" and the Tower of Hrelja on the right, the "fortress" tower.

The gorgeously vibrant frescoes, recently restored

The "bible for the poor". Genesis in pictures

Plovdiv was our final destination for the day. It is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia. We splurged at a beautiful restaurant called Hemingway across from Villa Antica, our boutique hotel/apartments for tonight. The menu had all sorts of interesting items and many of them were accompanied by a generous portion of freshly shaved truffle. I don't think I've ever said, "when", to a waiter seeking an indication of when to stop shaving the truffle. Keep on shaving! It still only came to around $18 per person including an aparently upmarket bottle of local wine. The Bulgarian wine was nice enough, but I guess there's a reason why it doesn't feature on many wine lists around the world.

Besides a couple of night owls who went for a wander and possibly a beer, we decided to turn in and do the city walking tour the next morning. This was a long driving day which followed some long flying days, but the group mojo is good and spirits remain high.