Tripping With Toby: Rila

Horowitz Travel- May 2, 2017- Rila

Sorry I had a weird subject for my last email. Hope you figured it out.

I left out the Celts and Crusaders in yesterday's list of influencers on the area. It's more interesting than I expected. Always good to have low expectations and be pleasantly surprised.

We were greeted by a very awake and eager Patrick in our lobby this morning. By way of explanation, he has no Irish ancestry. He has a Bulgarian name, but at age 13, he fell madly in love with a girl named Patricia. His friends teased him by calling him "Patrick" and it stuck. He's now 47, married (not to Patricia), and has a 3-year old son. His home is in Varna where he enjoys the beaches and spear fishing. He hates Sofia, and that's why he uses a local guide for his clients here. In winter, he and friends go South to discover and excavate Thracian sites. One of the group is an archaeologist and has written papers about their finds. He claims to have a good driving record in a country with the most accidents per capita in the EU, but talks with his hands as he drives. He's proud to be an independent guide and said his business is from referrals, repeat clients, and readers of International Travel News Magazine.

We stopped at the synagogue, built in 1909, on our way out of town. It reflects the Sephardic (Mediterranean) traditions of architecture and is more ornate than we're used to. There are hardly any Jews left in the country and only one other functioning synagogue in Plovdiv. Even though Bulgarian Jews were saved during WWII, they fled to Israel with the takeover by the Soviet Union. Communism under Stalin was barely better than Nazism, and the new State of Israel offered the allure of self-determination.

We fit comfortably into his Honda SUV that has been retro-fitted to run on gas and propane. The tanks switch automatically much as our hybrids do when they go from gas to electric. We had a warm, sunny day to head for the Rila Mountains. Leaving the drab Soviet buildings behind, we were soon in farmland. We left the four-lane divided highway and started climbing up a mountain road to Rila about 75 miles away. The village of Rila was picturesque in that they had red tile roofs and grape vine arbors at each house, but it appeared to be generally neglected.

The Rila Monastery was founded in the 10th century by St. John of Rila, a hermit and Bulgaria's first Saint. It has burned down many times and was re-built bigger and better after each disaster. At one time it housed 400 monks, but today has around ten. The unused rooms are available for rent and offer very basic facilities and seclusion. Well, maybe not seclusion. It was crawling with tourists.

The monks work hard at maintaining the facility. Restoration and repairs were ongoing and the clearly new exterior painting reflected their pride. Frescoes adorned the outside of the church itself with one in particular standing out. It was a depiction of Heaven and Hell and who would go where in the afterlife. Patrick pointed out that the Jews were clearly shown being herded into a flaming abyss. What the artist could never know was that in the future the flames were to be here on earth and the doing of Mankind, not God. Speaking of Bulgaria's alliance with the Nazis, yesterday Kris, and today, Patrick repeated that even though the Germans were evil, they saved them from being invaded by Russia during the war and held out the promise of Greek territory.

The interior of the church was typical Greek Orthodox with a Bulgarian influence. There were icons and relics with an 800-year old silver framed collection of the bones of saints. Wherever there were no paintings of Biblical scenes, there was carved wood encrusted with gold leaf. The scrolling and intricate detail on the wood was magnificent and lovingly looked after. One side chapel held the tomb of Tsar Boris who helped save Bulgarian Jews. Speculation says he was poisoned, by whom depends on whether you're German or Russian. The official word is that at age 49, in 1943, he had a heart attack from stress and exhaustion.

Having dealt with the past, our appetites brought us back to the present. Lunch was at a stream-side restaurant overlooking the waters from which our trout had been retrieved. There were horses roaming in an adjacent pasture so I climbed down the hill and wandered among them trying to entice them with handfuls of grass. A few did approach, but the mares with foals kept their distance. As I was leaving, an old mottled horse started to come near. I turned to offer some grass, but she put her ears back. I told her that I was willing to be friends, but I did speak "horse" and understood she wanted me out of there.

The trout was delicious. At my request, it had been beheaded before serving. Patrick showed us how to debone it by lifting out the spine, but even then, there were many tiny bones left. I dealt with it and finished my portion. The skin was crispy and tasted great, but I didn't like the looks of the scales so didn't finish it.

I dozed on and off on our drive back to the hotel as Patrick shared opinions on the future of Bulgaria. Since it's a village culture and more people are leaving villages for the cities, he thinks Bulgarians and their way of life will disappear. He predicts they will be overrun with gypsies/Roma since they have such large families. He said that the Iron Curtain still exists. A fence was erected by the Soviets to keep Bulgarians in its borders. Now it's used to keep immigrants out. Sound familiar? But he was a Hillary supporter and is very upset that Trump won. Most of his clients are from the U.S. and democrats.

After sharing some of his background, he asked about ours. David is the first rabbi he's taken around. As for our personal stories, he was very interested in the LGBT history. In Bulgaria, it is considered shameful as is divorce. It is not so unusual in the big cities, but, although not illegal, they are not anywhere close to passing equal rights or marriage legislation. He asked intelligent questions and I'm sure he'll have more.

We had a 2-hour siesta before dinner at the Hadjidragonov Restaurant. Yes, that's where we ate the first night. I had my eye on the porcini mushroom soup in a bread bowl. Patrick joined us and suggested we try shopska salad made with sliced cucumbers, tomato and local sirene cheese. The shredded cheese made the dish. It's cow cheese that resembles feta. David & I shared the salad, David had lamb soup in a bread bowl, and Judi shared her salad with Patrick and had mushroom soup. It was a good change from the heavy meals we'd been eating. Patrick seems to want to join us for meals if it's ok with us. I hope we don't get tired of each other. Tonight, he was eager to return to the hotel to watch a football (soccer) match between two teams from Madrid.

Tomorrow we say good-bye to Sofia and head for Vidin. I have not a clue.

Toby