Bulgaria's Highlight – Rila Monastery

As the title suggests, this is Bulgaria's top attraction. Rightfully so, I think.
But for some reason, it's really hard to get there on public transportation. Only one indirect bus a day, with an iffy schedule.

I only had 2 days in Sofia, one of which would be for Rila. Due to my desire to "want things easy", I opted for my hostel's tour (basically a car hire) to the monastery. I was joined by 2 British girls who had spent the last 3 weeks volunteering at an orphanage in northern Bulgaria. You'd think orphanages are for little kids, but this one had teenagers too...a bit strange, I thought.
Anyways, the drive to Rila was about 1.5 hours long, ending up in the mountains. On our way, we got caught speeding! Oops. Driver's comment: "Little problem. Too quick." Haha.
There are a lot of hiking options around Rila, but none of us was in the mood. So, we spent the next couple of hours wandering through the complex. I was so excited to be there! I've always wanted to come. In my opinion, the monastery was rather fun-looking, so colorful! More grand than the ones I saw in Romania, yet serene. I loved it : ) Oh, and I didn't realize until I got there, but this monastery was for monks, whereas the others were for nuns. I don't know why, but there was a huge feast going on in the main church, accompanied by bottles of "holy drinking water". I was a bit curious, but didn't buy...

As soon as we got back to Sofia late in the afternoon, I rushed off in search of a train ticket to Athens. The counter at the station told me that everything was sold out and to come back tomorrow morning. ARGHHHHHH!!! I then went to the ticket agent in the city just to reconfirm (you never know with these places...). And guess what?! There was a seat. Nothing in the sleepers, but there was one last seat in the couchette. I wasn't quite sure what the seating/sleeping arrangements in the couchette were, but I didn't care. I took that seat.

Incidentally, I had another bout of luck involving public transportation that day. Like in many eastern European countries, you are required to validate your tickets on board the tram. If you don't validate, though, you can use your ticket many times : ) I've gotten accustomed to not validating my tickets, since they have NEVER been checked anywhere. But a uniformed man got on the tram and started checking tickets this time. SHIT. I grabbed a somewhat validated ticket (ie. the hole punches weren't that clear) sitting on the window sill, and showed it to the man. He asked which hole puncher I used for the validation. I pointed to the one across from me. He put my ticket in just to check...and that one punched the matching pattern of holes. LUCKY. VERY. I mean, who knows how much they can charge tourists for free-riding?! Especially in corrupt Bulgaria.
(FYI – I've heard that many people get caught and fined in Budapest. I've never had a problem, but if you're ever headed out there, I'd recommend honesty on the subway...)

My second day in Sofia was spent taking in the city sights. Not too exciting. Lots of churches as usual. And a central market, but it didn't do much for me; too clean and touristy.
I just like to walk around...

On a final note, the other Bulgarian highlight – free dinner at the hostel!!! It's the same menu of pasta with tomato sauce (canned of course) and a glass of beer each day, but who's gonna complain?! Free is good.