Rila monastery

A rest and culture day today as we headed north to the Rila valley, and the Rila National Park.
We had a short walk in the forest visiting the sites where Ivan Rilski lived in a cave and worked miracles. The cave has a hole in the roof and it is said only pure people can climb up through it - the group was remarkedly perfect. There are also a couple of wells guarded by snakes or wasps (so don't misuse the wells), a rock where he went to pray and a chapel. Walking down through the woods to the monastery built in his memory we passed another old chapel.
The Monastery itself is fairly new as the old one burnt down but it is a very fine building and still in use. It is built round a courtyard with 3 layers of arches (a bit can be seen in the background through the arches) and a decorated church in the middle. The outer decorations are very detailed and colourful and depict all the awful things that can happen to sinners. Inside it as also highly decorated and a young woman was re-doing bits of intricate gold leaf.
A sign said no phones - but the priest's went off!
It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and I can see why.