Living in Southwestern Bulgaria, I’m blessed to live near the Rila Mountains. About an hour drive away by car, is the famous Rila Monastery, and breathtaking Scenery full of hiking trails. The seven Rila lakes is one of the more famous places to go hiking. On a bright sunny day the trails are full of tourist. So on Sunday a group of us headed out to go hiking. 4 different types of public transportation and an amazingly bumpy road later, we were at the base where we planned to hike around: the 7 lakes. The weather was not looking in out favor but we were still excited to go hiking! If anything I enjoyed the overcast weather. It made the mountains look mysterious and full of surprises. After 15 minuets of hiking up a big hill, which I prefer to call a mountain I questioned every beer and chocolate bar I’ve ever had in my life and why I never visit a running machine! But the hike did get better because we came to flat land and the views were breathtaking.
Everyone said it reminded them of Lord of the Rings scenery, so maybe it looks like New Zealand. I could not get over how incredibly breathtaking it was. I compared it to being in a National Geographic magazine, definitely one of the top 10 things I’ve done in my life. The weather turned from ok to horrible when it started to become windy and hailing but I took it on smiling even if the hail against my face felt like needles. Half the group turned around to go back to the main building to take cover. But the rest of us trudged on! We managed to see 5 out of the 7 lakes. The 2 we did not see were up a big mountain that we decided not to climb. After hiking we went to the main building, we were all so cold! For 3 leva I got a bowl of chicken soup and a cup of tea which really hit the spot! It cost 27 leva roundtrip for transportation each, and on the way back the people who drove the jeeps to the top of the mountains arranged for us to have a van take us straight back to Blagoevgrad, for only 2 leva more each. The best part was that we did not have to wait for 4 different types of transportation!
I’m definitely planning to head back to the Rila Mountains, but I think I’ll wait until spring. = )
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| The road! |
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| We took 2 jeeps to the top. One was Russian from 1961, the other German. |
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| Overcast day, but still amazing. |
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| The Crew from AUBG: Russia, Spain, Bulgaria & USA |
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| After the long hike: Chicken Soup & Tea |
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