Melnik and Rila
We dragged ourselves away from Camping Paradise after 3 nights, this is such a relaxed place with friendly hosts and just 1km from the border but in Bulgaria. Our first stop of the day was Melnik just 20km from the border with Greece. Natural rock formations some 100m in height form the back drop to the village, but it’s a wine area and the village’s restored National Revival architecture that brings in the visitors! Kordopulov House reportedly Bulgaria’s largest Revival-era building beams down from a cliff face, dating 1754, 4 storey mansion was formerly the home of a prestigious wine merchant.
Next stop was Rila Monastery which lies in a forested valley in the Rila Mountains. Founded in AD927.
The road at the Monastery-is a dead end, so it was back down the road for 1.5hours to another area of the Rila Mountains, where tonight we are parked up, ready for the chair lift up the mountain in the morning for a walk named 7 Rila Lakes!
