Rila Monastery - full day private tour from Plovdiv to a spectacular UNESCO World Heritage Site

Rila Monastery is the most famous landmark of Bulgaria, founded in 10-th century by the hermit St. Ivan Rilski - patron of Bulgaria. This is the largest Bulgarian monastery, wonderful UNESCO World Heritage Site and most visited tourist site in Bulgaria by both foreign and local tourists. Known also as the Holy Rila Retreat, it's the most outstanding monument of the Bulgarian National Revival period, an ultimate expression of the Bulgarian genius in matters of spirit, culture, architecture, construction, icon painting and woodcarving. The monastery was built as it stands now by Bulgarian master builders between 1816 and 1847. The monastery museum keeps many interesting artefacts the most impressive of which is the wooden cross carved by monk Rafail. He worked on it for 12 years and finally became blind. This unique piece of art contains 36 scenes from the Bible and about 600 figures as small as a rice grain! I will be more than happy to share my knowledge with you about these scenes!