Thursday 10 May 2012

A hot sunny day ...

... is a perfect day to visit another Unesco World Heritage site, the Boyana church. Similar as the Rila monastery, also the Boyana church is located in the middle of a forest, but can be easily reached using Sofia public transport. It takes about an hour to get to the Boyana village on the south-west of Sofia outskirts. The village itself looks a bit odd as some people have built enormous palatial residences, which really don't fit next to few humble little pigpens. However, the only reason a tourist would come to Boyana is to see the church, so commenting on these Playboy-like mansions doesn't exactly fit into the story here.

Boyana church, which was added to the Unesco WH list in 1979, dates back to the 10th century. It's world-famous mainly due to fascinating frescoes. In 2008, a two-year restoration was completed and now the church even has air conditioning, which keeps the inside temperature at 17-18°C, and a special non-heat emitting lighting system to keep the frescoes intact. To keep the regime even more strict, the church can visit max. 8 people for 10 minutes only. I have to admit, I haven't seen the frescoes myself, as I've refused to pay 10 leva for the ticket, but judging from all the measures taken to protect them, the church is by no doubt a must-see for every art lover.






A much lovelier part of the trip was hiking to the Boyana waterfall. Having checked a few forums and asking some friends beforehand, I was sure I could handle the way perfectly, but things (of course) turned out a bit differently. Firstly, not having a (proper) breakfast had quite a negative impact on my energy level. Secondly, I had realised how unfit I've become over the past few months working in an office. My fitness level is obviously not just very low, but even below zero. I immediately turned tomato red in the face, my heart was racing and I was gasping like an elephant being chased across a savannah (or at least I felt like that). It's quite painful realising how unfit working in an office (and not having proper time to work out) makes you. I was pretty sure walking to work (40 minutes one way) in a fast pace would make a difference, but I was way over-estimating this. Secondly, I was wearing sneakers, which didn't cause me many problems going uphill, but when we were going back to the village ... oh dear. We had decided to take the faster path, which mostly turned out to be nothing but rocks. Consequently, (or as I have found out later) at some point, my shoes had eventually given up on me and I came home with torn soles. Well, destroying my shoes (which were already in a bad condition) was a small toll to pay to see such a beautiful waterfall and I now at least I have a good excuse to go shopping for new ones. Nevertheless, the next time I go hiking, I'm wearing proper hiking shoes. I've definitely learnt my lesson.


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