We started the week with a day trip to the Rila Monastery. It is a medieval Eastern Orthodox monastery an hour and a half from Bansko. It is one of the most important cultural, historical, and architectural landmarks in Bulgaria and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Rila Monastery was founded in the 10th century by the Bulgarian hermit St. Ivan of Rila. It has been destroyed and rebuilt several times throughout its history, with the current structure dating back to the mid-19th century.
The monastery complex includes several buildings, including a church, a museum, residential and administrative buildings, and a tower. The most notable building is the Church of the Nativity, which houses some of the most valuable and well-preserved frescoes from the Bulgarian Renaissance period.
The Rila Monastery is also home to a rich collection of religious artifacts, including ancient manuscripts, books, and icons. The monastery is an important pilgrimage site for Orthodox Christians.
Behind the monastery is a bakery that sells Mekitsa, a traditional Bulgarian donut that is like a funnel cake. For a cost of $0.50 each, it is hard to eat just one.
Lucas, Henry, and Michael returned to the ski slopes this week since the holiday crowds died down. The warmer weather has not been good for the ski conditions, but there is still snow, so the boys will ski. Lucas and Henry were busy all week with organized activities in the hub. They played went swimming and played games. Lucas made pizza with other tweens. Henry went with his friend Declan to walk dogs at Bankso Street Dogs.
We ate with our friends Melanie and Eric and their boys Austin and Aiden. We went to the Irish pub that Lucas loves because of the chicken fingers and Caesar salad. It has been hard to find a good caesar salad. The caesar dressing often tastes like mayonnaise. After dinner, the boys went to hotel Bansko to play in the ball pit. It is a room at the hotel that has brought hours of fun and joy to the boys. When we arrived at the hotel, they were bellied up to the bar having free tap water. They were excited because water is not usually free in restaurants in Bansko.
We organized a trip to Skopje, North Macedonia at the end of the week.
We celebrated Declan’s 12th birthday there with balloon volleyball, Star Wars, and Chinese and Mexican food.
Skopje is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia, located in the northern part of the country. It is a three-and-a-half-hour drive from Bankso. It has a population of around 500,000 people and is the political, cultural, and economic center of the country.
Skopje has a rich history and culture, with influences from various civilizations that inhabited the region over the centuries. The city is home to many historical landmarks and monuments, such as the Kale Fortress, the Stone Bridge, the Old Bazaar, and the Memorial House of Mother Teresa.
We took a walking tour of the city and learned more about the history of North Macedonia. The country was the Republic of Macedonia after declaring independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, but neighboring Greece had a problem with this because it has a region known as Macedonia. In 2019 the name dispute was resolved by the country changing its name to the Republic of North Macedonia, but the people there still refer to the country as Macedonia.
We also took a boat ride and cave tour of Matka Canyon. There are ten caves at Matka Canyon. We visited Vrelo Cave, which has many stalactites, including a large one in the middle of the cave known as the “Pine Cone” due to its shape. There are two lakes at the end of the cave. The exact depth of the cave is unknown. Some believe that it could be the deepest underwater cave in the world.
