TravelswithCharie

Church of the Nativity, Arbanasi I thought Rila Monastery near Sofia, Bulgaria was amazing! Until I saw the Christian Orthodox Church of the Nativity  in Arbanasi, three hours by car north of Sofia. Nothing about this stone church hints at the treasure within. Walls with vaulted ceilings are covered in frescoes of biblical scenes which date back to the 16th and 17th centuries. (By contrast, the frescoes at Rila Monastery are from the mid 19th century.) The Nativity Church frescoes were cleaned of soot during its restoration in the 1970s. I saw some taped sections of the murals where the walls are cracked. Overall, these frescoes are well preserved after centuries of existence. The original church was constructed and completed in 1597. It had one main section that is the naos which was designated as the men’s gallery. When the church was expanded in the 1620s, they added the narthex which became the women’s gallery and a chapel dedicated to St. John the Forerunner. The chapel is lin...

Sofia Airport Metro Station 1 Easy to navigate Sofia is not a big city when compared to other European cities like Paris or Berlin. This means that walking around the city can be a pleasurable experience and no crowds to jostle with. The metro system is simple and easy to use and gets you to the center of the city from the airport in 30 minutes for only 1.60 BGN. There are monitors in the train that show the next stop and an announcement both in Bulgarian and in English as the train approaches a station. It’s best to buy a day ticket if you plan to use the metro throughout the day. 2 Several historical landmarks are in the same neighborhood St. Petka Church, Roman ruins, Banya Bashi Mosque When you get off at Serdika Metro station, you’ll find the Roman ruins just outside the exit door. There’s no need to go up the stairs and cross the street to the Largo area. Beside the ruins are the Banya Bashi Mosque from the 16th century, a remnant of the Ottoman rule in Bulgaria and the elevate...

Rila Monastery sits in a forested valley surrounded by snow capped mountain peaks. The setting can’t get any more wholesome with the exception that this is a popular tourist and pilgrimage destination. Weekends are the worst days to visit when the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mother is so crowded, there’s little room to move inside the stunning church. We got there after lunch on a Sunday and the traffic on the narrow lane road at the back of the monastery was atrocious. The crowds thinned after three p.m. so we could get a closer look at the outdoor frescoes.  All Eastern Orthodox churches depict the Christ Pantocrator in the central dome of the Church. Pantocrator means the Almighty and the ruler of all. There are initials on both sides of the head of the Pantocrator, IC and XC. IC are the first and last letters of Jesus in the Greek alphabet (Iota and Sigma) and XC (Chi and Sigma) are the first and last letters for Christ. This Pantocrator fresco is on the outdoor portic...

Here are a few things brewing in TravelswithCharie's kitchen.  Please check back for updates soon. Hill of Crosses in Lithuania has a heartwarming story of faith amid trials. Art nouveau is alive and well in Riga. Vibrant frescoes from the 14th century draw the eyes heavenward at Rila Monastery. And my favorite impressions of Hanoi. ***** Images by TravelswithCharie