TravelswithCharie

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 portico. T

  Maison des Ponts Couverts If you’re looking for Instagrammable locations in France, look no further. From the half-timbered houses in La Petite France to cobble stone streets around Cathedral Square to the bridges over the meandering river, you’d be hard pressed to find a better subject than Strasbourg. It is  one of the most romantic cities in Europe. Every year around Valentine’s Day,  Strasbourg mon amour  celebrates of romance. Concerts, cultural events and food festivals are scheduled for the pleasure of all lovers. Strasbourg is also the seat of the European Parliament, the European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe. It is the “chief” city in the Alsace region. The best time to visit is in springtime when flowers are in bloom and the days are sunny but not too warm. La Petite France Notice how the beams are arranged in these half timbered houses. The dark yellow house in the foreground has a V design on the upper floor and a diagonal design on the lower floor with

The main reason for my trip to Puglia in early January was to see the strange, cone-shaped roofs of trulli dwellings. There are over a thousand trulli in Alberobello and to my delight, I saw many rural trulli along the way to this Unesco World Heritage Site. A trullo is built of dry stone which is an age old construction technique practiced in the Mediterranean region. It is an example of "vernacular" architecture, where materials are sourced locally and traditional building methods are used. The conical roof is made from limestone slabs and many are marked in white ash with religious or mythological symbols. A pinnacolo sits atop the cone, like a chess piece. This could be a cross or a ball or a disk or some other design and are supposed to ward off evil spirits. It was interesting to see many doors hidden behind a mesh curtain. The Church of Saint Anthony of Padua blends in with its surroundings. Red and white cyclamen brighten the whitewashed walls of