Photo Credit: Myself
Hello, guys!
Last Saturday I was not actually planning to do something special. I went to my town's center for a walk, enjoyed my free time, and when I came home I had an offer to go and visit a monastery nearby. It was already late afternoon, but I'm most of the time happy to go out for a trip, so gladly accepted. Besides, it is almost the beginning of the summer and there is light here until 9 p.m. at least.
The place we visited is called Ivan Pusti Rock Monastery and is just a few kilometers away from Vratsa, and specifically, its residential district, called Bistrets. The district itself looks more like a small village than as a part of the city, but that's how it is. To save time and reach our destination faster, we used a taxi which left as 20 minutes away (walking distance) from the place.
Reaching Ivan Pusti Monastery
There are two or three options to reach the exact location. One is walking on an asphalted road, which is elevated and steep at the most time as you climb up in the mountain. The other option is a path in the forest, which we tried, but unfortunately, at this time of the year it was not well adapted and finished with a dead end in the forest. That made our walk a bit longer as we needed to go back to the road again, but at least we experienced the freshness of the forest and the nice air inside of it. The third option to go to the monastery is to use a path which comes from Bistrets, and we used that on our way home.
Photo Credit: Myself
Back on the road, after just a bit more climbing, and eating a few wild strawberries on the way, we were at the location. The monastery is a small building, which was probably available in different forms in the past. It is not exactly confirmed when was the first occasion this sanctuary was built, but some theories claim that it was in the 16th century, others - somewhere in the 12 - 13th century, and there are even ones who believe this was much older than we could possibly discover through archeology or artifacts.
Video Credit: Nina B via YouTube.com
Another sight worth mentioning is a waterfall pouring its water right below the location. It's not fully accessible and hidden among the trees of the forest, but it's one of the details that make the destination unique. The name of the waterfall is the same as the monastery - Saint Ivan Pusti. It's like the fist thing that indicates you are already at the site.
Video Credit: Nina B via YouTube.com
Facts about the Monastery
The monastery is known as St Ivan Pusti because of the hermitage where
monks and priests lived.
Photo Credit: Myself
An interesting fact is that the original church that was there at the location looked a lot different than the way it is now. Before its renovation in 2008, even the roads were not there, but only paths and very different looking dwellings. Now there are wooden bowers, benches, fresh drinking water, administrative buildings, etc. It's a place where people gather for festivals or celebrations to talk and relax.
Photo Credit: Myself
Besides the human-made facilities, an impressive part of the site are the rocks nearby. Their shape is forming a place like a big hall or very very tall cave, which gives a strange feeling once inside. But not only nature itself is what makes this so special. A rock hole, accessible through wooden stairs was used in the past as a place for prayer by the well-known in my country Saint Ivan Rilski.
Photo Credit: Myself
Even though this holy place existed long before the saint, it was named after him. He lived there somewhere around the 18 - 19th century, which gave the name of the monastery years later and is preserved until now as Ivan Pusti. It still possesses the same spiritual power and energy such locations usually have. And most importantly - it is not so close to civilization, kind of isolated which contributes to the experience.
Photo Credit: Myself
The area is kept in order and hosted by one person only, who welcomes the visitors and gives more information about the history of the church and some other details. I do admire such people as staying there all day long, all by himself it must become boring at some point. Even though there are two dogs to keep him company, I don't think that's enough. But anyway, we did enjoy our stay there.
Photo Credit: Myself
On the Way Back
Photo Credit: Myself
After we spent enough time to collect some positive energy, we decided to go back on foot. The idea was that eventually when we reach Bistrets, we can then call a taxi service and go home from there. So we started walking on the road for a bit. At some point, we saw a path winding through a meadow and since it seemed it's going in our direction, we took that.
We passed many different areas - forest-like places, next to cultivated plants (probably sunflowers), etc. The path was changing from narrow to wider, then turning, or going through puddles. We were a bit afraid, as there are snakes sometimes, and the area was not so often used. So the chances that we encounter a snake were big. But, there was still the fact, that some snakes are more scared than we are from them, and could disappear before we manage to reach them.
Photo Credit: Myself
When we reached Bistrets we made a short break, tried some wild-growing fruit from the trees by the road, then headed to the central part of the district. Once there it was time to call a taxi, but it appeared that they don't go to this place, as it is too far away. After calling a few other taxi companies, we had no choice but walk on foot to home.
There was also a fun part in it, where we saw one yellow car and we thought it's a taxi, so stopped it. Probably the girls who were in the car thought we are crazy or something. :D And surely we tried to stop every taxi that passed close to us during our walking trip, but no success. When we were already closer to the city, we stopped trying as it was so short distance that nobody would take us anyway.
The distance is about 6 km, but after walking for more than an hour before that it seemed like it is on the other side of the Earth. We had to walk on a busy road, which is almost in the suburbs, and avoid a few dogs protecting and barking after everyone who tries to get close to their territory. Once in the more inhabited part of Vratsa town, it was already easier, but the long walk was tiring, and I definitely needed a break.
It was a nice late afternoon and a good training with lots of walking, nature and different smells of flowers, grass, trees, etc. As always I enjoyed a lot. I try to spend most of the warm days outside to collect some sunlight for the winter when it's cold and snowy. Hope you enjoyed my blog!
Photo Credit: Myself
Thanks for reading!
- NinaB
