Rila

The name Rila descends from the Slavic word "rula" which means "full of water".

SofiaEcho RSS feed 2009

There are still places left on Explore's five-day snowshoeing trip in the Rila mountains of Bulgaria which departs on Christmas Eve (£872, including flights; explore.co.uk), while On The Go Tours has an exotic eight-day tour taking in the deserts, kasbahs and souks of Morocco, departing 23 December (from £579, excluding flights; onthegotours.com).

Meet Santa - in deepest Kent 2011

There is also a small chapel dedicated to St. John of Rila, less aesthetic but somewhat older, at the Bulgarian base on Livingston Island.

The Orthodox Antarctic 2009

Stoyan Nenov/Reuters NEW YEAR'S CIRCLE: Members of the White Brotherhood, an international religious movement, performed a ritual dance near Babreka Lake in Bulgaria's Rila Mountain as part of their New Year celebration.

Photos of the Day: August 19 2011

Eli and went for a walk through the beginning of the Rila National Park, and then I geared up to take one last run 15 minutes before the lifts closed.

Archive 2009-01-01 ElonGradBlogger 2009

Eli and went for a walk through the beginning of the Rila National Park, and then I geared up to take one last run 15 minutes before the lifts closed.

1 Lift Ticket Up the Mountain = 1 broken leg & 1 Ticket back to the US ElonGradBlogger 2009

In addition to getting me back to Bulgaria before winter in the cold Rila mountains set in there is already snow on the mountain!

Always keeping things interesting.... ElonGradBlogger 2009

In addition to getting me back to Bulgaria before winter in the cold Rila mountains set in there is already snow on the mountain!

Archive 2009-09-01 ElonGradBlogger 2009

My beautiful Rila mountains, still covered in snow at the end of April!

Bulgaria! ElonGradBlogger 2009

My beautiful Rila mountains, still covered in snow at the end of April!

Archive 2009-05-01 ElonGradBlogger 2009