Hello, Hivians! Today I visited the Dryanovo Monastery and had the opportunity to hike the eco-trail leading to the bench of love. From there you can see an amazing view of the monastery.
The Dryanovo Monastery "St. Michael the Archangel" is located between Gabrovo and Veliko Tarnovo, next to the town of Tryavna. There is a sign on the main road indicating where to turn for the monastery. You will also see this monument at the turn-off, so you can't miss it.
After about 3-4 minutes you will reach the parking lot, which is right in front of the monastery. To leave your car there, you will have to pay a fee of 1 lev per hour. After parking I advise you to explore the little shops and boutiques that are located all along the parking lot. In them you will find lady-made cookies, magnets and other items that will remind you of this place.
We decided to buy 5 packets of sweets - each of them costing 1 lev. We got orange-flavored, berry-flavored, chocolate-flavored and lemon-flavored. Each of them was super.
After buying the candies we headed to the entrance of the monastery. We had two options of where to enter the monastery complex - and we decided that we would enter from one entrance and return the other way.
Just as we entered through the entrance, a restaurant appeared to our right, with incredibly delicious smells wafting from it. However, we had had lunch a little earlier and decided that no matter how tempting the smell was, we would not succumb to it.
After the restaurant there was a small wooden door that we had to walk through.
Next to it is the monument-vault in which the relics of the fallen soldiers from the Chetta of Bacho Kiro are laid. Perhaps this is the reason why the cave located near the monastery was named after him.
We decided that we would visit the memorial on our return and headed to the monastery of St. Michael the Archangel.
There was a sign on the wall that gave us the correct direction to walk.
From there we descended stone stairs and came out on a bridge that went over the Dryanovska River.
This bridge was recently built. The previous one had been demolished a few years ago. And the reason for that was the rise in the level of the Dryanovska River, so much that it flooded the bridge.
And looking ahead of us, the now setting sun was showing, reminding us to hurry.
Further on, the road took us to the Lovers Bridge and the restaurant located after it - Anduka. The bridge is etched over the Anduka River and on it lovers seal their love for each other by placing padlocks.
After the Lovers Bridge is the restaurant Anduka. Sadly, the restaurant was closed, most likely due to Covid restrictions. But I managed to get some nice photos.
From there, we took a trail that curved to the right of the Andean River and crossed it at the end.
We came to the last bridge we had to cross for the day.
To the right was a wooden bridge that also spanned the river and spanned two rock masses.
We also saw a building behind which there seemed to be a cave. After we crossed the bridge we had to climb stairs to the Bacho Kiro cave.
On the shroud in front of the entrance to the cave was a wooden house which was the information centre and from which you could buy tickets.
We decided to save our visit to the cave for another time and headed to the rock steps, which are located to the right of the cave entrance.
After climbing them, within 5 minutes the road turns into a path that is uneven.
There are views of the nearby cliffs to the right and left, but due to the bushes and trees the photos didn't turn out very well. After a total of 20 minutes from the start a crossroads appeared before us.
So we did. Shortly after the sign, we emerged into an open area that offered a spectacular view of the canyon and monastery.
We stopped there to rest and take a few shots, then headed back to the crossroads.
From there, the trail went downhill and after about 1-2 minutes the love bench appeared in front of us.
Alas, there were a lot of people there and we couldn't get a photo of it. We took a few more shots and headed back down. The sun had already started to set and we were in a hurry to see the monument-vault before it closed.
We walked across the Bacho Kiro cave and the three bridges again.
And came out in front of the monument. We were lucky and managed to catch it open.
That ended our walk and it was time to leave for home.