Rila

Rila (Bulgarian: Рила, pronounced [ˈrilə]) is a town in southwestern Bulgaria, in Rila Municipality, part of Kyustendil Province. It is the administrative centre of Rila municipality, which lies in the southeastern part of Kyustendil Province. The town lies in a mountainous region at the foot of the southwestern Rila Mountains, 20 kilometres from the Rila Monastery, 34 kilometres from Dupnitsa and 65 kilometres from Kyustendil. In antiquity, the area was inhabited by the Greeks and Romans; it was known as Sportela and then as Roligera. In the 14th century, the village was a feudatory possession of the Rila Monastery and may have been mentioned in Tsar Ivan Shishman of Bulgaria's Rila Charter as Driska. Later on, it was mentioned as...