I left my camera at home on purpose, so there aren't many pics in this one.
After July 26th there was no need to hang around for Christmas, so having received an E with very cheap deals over Christmas week for Bulgaria, I booked one. And a train to get me to MIA.
However, because check in was from 0510, & take off was at 0730, I had to leave Blackpool at silly o'clock. That is, on the 0340 train that wasn't a train after Manchester Victoria. Strangely, there was quite a crowd for the MIA bus at Victoria station. Strangely, because it was 0430 on a cold December morning.
The skywalk to the terminal complete, I dropped of the big ruckie, & got ready to walk down the concourse to find a place to eat the yoghurt & muesli I'd brought for breakfast. I'd need a big one, as I hadn't paid for food on the easyJet flight, & it was a 4 hour transfer at the other end.
However, the layout of Departures had changed since I last flew from MIA, & I had to sit on a weighing machine & eat it by the check-in desks. I'd also brought the remainder of the bottle of vino I'd opened on Sunday. It was in a plastic bottle, & that went the same way as the food. Not ideal at that hour, but needs must, as I wasn't going to throw it away. I'm a Philistine that way!
Take-off was on schedule, & dawn happened somewhere between MIA & Sofia. I missed it. I was asleep.
The transfer info docket said I should go left once I reached the arrivals hall doors, so I did. There was no sign of my name anywhere, but there was a bloke awaiting a Martin Clark. I asked him about A2B Transfers, & he directed me to the help desk. The docket said I should telephone if my driver wasn't there, but the lady at the help desk didn't help, & said she couldn't call as it was a mobile number.
Crap, or what?
Don't answer that: it was a rhetorical question!
I had another wander about inside & out, & eventually saw my name on a sign to the right of the doors. Ahem?
I hadn't been the only one sent the wrong way, as a couple from Leeds had done the same thing.
We 3 piled into the minibus, & off we went. They were Emily from Newcastle, & Sam from Spalding, but they lived together in Leeds & were Primary School teachers.
It was Sam's 1st ski holiday, but Emily had been a few times. She was also into rugby and rode as well, so there was lots to talk about on the way to Bansko.
After about 90 minutes we stopped for a brew & comfort break, & while buying a coffee & an Ayran (see Turkey sailing blog), I got the Bulgarian for Thank You. It sounded like bwagodaria, but looks like this Благодаря
Some of Bulgarian looks Greek, & some Russian. As I don't know any Russian other than the words for Yes, Cheers & Vodka, I could see I would have a confusing week trying to read signs. Still, it couldn't possibly be harder than Japanese!
Sam & Emilly got dropped off at the bottom of the hill. Fortunately, Mountain Paradise By The Walnut Trees (henceforth MP) was pretty near the gondola station.
We got there just after 1630, & my room was on the 4th floor.
The guy at Reception, Vasil, told me my dinner would be served in my room, as they had a big party in the dining room. I opted for a 1930 dinner, & went up in the lift.
TBH, I thought I'd taken more than 1 pic of my room, but apparently not, & only this one ended up on the mobile.
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| My home for the week. Half-board for 7 nights across Xmas was £184! Gollygosh :-) |
And the lift map I got off Google.
There was a big supermarket called ALDO where I got chicory coffee, a bottle of semi-sweet red, & litre of milk, all for only 8.50 lev. The wine was 3.60. ie about £1.60! ! ! !
And it was lovely ~ see later.
Back at MP, I went down to check out the spa & booked an 'Oriental Scrub' for the following evening, & a Sport Massage for after my 1st day's skiing.
Up in my room I discovered there was a TV channel called AMC which showed only English language films/TV progs. While I was watching a western starring Lee Van Cleef & a blond bloke with very blue eyes, they arrived with dinner.
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| Dinner was served I kept the fruit & ate it on the way home! |
There was a salady thing with white cheese (goats??) on top, pork steak & chips, baklava, an apple and an orange, & a stack of brown & white bread.
Even though I'd not eaten a lot that day, all that was beyond me, so I put the fruit in the fridge with the tomatoes & apricots I'd brought with me, left the bread (it was a bit dry & unappetising), & ate the rest washed down with some chicory coffee & a (big) glass of the red.
Then, as I hadn't been to bed the previous night, & went to bed just after 2100 with the alarm set for 0900. No point in getting up at the crack of ~ I was on holiday!
Banya Thermal Pools~Wednesday Dec.21st
The dining room was busy at 0915 when I walked down the stairs, so after getting myself some muesli & yoghurt (this would be my healthy daily nosh each morning as I didn't fancy salad or the weird looking cured meats for breakfast :-/ ), I filched some yellow cheese & salami for tomorrow's lunch: today's would be at the Banya spa.
Prior to setting off, & following a recommendation, I had contacted the Izgreva Complex, & Mariana, the nice lady there had said I should text or call & someone would come and pick me up.
Like I said, nice lady :-)
I got Reception to call for me, & was told they'd arrive within the half hour. They did, & a non-English speaking bloke in a jeep picked me up & I was at the complex by just after 1115.
I said I'd like a sports massage after lunch, so that was arranged for me, & I said I'd like lunch at about 1300 ~ which left me over an hour's soaking in the pools beforehand.
I didn't have a towel, & was given a ginormous white bathrobe instead.
The changing rooms were mixed! Fortunately, there were only 2 other people there at that time, & they were busy enjoying the thermal waters, so I just left my clothes in there.
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| The 1st pic at 1130ish |
The nearest was about 41, the big one 39, & the small one under cover was 43 degrees ~ I think?
Taking my purse, mobile, sudoku & pen, I walked barefooted across the cold concrete, pausing very briefly to take the 1st pic, & had a short swim in the big pool, before settling down in the hot one for about an hour.
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| This was the hottest one. Awesome :-D |
After that, I had a yummy non-liquidy chicken stew (see pic).
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| Bulgarian chicken stew Stew, but not as we know it in Blighty! |
The price of the pools was only 10 lev for the day, so all in all a remarkable bargain.
The massage lady hadn't arrived by the time I was lunched, so I went back in the hot pool until she had.
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| The big pool from the hot one |
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| Ditto. I spent most of my time when not eating or having a massage in here. Mmm :-)) |
Whatever her methods, she had good technique, but wasn't deep enough for my taste, given it was supposed to be a Sports Massage. Still, it was a nice relaxing one, & I felt very chilled after the hour was up :-)
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| My left foot at about 1600! Like I said, I spent nearly all day there |
On the way back, the jeep driver got pulled over just as we hit the outskirts. He gave the traffic cop all sorts of paperwork, & eventually they were satisfied & let us carry on.
He clearly mentioned I was English, as the traffic cop just looked at me, & then ignored me.
Back at MP, I grabbed my Nodicas & headed for Traventura for my hire skis. I'd spotted it was near ALDO the day before.
The balance paid, the ski tech tried to give me a little pair, but when I told him the ones which had been stolen in St Anton were 160 GS skis, he switched the short ones for a pair of 163 Heads. He said to be careful as they were very fast.
No problemo, thought I :-)
I also had to leave a deposit for the digital lift pass, but I'd handed over all of my lev at the spa, so I left a tenner instead.
I also got a lift map, but I scribbled my ups & downs all over it during the week, so here's an unadulterated one. If you click on it, it should get bigger? Fingers crossed, anyway!
btw~the Mogila lift on the far right was 'out of order', so that was 1 long red run I wouldn't be skiing this week :-(
My Oriental Scrub was at 1930, & I had dinner afterwards. The first was a bizarre mix of a horizontal shower & a massage, & during the 2nd, the strange waiting-on girl offered me a choice of chicken or pork, & then stood right in my line of sight while I ate it.
It came with salad, bread, & a weird pastry thing for pudding. There was a Mound of chips with the chicken, so I declined the last 2, & went upstairs for a chicory coffee, a glass of the yummy red, a spot of sudoku, & then bed to an accompaniment of an AMC film with Sean Connery & Donald Sutherland in it.
The First Day's Ski~Thursday Dec.22nd
There were only 4 others in the dining room when I went down for breakfast after 0900, & a sung version of the 2nd movement of Dvorak's 9th as Musak. It took me a while to recognise it as I'm so used to the orchestral version~even in the Hovis advert!
I'd already got my lunch from yesterday's breakfast, but I grabbed some more cheese & salami in case tomorrow's got tricky.
Then it was back up the 86 stairs to pick up my bits & pieces for the day ~ hat & gloves, tomatoes, cheese, salami & apricots in the bum bag, & sun specs in the front pocket.
There was a regular shuttle bus from MP operating up to 1030 in the morning, & from 1500 to 1630 in the afternoon. The MP bus & yellow one from The Sunrise hotel next door seemed to share shuttling duties.
As I hadn't been in a hurry that morning, the gondola queue was a straight walk up the stairs, & I shared the gondola up with a Ulen ski school instructor whom I pumped for info, like,
~ where are the best bumps?
There aren't any :-(
~ is it going to snow?
Probably not until after the 27th :-(
~ if I wanted to eat Bulgarian, what should I ask for?
Kapama ~ a type of stew with different meats & veg.
He also said it was very quiet, which was not good for ski instructors as they needed lots of peeps to hire instructors like him in order to make a decent living.
On the way up in the gondola I checked out the lift map & decided to get my ski legs by going up Kolarski & doing blue run 1, then hopping on the 2 Banderitza chairs & skiing down blues 11 & 5 before taking Shiligarnik & Plato up to do blues 3 & 10 & red 12.
Plan A was OK, but at the top of Banderitza 1, I found number 2 was closed, as was the Plato lift, all of run 5 - except the very bottom, & most of run 4 :-(
Not chuffed!
I did red 6 into black 9 instead, & reminded myself why I dislike fake snow when I sat down near the top of the black where it was steep & had rock hard ridges.
I think it was this which squashed my tomatoes.
Fortunately, they were in a plastic bag!
Back at the bottom I went back up, but took a right down blue 1, & skied down to the Todorska chair (which took me the furthest up the hill possible all week), then down 4 until the closed sign, whereupon I did 6 & 1 again, this time taking Shiligarnika up to The Goat for an early lunch (to beat the crowds) at 1130.
While I was there I got chatting to a couple of instructors who suggested I may like runs 7 & 8. Cunning plan ~ see Friday.
After my filched cheese & salami, my squashed tomatoes, & a dozen of the dried apricots I'd brought from the UK, I went down the R-hand side of 10, & took the 1st branch off 10 onto red 12 & down to the Mosta chair. I did Mosta, the left of 10, 5 & 1 to The Kettle for a brew after that (you can see I wasn't skiing hard ~ well, there was nowhere to go! :-/ ), & spent ages in there sitting at a table in the sun while I wrote some blog notes, & drinking a coffee, 2 cups of the Best hot choc ever (yummy yum yum :-q ), & a gluhwein.
My initial morning ski all week was up Mosta, down the right-side of 10 & 12, followed by another Mosta & the left side of 10 & 12, with occasional forays onto the sheet ice in the middle. I generally started no earlier than 1000, & stopped for lunch by midday. Like I said, there was nowhere else to go, & it warmed the legs up!
Anyway, after The Kettle & the excess of liquid, I went back up Banderitza for another go at 6 & 9, keeping left this time, but 6 fell away sharply on that side, & 9 was still rock hard with ridges, & nearly had me again near the bottom :-/
Having left The Kettle at about 1345, & having done the usual (for me) top to bottom of 6 & 9, I decided to ski down early & check out Ski Road 1. That's the long orange dotted run all the way back to the bottom. There were a few places to schuss, but it was busy with boarders, ploughers, walkers & sledgers. So, as I didn't know the best places to tuck to grab a bit of speed, I was just stood up most of the way down, & had to pole at the bottom. Still, calories out poling offsets the calories in due to the 2 hot chocs ;-p
I was down just before 1500, so it had been a short day.
The MP shuttle came at 1515, & once back at the hotel, coffeed up, & changed for the spa, I spent quite a bit of time stretching in & by the pool, & going in the steam room & sauna, before it was time for my 1730 massage.
She spent a lot of time on the back of my legs, to the detriment of the ski muscles at the front, but she did a decent job of my back & arms at least.
Having had a solo dinner being stared at the night before, I went more or less straight to dinner after the massage.
There were 7 of us, but the weird girl still contrived to be in my sight-line, despite me trying to sit where she wouldn't be.
Unfunnily enough, she said 'chicken or pork' at me again, & I asked if the chicken would be different to the night before.
She said it was, so I opted for that.
However, other than there being fewer chips, it was exactly the same % \
I was hungry and ate it all, including the peculiar salad of masses of cucumber & tomato, & the even more peculiar cakey-thing for dessert.
I asked about coffee, but she said I had to buy it upstairs, so I did.
I also had a glass of merlot & a Cardhu malt, & chatted with Ilya, the barman.
I told him that Ilya Kuryakin (from the 60s TV series A Man From U.N.C.L.E) had been my first hero when I was about 10 years old, & he was the only real Ilya I'd met.
I set up a tab as well, so I could pay it all at the end rather than in dribs & drabs.
Back in my room, the TV mini-series, Tut, was on, & I watched the end of the first episode & both the other 2 before going to sleep after midnight.
Ski Day Two~Friday Dec.23rd
As with the previous 2 days, my seagulls woke me at 0900, & I did the same re breakfast as before.
On the way up I saw red 15 had GS flags on & there was a race or training going on. It looked steep & interesting, so I decided to head that way on my way down the hill in the afternoon.
Given the skiing was so limited, & the runs relatively short, I decided I'd go shopping after skiing, & left my walking boots in the shuttle with the arrangement that my skis, poles & boots would find their way back into the MP ski room while I took some retail therapy.
Knowing I would need to time my return to the bottom so as not to miss the last shuttle, I took note of how long the lifts took, & how long I took to ski down.
Well, it kept my mind occupied a bit.
I also started to count my turns.
Let me explain:
Back in the day I would use a Walkman & make myself turn on the beat, & I once found a cassette of Peter Gabriel 4 under the Arven chair at Kleine Scheidegg. I loved the drums which kick in after about 4 minutes of Rhythm of the Heat. You'll have to google it, because the link I originally put in this blog has stopped working so I removed it.
I suppose if I skied with music now, I'd ski to Taiko?
When I was in St Anton (after I'd had to hire skis because some bastard pinched mine), it was snowing on my last day, & I had my very last run on the blacks 42 & 34 (AKA Fang ~ a World Cup run). Fang runs from the top of the Nassereinbahn & Kapellbahn lifts. Skiing from top to bottom I managed 275 linked turns, which is my record so far!
Ever :-D
Anyway, back to Bansko.
The most turns for the day without skiing out were 105 down runs 4, 6 & 9 from the top of the Todorka chair.
I also timed myself down some runs, & it turned out that it took me:
4 min to ski 6 & 1,
5 min to ski 6 & 9,
5 min to ski 4, 6 & 1, &
8 min to ski 4, 6 & 9.
Given that the quickest chair took 10 min, I obviously spent at least twice as much time going up on chairlifts than skiing down.
Getting fed up with the turn counting game, I headed down the ski road & branched right along 1a to the Chalin area.
The bottom of 16 was a wide, flattish blue with beginners all over the place, but red 15 was deserted, & awesome fun: very steep at the top for about 50 metres, then opening out onto a great open & fast piste. With no-one about I let rip & it was great.
The chair up only took 5 min, & as the run went off to the right & under the gondola, it took about 3 min to ski down.
This evened out the chair to ski ratio a bit :-)
It was a fun run, so I did it again. & as there was time for another, a 3rd time.
This time I let the breaks off higher up the steep bit, & the drop-off was so fast my skis went off without me & I fell over backwards. I was laughing my head off at what it must've looked like from the gondola overhead! ;-p
I didn't lose my skis, so I was up in a jiffy & whizzed down the rest of 15 to rejoin the Ski Road at the Umbrella Bar. There were a few of these "Umbrella Bar" jobbies dotted around the resort, & this one was the smallest.
Back at the bottom, I gave the quads & calf muscles a bit of a stretch while I waited, & then switched footwear to go shopping.
The main shopping street was car-less after the 1st 100m or so, & I was after silk thermals, a lilac &/or turquoise hat & gloves, & silk &/or cashmere polo neck jumpers.
I found a jade cashmere-mix polo after about 3/4 of an hour's meandering, but she didn't take cards, so I promised to go back with cash the next day.
Further down the hill I met a cute cat who was up for a cuddle, so I sat on a bench outside a church & duly obliged for 5 min.
By then it was almost dark. so I followed my nose back to MP, & entered via the garden which I could see beneath my balcony.
Dinner started at 1900, so I had about an hour watching an old Roman epic with some famous Hollywood faces in it. I missed the beginning & left before the end, so have no idea what the film was!
After dinner ~ where I opted for the pork this time, AMC were broadcasting a Viking type movie, but with no adverts, I hasn't a clue what it was, but it didn't matter as I was off out in the hope of finding some dancing on at Jack's House, where they were supposed to do a dance night on Fridays. I got there at 2110, & a bloke said they didn't open till 2200, so I wandered off down the main street ~ window shopping for my hat, gloves & thermals.
I didn't find any, but did find a supermarket with the same wine, so got some more milk & another bottle. Instead of 3.60 lev, this one was 8.90 (same bottle, but main street prices!). Even the milk was dear at 4.20 instead of the 2 lev at ALDO.
I shan't shop there again ;-)
Back at the MP I drank the last of the original bottle before hitting the sack at around 2230 to some traditional 'I've got a donkey, you've got a monkey' music on channel 13!
For an explanation of the Donkey/Monkey comment - see the Turkey w Ray & Carol blog ;-p
Ski Day Three~Christmas Eve
Ski day 3 followed the same as the 1st 2, but I was slightly earlier up the gondola, arriving before 1010 at the Polyana plateau.
As before I skied blue 1 down to the Todorska chair, came back down 4, 6 & 1 to Shiligarnik, then used Mosta 3 times while I did the right middle & left of 10 & 12.
I used the Bla Bla restaurant for my mid-morning loo stop, & there was a lovely open fire which I was tempted to sit in front of, but the snow called & I tried the 2 Kotva drags serving red runs 7 & 8. The shorter drag, Detska was very slow, & while the run down had good snow on it, the speed of the drag did my head in, so I used the right-hand drag, Stara Kotva to go up. My notes say I did the left, middle & right of run 8, before remaining on Stara for the rest of the morning. I changed techniques, routes & speed, going down run 7 & up the Stara drag 7 times in total. All 3 lift guys knew me by then, & didn't bother getting up from their bench in the sun to pass me the drag when I turned up at the bottom.
I took a late lunch at 1315, skiing down to The Kettle for more of the same from yesterday. The hot choc was REALLY delicious.
I had a different seat in the sun, so it was 1400 before I walked up to the bottom of Banderitza 1 for a couple of runs down the left & right of 6 & 9. After the 2nd one I skied straight onto the Ski Road, & having skied it twice, knew where I needed to schuss to avoid skating/poling.
Once again I was down for shortly after 3, & retrieved my walking boots from the shuttle-bus.
I'd used my Co-op card the previous evening to get dosh for my jumper, plus a bit more for necessities, & decided to take a circuitous route back to the jumper shop ~ still looking for my lilac & turquoise hats & gloves, & my silk thermals.
Jumper in a bag, I made my way back towards the river & passed a skiwear shop with a sale on, & found a lilac hat for 10 lev ~ ie under a fiver.
Bargain :-)
As I passed ALDO, I decided to buy a couple of bottles to take home, plus sweets for the crew at work (as is traditional!). Once in there I saw some ash-blonde hair dye at about a pound a shot, so got 2 of those as well as the 2 bottles of wine, some 'Bulgarian Delight' with a pic of the Bansko gondola on the box, & a bag of Sour Worms (which turned out to be made in Spain!)
Back in my room ~ where AMC were broadcasting a Viking type movie, I put the bottles in socks ready for the trip home.
I'd booked the 'tired legs' massage for 1830, but ended up pretty disappointed. She spent the whole 1/2 hour on the back of my legs :-( when it was my quads that needed doing.
And my poor 60 yr old knees.
I would just have to wait for Paul's ministrations for those when I got back home.
Dinner had livened up with a lot more peeps about in the dining room, & it was a buffet. I tried quite a few things, but wasn't right impressed, as a lot of the hot stuff wasn't: even the chips were tepid :-( Still, I fed myself & walked back up the 86 stairs again to see what was on offer by AMC.
With no adverts on AMC (Yeay :-D ), I hadn't a clue what films it was showing most of the time, but at least they weren't talking Bulgarian, & I could live with the sub-titles. Tonight's was a gangster movie, but ~ as it happened, it didn't matter much as I was in bed doing sudoku and drinking my chicory coffee & red wine, & my light was out just after 2200.
Ski Day Four~Christmas Day
Having had an early night, I was awake before the seagulls to find I had no water for a wash, a tooth clean, or for the loo :-(
The dining room was busy with Christmas guests, but Vasil had said they celebrated New Year more than Xmas, & there was nothing special planned for that evening.
I caught the 0930 shuttle to the gondola station, & while there was a bigger queue, I was up still the stairs & on the lift in less than 10 min.
Up top, I followed my regular route of up Banderitza, down 6, 1 & 12, up Mosta 3x & down the right, middle & left of the pistes, then on to my favourite bit of the mountain ~ Stara Kotva & run 7.
I went up Stara six times, skiing red 7 four times & red 8 once. This was because 8 finished just above Bla Bla where I hoped to get a Christmas Day Kapama.
However, having sat there & checked the menu, I discovered it was the ubiquitous ski resort fare of pasta, pizza & sausages etc. :-(
Back outside I asked an incoming instructor where I might get kapama, & he directed me round the back of Bla Bla to a smaller restaurant in the trees.
It was shut with no sign of life, so I skied down to Polyana & joined the queue in The Ski Sticks.
10 minutes later I had a plate of 'snow chicken' which had cost 20 lev, & was tepid by the time I'd found a seat near a load of ski school kids.
I should've known better!
I resolved to go out & find a proper restaurant for my Christmas dinner later.
I'd filched some satsumas at breakfast, so they were pudding at my seat in the kids quarter before I walked across to The Kettle for my daily dose of hot choc & gluhwein. I sat in the sun until 1345 before going up Kolarski to the top of runs 7 & 8.
Run 8 snow was quite good, so I did a right & a left, skiing back to Stara each time because it was a faster drag. I used Stara for the remainder of the afternoon, doing 11 runs down of various types of turn (up-unweights, down-unweights, shoots, GS, SuperG, slalom etc).
On one pull up the drag, a bloke ahead fell off the T-bar & down into the trees where he ended up with his back against a tree looking like a dissected frog. His skis were wedged up the slope above him & he was stuck, so I hopped of the drag & scrambled down to help. I had to push him up the cruddy slope as well: I think his legs had gone!?
I left him back on the piste & skied back down, but he was still there trying to put his skis back on when I passed on the way up. I yelled 'downhill one first', but I don't think he understood.
At one point after I left the top of Stara, I passed a lady sitting in the snow & her boyfriend/husband held out a packet of some round things & asked if I would like to try one. It turned out they were from Nottingham (the couple, not the biscuits!).
Merry Christmases said, I set off having had a round biscuit that looked like a mini jam doughnut, but had the consistency of sawdust!
Ah well, you win some you lose some, eh?
After the 11th run down 7, I waved 'Bye' to the lift men at the bottom, & skied back to Polyana & the Ski Road, getting down just in time for the last shuttle back to MP at 1630.
I asked Pavil about getting a kapama, & he suggested La Skara, just across the road from the gondola car park.
To hedge my bets, I also asked Ilya, & he said The Log House was very clean & did traditional food. It was almost opposite La Skara so it wouldn't take long to find my Christmas dinner.
There was still no water at MP (or anywhere in town, apparently), so I got a bottle from Ilya to make a brew with, & got ready to go out.
Empire was on AMC, but I left before seeing much of it, & walked up to La Skara where a big bouncer-type bloke tried to persuade to go in & try the BBQ. The menu outside didn't mention any traditional meals that I could make out, so I went across to The Log House & asked the bloke outside there. He didn't know if kapama was on the menu, but said they would make it for me anyway!
How awesome is that?
Once inside the Maitre-D said this was so, & I was taken upstairs onto the mezzanine floor.
He came to take my order & had very good English. He let me try a white (Chardonnay/Viognier) before buying, & then explained how his Mother made kapama.
He came back after a few minutes with a YouTube vid of how it was done & left his phone on my table so I could watch.
When it came, kapama looked like a big plate of mush, but tasted awesome :-q
Here's what Google said:
Kapama is a traditional Bulgarian dish, which is prepared in the region of Bansko and Razlog. It is one of the attractions for tourists in the authentic taverns in the resort of Bansko. It is prepared by many products - a few types of meat - pork, chicken, veal, rabbit meat, and sauerkraut; you can even use preliminarily prepared stuffed cabbage leaves; sausage or black-sausage and rice can also be added to this unusual mixture. In order to achieve the unique flavor and taste of the Kapama, there are three important conditions. The first one are spices - pepper, paprika, bay-leaves; the second one is the arrangement of the products in layers; and the third one is to bake the dish for a long period of time - at least 4-5 hours in low-temperature oven, and in a clay pot sealed with dough.
It is prepared with at least 3 types of meat – pork (500 g), veal (500 g) and chicken (500 g); 1 piece of sauerkraut, 1 glass of rice, 400 g sausage, pepper, paprika and salt according to your preferences; dough for smearing. For additional fragrance you can add a small glass of red wine.
Santa Claus put in an appearance while I was wading through it, & gave out gifts. The Maitre-D brought me up a little polar bear toy, so although the Svalbard trip didn't produce any polar bears to get photos of, I now have my own polar bear to remember my gorgeous Bansko Christmas dinner :-)
I was so stuffed I had to ask for a rest before my dessert, which was to be yoghurt and blueberries.
While I was 'resting' a folk band turned up, so I went down stairs for a closer look. It was still a bit 'I've got a donkey, you've got a monkey', but the rhythms were unusual, especially the last one they played. I asked the drummer, but his English wasn't up to it & he passed me onto the accordionist who said it was Macedonian, & a 15/8.
Like I said, unusual, & good old Google says this:
The music of the Balkans is known for complex rhythms. Macedonian music exemplifies this trait. Folk songs like "Pomnish li, libe Todoro" (Помниш ли, либе Тодоро) can have rhythms as complex as 22/16, divided by stanza to 2+2+3+2+2+3+2+2+2+2, a combination of the two common meters 11=2+2+3+2+2 and 11=3+2+2+2+2 (sheet music)In order to add tension to notes, musicians (primarily from older schools) will add the distinctive characteristic of stretching out beats.
Back upstairs I was ready for pudding & ordered a 'Bulgarian' coffee to go with it. Just the thing to finish off a nice evening :-q
And it all came to just 27 lev, only 7 lev more than the awful lunch up the mountain!
If you ever go to Bansko, eat at The Log House. You won't regret it :-q
Back at MP, I thanked Ilya for the tip about The Log House, had a quick malt ~ Cardhu again, & went upstairs. Empire was still on, with a young Santiago Cabrera playing Octavian. I thought he had become more attractive with age ~ he was Aramis of the BBC's The Three Musketeers, which had been a 'must view' during 2014-16.
As the next day was to be my last chance to ski before January's Dolomites tour, I went to bed & to sleep once I'd watched the end of Empire.
Happily, by now, the water was on again :-)
The Last Day's Ski~Boxing Day
Today began much like the previous 4, with yoghurt, muesli & fruit to eat, & cheese & salami filched from the breakfast buffet ;-p
Once again I caught an earlyish shuttle to the gondola, & was on Banderitza by about 1015.
Yadda, yadda, yadda re my warm-up runs, the only difference this morning was that I noticed my left ankle was flexing more than my right, & my right turns were carving better. I tried to get my right leg working too, but it was odd, because ~ normally, my left turns are better than the right.
I found out why this anomaly was occurring about 3 hours later.
Back at Stara, it was busier than it had been, & going up the drag I noticed there were people shouting instructions to their fellow skiers in an attempt to help them ski better. Unfortunately, many of the 'Instructors' weren't much better than their pupils!
I didn't make notes about what I did, but it was much as the last 2 days, except that there were some bumps forming on the steep bits, which was good. Any forming anywhere else were flattened by the piste-bashers overnight :-(
After about 6 runs, I decided to nip down to The Kettle for my final hot choc/gluhwein, & let the brakes off a bit. I usually let rip a bit on the last run of the day/morning, & started off down the bumps before SuperGing as it flattened out.
Suddenly, on a right turn, I felt something give in my left heel area, so pulled up & had a look at the binding. I was sure it couldn't've pre-released: I'd not been going that fast.
Looking down the outside of my left leg, it looked fine, & my boot was firmly fastened down.
Setting off again to the right, I felt it again, then as the speed increased, I had even more loss of control on the 2nd right turn. This time I looked inside & saw the casing of my boot had sheared and I had a big gap under my left heel.
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| Notice the crack between the clip & the hinge running towards the rear |
I thought maybe gaffa tape or some string may enable me to finish the day's ski, so I pedalled to the bottom & showed my boot the lift guy. He pulled an 'oh dear me' face, said No about tape & string, & sent me to Polyana.
I asked a ski instructor if she had anything = No, try the Ski-hire.The Ski-hire woman was very unfriendly, told me my boots were very old (as if I didn't know!), & tried to hire me a pair for a day as they didn't hire for half days.
In the Ski-hire building I asked the ski technician, & he suggested the Medic may have some tape.
The doctor tried to send me back to ski hire, but as a last resort I tried the gondola staff. Also no luck :-(
There was nothing to do but to ski back down the Ski Road.
Yeah yeah, I know, with a sheared boot I should have gone down in the gondola, but that's not me. I was determined to make the most of my final few minutes on the mountain & ski down: it was fairly flat, after all!
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| The big gap at the back. Not conducive to controlled turning! |
It was a slightly hairy ride down, as there were slower skiers, boarders, sledgers and pedestrians to avoid. Also, as poling would involve a lot of ankle flexion, I wanted to avoid that as well, & schussed in a tuck when ever there weren't too many peeps in the way.
At least my quads got their final workout!
Back down at the bottom I took the skis back to Traventura & they returned my tenner for the lift pass card. I also spent nearly an hour in there trying out various boots before buying some ex-hire ones which were wide enough for my left foot & long enough for my right.
It turns out I could've bought them for less from Amazon or E-Bay, but as an ex bf used to say, "Hindsight is a precise science".
I only hope they're not too soft when I ski on them later this month. The blurb online called them beginner/intermediate boots :-/
After taking the photos of my beloved Nordicas on the balcony, I left them there & packed my new boots ready for the homeward trip in the morning.
There was nothing new about dinner, except that I managed to avoid being stared at!
I also got reception to ring A2B about the transfer back to Sofia. I was to be picked at 0815, so I decided to get up at 7 then I could have everything downstairs before the dining room opened at 0730.
Back upstairs, Tut was on again, but I was too busy packing to take too much notice, & I did some sudoku in bed while I drank the last of the milk with my chicory coffee.
I also used the small water bottle I'd got from Ilya to decant the last bit of the red. It would keep me company on the bus, along with the apple & orange from the 1st night's dinner, & some cheese & salami I'd get at breakfast.
Home~Tuesday Dec.27th
The seagulls got me out of bed & ~ as planned, I took my green wheelie & the ruckie to Reception to await the arrival of A2B.
I was first into the dining room, but soon had company in the form of 2 couples & a family of 3.
As well as my usual breakfast & salami & cheese, I grabbed 3 satsumas to take with me, & despite a notice saying that you weren't allowed to take food & drink out of the dining room, no-one stopped me.
I took my cases out to wait for the transfer bus, then realised I'd left all my food & drink in the fridge in room 3422, so I quickly got the key from Pavil & ran back upstairs.
Good job I remembered: it was to be a long day's trip home.
The A2B man was 10 minutes late, & he eventually turned up walking down the hill to MP, saying he had to leave the bus at the top as there was nowhere to turn round.
I wondered if Sam & Emily would be travelling back too, but the only stop made was down by the river where he filled up the rest of the seats with a load of non-English.
I started doing sudoku fairly early, as with no snow, the road wasn't very picturesque. I noted that the forests either side were striped with silver birch & conifers. It was a weird zebra effect.
After about 40 min, he pulled up & everyone else got out. He said they were going somewhere else, but I didn't catch where.
Unlike the transfer to Bansko, there was no comfort break/brew stop, & I was glad I could have a satsuma & a mouthful of wine (yes, at 10 in the morning!)
We hit Sofia within 3 hours, but it took ages to circumnavigate the city to the airport. We still got there before 11 though, & after getting rid of the ruckie I went upstairs for a coffee, the cheese & salami, & a spot of sudoku to while away half an hour or so.
Take off was on time, & I spent the flight reading the in-flight magazine, tearing out a couple of pages about easyJet flights to the Alps for future reference, & easyJet flights to southern Italy IRO my planned trip to the Aeolians in September
At Manchester, I had time to eat the orange and the rest of the apricots before the carousel brought my ruckie, but it turned out there was no rush: trains to Blackpool were cancelled due to track repairs between MIA & the city :-(
That meant I had to get a bus to Bolton & then a train from there.
Of course, the train was delayed, so instead of getting the 1429 train straight home from the airport, the bus wasn't till 1615, & I was still waiting for it by the time 1429 would have arrived at Blackpool.
Due to the delay at Bolton, the train got into Blackpool at just before half six. That was half eight Bulgarian time, so I'd been travelling 12 hours.
I decided to get a taxi home: My knees wouldn't appreciate a mile's walk carrying a ruckie!
So, that was it: My first trip to Bulgaria, & my first Balkan ski adventure.
I may go back?
Watch this space.
OAO
