Bulgaria Week 5 – Let’s get quizzical!

It was a VERY cold start to the week, with the temperature in town dropping as low as -17! So cold that when you’re wearing your normal clothes, you could feel your skin burning underneath – my legs were like frozen chicken drumsticks! 

We didn’t too much of note on Monday, as it was designated as a work day, and that is simply not worth telling you about, except for the fact that Laura joined us today for her trial day! The best part of the day (as with most workdays) was lunchtime and dinnertime.

For lunch, we went to Sapid Café, where we have been before. It’s just around the corner from AltSpace and the food is good so we headed in that direction for ease. 

However, about 5-10 minutes after ordering, we were told that they were having issues with the kitchen and they weren’t doing food. So, we headed to the main street and went into the first Mehana (tavern) that we found. It didn’t look much from the outside, but as we went upstairs to the restaurant, we were so pleasantly surprised!

It was such a cosy little place with faux vine leaves and grapes hanging from the ceiling, furry throws over the seats and gingham tablecloths on the tables. As soon as we sat down, these two massive cats came along and sat next to us on the bench. Laura (being allergic) swiftly moved to the opposite side of the table, leaving me in my element with a cat on each side!

For lunch, Laura and I had a traditional Bulgarian earthen pot – filled with peppers, chillies and white cheese (a Bulgarian specialty, chillies and an egg!). It was so good, but SO cheesy. Neither Laura and I could finish ours, not necessarily because we were full, but because we physically could not eat any more cheese!

Aaron made a bit of a whoopsy with his lunch, ordering the grilled chicken steaks, but didn’t order any sides because the waiter moved on so fast. When his lunch arrived, it was what it said on the tin. A few pieces of grilled chicken! Luckily we’d ordered some bread to the table or it could have been a very small and meaty lunch for him!

After we bid the cats farewell, who at that point were fast asleep, we made our way back to AltSpace and by this point it was already 3pm. Time to crack on! We worked until around 7.30/8pm (when Alexi finishes work, as this is 5.30pm in the UK) and we decided that it was too late to go home and cook so there was only one thing for it, to eat out again! Aaron and I haven’t actually eaten at home for almost a week! Oops!

We went to Five M which is advertised as a fine dining experience – pretty extravagant for a Monday night! It was so busy and we took one of the last bigger tables at the back of the restaurant. Alexi and Laura had already eaten here and raved about the food so I’m not sure who was most excited to eat there!

As expected, the food was incredible. Aaron and I had a steak salad each, with an aubergine, mozzarella and tomato stack, drizzled in homemade pesto and some potatoes au gratin – cooked with bacon, cheese and cream. It was probably our favourite restaurant in Bansko together with Le Retro (the vegetarian restaurant we went to for Alexi’s birthday) being a very close second.

We even had a dessert – chocolate soufflé between two of us – because why not? When we came to pay the bill, we couldn’t believe that it worked out at £13 each – we had wine too! We will definitely be going back because their menu looked amazing and it was a really lovely restaurant too – very handy that it is just round the corner from the office too!

After all that food, it was time to burn some calories the next day! We arrived at the gondola at around 10.30am – a bit later than usual as the weather forecast said that it was -18 at 8am. With around 5 layers on each, we were absolutely sweating by time we sat down on the gondola – carrying the ski stuff and wearing the ski boots is hard work!

As it usually is here, it was so sunny, so I didn’t actually feel that cold. Kev at Tsakiris (the ski rental) said that it was actually much warmer up the mountain than it was yesterday, with a 5 degree increase in temperature. However, it was still -9 when we got there and was by no means warm, despite the winter sun!

I’m not sure what was wrong with people today but there were so many out-of-control people on the slopes. Aaron got taken out not once but twice by people that weren’t looking where they were going or had completely lost control of their skis. He was fine – but it is so dangerous! It really makes you ski differently too because you’re so wary of other people.

I think the problem was that whilst there was still lots of snow, there were large patches of harden compacted snow, and then patches where it was purely ice. I fell quite a few times, just because my skis couldn’t grip properly, it was so slippery.

There is a part of the slopes, by the 180 bar where we usually stop for a hot drink or beer, and to use the facilities, where a few runs funnel into one. It’s quite steep at that meeting point too. At the end of the day, it was so slippery that pretty much everyone that attempted to ski down the centre was falling over – it was absolute chaos! I ended up skiing very slowly down the edges which was a lot better, but it was by no means enjoyable – you’re just hoping you make it down in one piece!

The weather forecast for the mountains is predicting snow on Friday and LOTS of snow in the first week of February, so fingers crossed for that!

On Wednesday, we spent the day at AltSpace, but went to Smokey Mountain (where we spent Christmas Eve on our first night in Bansko) for their pub quiz. It started at 7.30 but we arrived early to order some food – which was delicious but a bit pricey by Bansko standards. We shared pulled pork nachos and a beef brisket burger between the two of us and it was delicious – the meat just falling apart in your mouth.

The quiz was pretty tough, but we really came into our own on the music round, and were surprised that when the final scores were read out, we were in joint first place! 

For the tie breaker question, only one person from each team was allowed to go up and submit an answer – unfortunately for Aaron, it was him that was put forward as tribute. The question was how tall in metres is the Burj Khalifa…we had no idea what it was so that was a good start! Unfortunately, the other teams answer was much closer than ours and they ran away with the title (and the biggest cash prize!). But all was not lost, as we were awarded 50Lev for second place (around £20-25) so all in all a successful evening!

During our breaks from work this week, we discovered a lovely little café called Le Petit Nicolas. It was actually recommended to us by Nick, one of the Alt-Spacers, so we took a stroll at lunch on Thursday.

Fresh grilled sandwiches were their speciality, but what really caught my eye was the cabinet of cakes, tarts and cookies at the entrance. I spent the whole hour trying to decide what I was going to have!

Friday was a ski day for us, but it was an early start because Laura and I were taking a lesson! We had to be at the top of the gondola by 9am which meant the alarm was set for 6.45 and we were out of the house by 8!

Given we had both mastered snow ploughing and were starting to parallel turn, we thought it would be a good idea to take a lesson and pick up some tips as to how to make the transition easier. We started on the nursery slope, taking the button lift to the top. There weren’t as many tips as I’d expected to be honest, but enough to get us started – I think skiing is something that you can only really get by practicing but it was good to get some pointers– which was essentially don’t be so tense! Haha, easier said than done!

After an intense 2 hours of skiing, Laura and I took the chairlift up again to meet Aaron at 180 bar for a coffee, who had been skiing on his own all that time, because Alexi had got caught up on a work call. Once we were feeling a little more energised, we skied for another few hours, and by the last run of the day, I was feeling very tired, and my legs weren’t doing what I wanted them to do!

We finished the day with a few beers in Happy End, and even got Alexi and Aaron up on the podium for a bit of a dance!

As is usual on Saturdays in Bansko, we woke with our bodies feeling absolutely knackered from all the skiing, and our heads feeling a bit heavy from the beers! A decent breakfast was in order! Turns out breakfast is very hard to find in Bansko, and we were frustrated to find that Smokey Mountain (one of the only places in town that does brunch) was closed.

By this point, it was lunchtime rather than breakfast so we settled on Food Station for some stodgy grub and gave up on our dreams of breakfast (on the basis that it was probably now too late!). The food was tasty and carby, and exactly what we were looking for so we left happy!

This weekend turned out to be a life admin weekend, with us spending a lot of time both at home and in Alt Space, planning our UK trip in March and getting some sort of plan for the summer! 

But between all the admin, we managed to locate a full English breakfast, at Station (where we always go for gyros) and it was a really good one too (happy days!) and we went to El Torito, a lovely mehana on the backstreets which was recommended to us.

On the way home from dinner, it started to snow and it was already settling on the ground. There is meant to be a LOT of snow next week. I can’t wait to put my parallel skiing to the test and Aaron is so excited for some fresh powdery snow and to explore the off-piste areas!

We will let you know how everything pans out next week!

Love Meg x x