Bulgaria Week 6 – Red Runs, Dog Walks & Hot Springs

Word on the grapevine was that 50cm of snow was on it’s way on Tuesday afternoon, so naturally, Aaron and I pencilled in Wednesday & Thursday as ski days to make the most of it.

As a result, Monday & Tuesday were designated as work days and we worked solidly (even skipping lunch on Tuesday) to get as much done as possible to we could enjoy the slopes when the snow arrived.

We did go to the Bansko Street Dogs quiz on Monday night, which was at George & Mary’s restaurant which was not only cosy and welcoming inside, but the food was superb! But we were there to do a job – win the quiz!

After last week’s debacle with the tie breaker question, but after a solid team performance, we were full of confidence – which was bolstered after getting full marks on the music round! You just couldn’t write it, but we ended up in another tie breaker round for first place. Luckily, this question worked to our (and by our, I mean Alexi & Aaron’s) strengths – a tennis question. And…we WON!! No money to win this time (as all of the proceeds goes to the dogs’ home – yay!) but we did leave with the trophy, and a cardboard box with our team name carved into it! What more could you want?!

On Tuesday, the snow began at around 11am and it didn’t stop all day. When we arrived in the office that morning, there was no snow on the ground, but when we left, it was over ankle deep and still coming down heavily. If it continued that way overnight, we were in for a treat…and BBC was predicting that it wouldn’t stop until 5am.

We woke up on Wednesday to a really thick layer of snow on the roofs of the buildings opposite, but as we left the flat on the way to the slopes, the extent of the snow was more apparent – cars completely snowed in, the roads and paths were completely covered and the street dogs were having the best time jumping in and out of it, with it almost covering their heads! The best part? It was still snowing! We couldn’t wait to see what it was like on the mountain!

The top station by the gondola is usually bare snow wise and can be icy. Not on Wednesday, even there, lower down the mountain, it was thick powdery ankle-deep snow! With the superb conditions, I decided it would be a good day to try out some red runs…and it was SO much fun with the snow still coming down thick and fast.

With a couple of red runs under my belt, and after a few hours of skiing, we headed back into town on the second ski road. We’ve not used this ski road as it leads to a couple of black runs and a red run, which I’d not felt confident enough to tackle…until now! 

The ski road hadn’t been ploughed, so the snow was still powdery and thick, with just a couple of ski trails through the middle so we stopped and messed around in the snow for a bit!

We legged it home to get changed as we had big plans for the afternoon! We we’re going to walk the dogs at Bansko Dogs Home! It was around a 25-minute walk from our flat, so we didn’t even have time to grab something to eat, we literally got changed and left the house again. 

We met Nick, one of the guys from AltSpace (our office) there, who is a frequent volunteer at the dog’s home, and he introduced us to all the dogs! 

There were so many of them, which was a little bit sad because they were all so friendly and gentle and would make really good little (and big!) companions. That being said, they were all messing around and playing with each other, and generally seemed to get on really well.

We each picked a dog we wanted to take out for a walk, and it was only revealed when we were on the way out the door, that I’d picked one of the strongest and excitable dogs! 

After that bombshell, he dragged me to the floor straight into a pile of snow (which Laura and Aaron thought was hilarious!). Walking a strong dog who is desperate to be running about is quite a challenge with so much snow underfoot and I fully expected a few more falls during the walk. 

Luckily, Storm (the dog) and I came to an understanding that it would be much more enjoyable for both of us if he slowed down a little bit, and the rest of the walk was fun!

After returning the dogs to the yard (which was a difficult job given so many of them want to come out, and these dogs didn’t want to go back!), we took the little Bulgarian Corgis out for a walk, and Aaron took Bandi, his favourite dog (because she was shy and the other dogs picked on her a little bit!), and they had a ball jumping in and out of the snow – pure joy!

After a day of ski and walking dogs, we were completely cream crackered!

Both Thursday and Friday were ski days, with Friday being a slightly better day than Thursday. On Friday, the conditions were amazing, it was sunny and warm and we tackled a few more red runs together. It’s unbelievable that Laura and I pretty much keep up with the boys now who are experienced skiers!

On the way down the ski road, on a red run, I had an epic (but harmless!) fall which involved all four limbs flying through the air and I’m pretty sure I did some sort of flip! I ended up on my back, with my head facing down the slope and skis up in the air! It was so sunny that when I went into the shade, I hadn’t seen a big mound of snow approach until the last minute and was faced with the decision of going over it or trying to turn around it. In the end I think I did a bit of both, which found me and my poles catapulting through the air. Luckily the snow broke my fall and I left with only a bruised ego.

After all that action, we headed back down into town.  We grabbed a Gyros (classic!) for lunch from one of our favourite restaurants in Bansko, The Station, before heading home to shower. We went to AltSpace for Friday evening drinks and had a good time chatting to everyone there about possible next destinations. I think we’ve decided where we want to go, so we now just need to sit and do some research!

The next day, on Saturday, after a delicious brunch with a cheeky bloody Mary and mimosa at Smokey Mountain, we headed to AltSpace. We did some research and planning for our UK trip and next stint in Europe! We actually made some great progress, even drawing up a spreadsheet with timings and costs, and finding some great AirBnB options. 

Feeling productive, we spent the evening in Morris Bar, enjoying a few cheap pints along with the rugby – disappointing result (losing to Scotland booo!) but a good atmosphere – it was packed!  

On Sunday morning, we sat in bed and booked some of our accommodation for May – September which was really exciting and a relief to have a plan! 

However, just as we let that feeling wash over us, we had messages from AirBnB letting us know that they’d been cancelled because the hosts had put the wrong prices…which they subsequently doubled! This happened three times for one particular destination and we were furious! Just as we thought everything was planned, it turned out we’d have to do a bit more research to find something within budget.

To relax, we went to grab some sushi from Food Station, which was actually amazing, and then we went to a Hot Spring in the afternoon which was lovely. It had one large warm pool, along with a couple of small even hotter pools!

This was slightly more basic than the first one we went to, and more natural looking…and smelling. 

These were stone baths, and you could smell the sulphur in the water. But it was so relaxing, and great for our very sore muscles after a big week of skiing in Bansko!

It was a very relaxing way to round off another week in Bansko!  

Catch up next week!

Love Meg x x