Bulgaria Week 4 – Birthday Fun & Snow Days!
New week, new run! I decided to challenge myself to try a new run today which I knew would be quite challenging as it had a very steep hill halfway down, which according to Aaron is more like a red run. The start was challenging but doable but when I reached the steep part it was so icy, I completely lost my nerve to try and turn on it so we ended up side slipping very slowly pretty much the whole way down. Aaron was very sweet in keeping me calm and went in front to keep me steady.
As we were going down, we saw some epic falls on the ice, so many people flying down this part of the run headfirst with no skis to be seen (until a few seconds later when they caught up with them!). Suddenly, I didn’t feel too bad about being nervous to ski down it! I’ll give it another go once we’ve had more snow which is hopefully within the next few days or so.
Instead we went home, lit the fire for the first time and Aaron settled in to watch his team the Bengals play in their first NFL playoff game since 2015 (Aaron told me that bit…!). I fell asleep at half time, which in my defence was around 1am in Bansko (!) and when I woke up the next morning Aaron told me they had won which, as you can imagine, I was delighted about!
We returned to the slopes a couple of days later, and the conditions hadn’t improved much, and the ice was pretty epic. We took one chairlift up and then decided to head to Chalin Valog to practice parallel turning with Aaron returning to his role as ski instructor! It actually wasn’t too bad and I really focused on trying to get my inside leg flat and bring it in to reach my outside leg. It was quite difficult, because I was so worried that by inside leg would crash into my outside leg and I’d crumble to the ground, but after a few runs, I was slowly starting to get the hand of it. I think lessons are needed here but reckon with practice I’ll definitely be able to do it.
For lunch, we went to The Bears and we had a hot veggie salad and a Beef Goulash – both needed after the icy temperatures on the mountain!
On Wednesday, we had a very long day in Altspace, doing about 10 hours work! As a reward, we went for dinner at a mehana (Bulgarian tavern) between the office and the flat, where we often walk past the very friendly man that works there who always invites us in. We decided tonight was the night and he was so delighted that we decided to stop by that we were treated to a free beer each!
The mehana was so cute and traditional, and based off the road so you couldn’t have a look in before committing but we were really pleasantly surprised. Whilst we were the only people in there on arrival, it soon picked up with a few groups of people arriving shortly after.
As we were in a mehana, we wanted to eat something fairly traditional, so we opted for the vine leaves (of course!) to start and we shared a mixed grill with traditional Bulgarian sausages and meat skewers for main. It came fresh off the BBQ, and we knew it was fresh because it was still on fire when it was placed on the table! We even had dessert too – lava cake (like a chocolate souflée) and crème brulée. We had such a lovely evening!
On Thursday, we returned to AltSpace for another day’s work but with the weekend firmly in sight (and a full day of skiing instore for Friday) we were super focused and feeling productive. We walked up to Cafe Sapid for lunch where we had Lavash (an Armenian wrap) before heading back to finish up.
AltSpace had organise for the group to go to Hotel Avalon for a curry that evening, which ended up being cancelled because they were short staffed due to illness. However, they agreed to do a takeaway so Aaron and I decided to stay and have a curry with everyone. Becky & Mark (the owners) also filled the fridge with beers for us to enjoy with it which was such a nice touch!
The curry was incredible. I’m not sure whether it was so good because we haven’t had a proper curry since we left the UK for Cyprus (so last summer) or whether it was because it was just so tasty. I think the latter. You basically got 4 separate curries, rice, a naan bread and an onion bhaji and samosa. All homemade, and all incredible.
Some people were taking their leftovers home to have for lunch the following day but Aaron and I, being greedy, finished ours in one sitting. Honestly, I could barely move for the rest of the night, let alone have any more beers!
We ended up staying at AltSpace until Midnight, playing games with the others! It was really fun and Friday was just EPIC. Wow wow wow! We had THE BEST day of skiing in Bansko yet. We woke in the morning to it snowing relatively heavy in the town with a few cm of snowfall sitting on the ground here. We knew if the snow was settling here, it would be great in the mountain.
Were meant to get breakfast with Alexi & Laura at Smokey Mountain (where we went on Christmas Eve) but then realised they only did it at the weekend. So, with that idea parked, we had a bit of breakfast at the flat before heading to the gondola at around 11.30/12.
Aaron and I went all the way to the top of the mountain, the highest point! I don’t know what came over me, but I just fancied going! The snow does funny things to my mind! From the bottom of that run, you couldn’t see the top because of the clouds and as we went through it on the chairlift, you couldn’t even see the chair in front.
At that point, I was a bit concerned that I’d got ahead of myself and made a mistake going up and Aaron was thinking the exact same thing – probably nervous that I was going to have another breakdown and cry the whole way down (see week 2!).
But, when you got through the cloud you could see everything and the view of the town was incredible! Whilst it was so cold up the top, the snow was really deep and soft which was a killer on the legs, but very fun to ski on!
It also seemed so much steeper from the bottom that it did at the top – or maybe I’m getting used to the height now? Either way, I was skiing away, waiting for the edge, or for the drop to come, but before I knew it Aaron said, “Look! You can see the bottom now!” and I couldn’t believe it!
It was a more gradual decline than I’d thought and SO much fun – I think there is potential for this to become my favourite run to do. I am very excited and nervous to do it in the sunshine, and see how I feel when you can actually see where you’re going!
The snow made for some beautiful skiing today, it felt so much easier on your legs, no bracing because of ice, just gliding over the snow. Makes it so much more enjoyable and easier, and it was consistently snowing all day which was lovely. It was just such a fun day!
Saturday was Alexi’s birthday. Well, not really but his actual birthday was when they were both isolating with Covid so this weekend was designated as his birthday instead. We spent the morning skiing, and planned to get up early to make the most of the conditions. We were on the Gondola by 9.30 and the boys went right to the top of the mountain, to do some off-piste skiing whilst Laura & I did a couple of the blue runs all by ourselves!
We met the boys halfway down the second blue run and then stopped in 180 for a hot drink. They were both happy as Larry, having enjoyed “some of the best off-piste skiing ever” – Alexi’s words not mine. But it was so cold up there that Alexi had frost in his beard & both of their snoods were completely frozen! Unbelievably it was -20 at the top of the mountain.
Despite this description of the cold weather, both Laura and I conquered Plato (the highest blue run) and all of the other ones that day! Our gloves may have been frozen and have been suffering from serous cases of wind burn, but we were so pleased with ourselves! The next stop for us is to learn to parallel ski then try and give some of the easier red runs a go!
We headed back into town, to watch Aston Villa in Morris Bar (Alexi’s team!) but not before we had a chicken gyros from station. Can’t be drinking beer on an empty stomach! After the match, Aaron and I went back to the flat for a quick shower and to change out of our skiing get up, doing that in record time, returning back to the pub 45 minutes later. We caught the first half of the Man Utd game whilst we were finishing our beers, before making our way to the bowling alley.
The place was huge, with around 6-8 lanes, with arcade machines and pool tables and a bar in there, but what really made it feel massive was the lack of people…we were the only ones in there! No bother, we didn’t let this put us off and committed to two games, on the basis that the first one is always a practice round, and to suss out the competition.
It didn’t take long to realise that Aaron was in a different league to the rest of us. I think his first three bowls were all strikes! We had such a good laugh, and despite being unconvinced about the whole bowling idea to start with, the birthday boy had a great time, as did we!
Once Aaron had defeated us all twice, it was time for food. We went to a vegetarian restaurant in mid/old town called Le Retro. The food was amazing. Aaron, Alexi & Laura all had the Cauliflower Curry, whereas I opted for the Cauliflower Steak (still digesting the curry from Thursday!). On the menu for starter was soup & aubergine fritters. We pushed the boat out (it was a birthday after all) and all had dessert too. It was ridiculously cheap too, at 19 lev each (around £8) for two courses – with our amazement at prices becoming a bit of a theme around here!
After two full days of skiing, my legs were completely shot and we were both knackered knackered (the beers and wine probably didn’t help either), so we decided that Sunday was a day for a lie in and chill. I had a work meeting in the morning, so we did that and then had some brunch at home.
We had to go to the shop for some provisions to get us through the week so headed to Aldo, a smaller supermarket in town, a 10-minute walk from our flat. As soon as we left our flat, the cold took our breath away. It was so windy, the cold felt like it burnt your face. Once we’d got our weekly provisions, we headed back to the flat with no intention of leaving again – no skiing for us today.
It was a really nice relaxing Sunday watching the football at home, we lit a fire then watched a bit of Netflix whilst feeling all cosy and warm. I also had a catch up with my friends back in England over video chat and it was great to see their faces and hear all about what’s going on with them!
Laura and I are planning on taking some lessons next week to learn how to parallel ski. I’m told its far less intensive on the legs if you can parallel so I’m so up for this!
See you then,
Meg xx
