Well, more or less. The architecture tends more to rugged stone buildings than wooden chalets, and the food still has a Greek / Turkish feel, though sausage and schnitzel is available. But the lifts are Austrian built, and Bansko is a real place with a proper old town, allowing us to mingle with the locals in a way not really possible before. Again the skiing is good, plenty of snow although strong winds over the mountain mean half the lifts are shut - probably good that we're only here for two days. This may not be the best resort for beginners though, there are no greens and only a couple of relatively easy blues - nonetheless we see plenty of them. And plenty of injuries too, go figure. The reduced ski area does put paid to my attempt to do (nearly) all the runs, but at least I do find an easy bit of off-piste under one of the chairlifts to practice on.
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| View from our penthouse apartment - oh yes. |
One fly in the ointment is buying our lift passes on the first morning - Sunday is a bad day for this, and we queue for over an hour before reaching the window. And then a middle aged woman in a 'Bansko ski and spa' jacked pushes to the front and spends a full 20 minutes doing... something. This rather highlights the fact that Bulgaria hasn't quite got the tourist thing yet - some people have realised that it's in their interest to be friendly and helpful, for instance I can't fault the staff at our hotel here (the Elegant Lux), others tend to be surly. This woman is exceptional though - she pretends not to speak English, but with her is a younger girl who does, and when told that if you treat your paying customers this way they will not return she responds, 'we don't care'. Well I think I would still return to Bansko, but I'd buy my pass in advance (or they can be bought the evening before, up to 10pm on a Friday or Saturday), and I'd give no money to the 'ski and spa' people, may they quickly go bust. Queuing for the gondola the day after was also a bit tedious, after no queues at all at the other resorts. Apparently the trick is to stay at the (5 star!) Kempinsky, which will get you in the priority queue.
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| On the slopes with the resort town laid out below |
It's nice to have an actual town to wander around in, and the main drag down to the old town throngs with tavernas, souvenir shops which open all hours, and even fairground style stalls where we could win stuffed toys with our skill at darts or shooting if we wished. And yes, the strip clubs are back - 'everything is possible' being one of the more repeatable things the touts call to us. Eventually we find our way to the Baryakova Tavern, for our first meal outside a hotel, and it is good. I consume a huge home made sausage, while Austin opts for the 'different kind of meat'. This turns out to be the traditional Bulgarian 'stew with cheese on top', but this time with both pork and chicken. Back towards the resort area and I manage to find an actual dance floor with people on it - the 'Happy End' by the gondola. Still finishes at 2.30, but I guess it'll be later in the high season. The restaurant is so good that we go back again the next night - and this time I am dragged into the Horo after dinner. I think the locals were impressed...
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| Ambience aplenty at the Baryakova |
We're worrying about the drive back to Sofia airport though - google reckons 2 hours, some English guys we met on the gondola said between two and three, we allow more like 4 and a half. And it all goes smoothly enough, until we hit some dual carriageway (yay!) 40km or so out of Sofia, and realise we don't have enough fuel to get to the airport. Well fine, we'll fill up at the next services to be safe... except... there are no services. The Zafira's estimated distance to travel drops, then drops to zero, and we are still 10km or so out of the city, and I waste further fuel by turning off into a village which turns out to have no garage. We look at the map I'd downloaded to my phone, find a petrol station right where the main road hits the Sofia ring road, and head for it... and while the fuel warning light, which has been on for the last half hour, starts to flash with 2km to go, we make it. This last bit of excitement over it's time to head back to grey, damp England.
Photos to go with this post can be found here.
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