Borovets - rather nice as it happens

This is the first of three resorts we're heading for... at the time of planning I thought they were the only three in the country, wrongly as it turns out.  But anyway, the four of us, the initial two having been joined by Austin and Claire, head out of Sofia in our hire car, an elderly Ford Focus estate, in the direction of Borovets.  Turns out to be an easy enough, and very scenic drive taking around 90 minutes, we pass a horse drawn buggy on the outskirts of Sofia, and then a series of large lakes on the way into the mountains.  Borovets turns out to be a really nice resort, and we're ideally placed at the Hotel Rila right at the bottom of the pistes.  It's much bigger here than we expected, with runs ranging from flat, narrow greens and gentle blues up to long, sweeping blacks.  The lifts and the single gondola seem to be second generation French, perfectly adequate, and there is an awful lot of snow here.  In fact I think I could happily spend a week here, exciting though the road trip we have planned is.  Maybe in a week I'd manage to do every run, as it is I miss the very highest red (the lift is closed) and a bit of the longest green.  While there aren't that many runs here they do tend to be very long.

Heading up on the gondola.

Initially we do struggle a bit with the food, I get a lukewarm spaghetti for lunch at the Black Tiger, and the hotel buffet dinner is none too warm either.  It seems Bulgaria hasn't yet grasped that you can continue to heat buffet food after it comes out of the kitchen - this is a general theme at breakfast too.  Given how cheap it all is, I'd advise not going half board to hotels, each one will have an a la carte restaurant too.  That said you can just keep an eye out for the staff bringing new, hot food out.  There is also a bit of an issue with white wine, they don't seem to drink it here and so don't know it should be chilled.  I would just stick with red...

Outside the Hotel Rila.

In the evening, we ignore the numerous touts trying to get us into bars (and strip clubs, they're here too), and find a nice little place with some live music (think it was called Mamacita's) and drink lots of Bulgarian dark beer.  All good.  The next day we move a little bit further from the chair lift for lunch (that is, not the very nearest one), to Mamma Mia's steakhouse, and get a bit more real Bulgarian food.  Seems to involve a lot of meat, two different kinds of cheese (white - basically feta - and yellow), and not much in the way of vegetables beyond potatoes and pickled cucumber.  Turkish and Greek influence is plain, this is one country where you can get a kebab after the day's skiing.  Of course steaks and pizzas are available, and in Mamma Mia's at least it all seems to be hot.  On the third day they even give us a free shot of something green and aniseed-flavoured (Bulgarian viagra, the waiter claims).

Borovets isn't much of a place though, basically a resort and nothing else - many of the staff live a little way down the road in Samokov which is probably worth a visit.  There is a fair bit to do nonetheless even just in our hotel, it has a small shopping mall, a spa, a good sized (if somewhat chilly) swimming pool and even a rifle range.  Fun is generally had, although I'm a bit disappointed when I check out the hotel nightclub the second night.  No, not like that - I had checked and here the resort is sufficiently English-attuned (around half the skiers seem to be English, the rest either locals or other Eastern Europeans) that nightclub means what it does at home.  But while it is large and nicely decorated it is also empty barring a couple of half naked men.  Ho hum, low season I guess.

Lovely weather, and fine skiing among the evergreens.

All too soon it is time to leave though - after our third day of skiing we bundle into the car and head off towards Pamporovo, which Google assures me is three hours away.  Should be there for eight then...


Photos to go with this post can be found here.