Bansko, Bulgaria!

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UNMIK, the UN Mission in Kosovo, runs these weekend tours to various places in the region. I signed up for the one for Bansko, Bulgaria - a ski resort town. I don't ski, but there is plenty of stuff to do in Bansko anyway.

We left Pristina at around 3:50pm by bu s. I tried taking pictures of the beautiful mountains of Kosovo, but it was through the bus window so they're not very good. WEhad no problems on the border to Macedonia. However, on the border to Bulgaria, we wound up having to wait for a very long time to get through. It felt like hours, but I don't really know how long it was. Then it was snowing heavily, so we had to drive really slow. About 18 km away from Bansko, we became stuck in the snow for about three hours. It was terrible, especially when the bus was trying to back up in order to get onto a passable part of the road, but we were really near the edge of the road. There was a rail in the way, but I'm looking out the window thinking "I wonder if that rail will hold if we start to tip over the side." Thankfully, nothing terrible happened and we were eventually able to get going again.

However, we got to our hotel at around 3 in the morning, and I had a hard time falling asleep. The hotel was lovely though, on a cute little side street near the main tourist drag, so very quiet. The room was huge! I had only gotten a single, but it's gigantic and the bathroom has a ultra modern shower. I wound up waking at 6 am, and then I enjoyed the free breakfast. It was a mixture of a UK, a German, and a Bulgarian breakfast in what was provided. I had a little bit of everything.

A couple of hours later I went out and went shopping. Bulgaria is, evidently, famous for its rose water. I bought a bunch of rose scented soaps and things. I love a good rose scent. I also bought a ridiculous looking hat. It's white with a puffball on top and then two big puffballs hanging over my ears like earmuffs. Really warm, but ridiculous. I ate out and had some kind of Bulgarian pastry - I learned what the name was but I forget it now. It was filled with a kind of crumbly cheese like feta. Then I had some beer, and then I went back to the hotel to try to take a nap.

However, after I napped I became sick - stomach flu like symptoms that I still have. It probably is the stomach flu, because a few of my coworkers at the Ministry were sick with it recently. So, I didn't go out again.

After I finish this, I am going to try to eat something and see how I do. I want to go shopping again so I can spent up my remaining local currency. We're leaving here at 3:30 pm to go back to Pristina. I hope the bus ride is not extended by delays, but I imagine I'll survive somehow. I'll sit near the W/C. -_-'

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Comments

[Mary Barrett]

Sick on vacation, oh no. Hope you feel better soon. Even though we have had too much winter weather here your sky village looks so charming I wish I was there.