Blogs from Bulgaria, Europe - page 54

As the anethisis of healthy good living long distance cyclists we decided on a whim to head to Bulgaria for a week. This rather random decision came about due to bearacracy! We sidled up to the Iranian consultate in Erzerum pretty much as soon as we got to town. To be told that we would have to wait 10 days for a response on our application. The main reason that Bulgaria was chosen was that the capital Sophia was the only eastern european city on the Lonely Planet Turkey map. After a good stint on the bike and leading a lifestyle of purity it seemed like the best decision to head to a place where we could get beer, goto some bars, and eat some different food. So after 5 minutes of discussion it was set- ... read more

Bankso, Bulgaria - where to begin. Well it’s a bit of a long story as to how the hell I ended up in this country selling investment properties to buyers from the UK but hey here I am. The flight on the Air Bulgaria flight from London to Sofia was one of the most harrowing experiences of my life. The outside of the plane looked just fine but once you walked in and saw what was going on it made you think “shit, this could be it’. It was a bit like going back a couple of decades in time to the time of the Iron Curtain. The seats were that plastic blue faux leather, the cabin crew were all dressed differently, there were dirty tissues stuffed between the seats, all the signs were in that ... read more

BOROVETS After the diappointment of Christmas Day, due to the lack of snow on Mount Vitosha, we were determined to find some nearby mountains to carve up. So with the help of the hotel staff, a lot of phone calls and a good K1W1 organising committee, we were able to charter a bus, a driver and a local travel guide/ hotel receptionist/ expert snowboarder (thrown in for free) for the 17 of us. We managed to organise a total of 4 days on the slopes - all at Borovets. Borovets is the oldest mountain resort in Bulgaria, dating back to 1896, with the highest pistes at 2600m. It would have been a disappointing trip if we hadn't found any snow, as about 80% of Bulgaria is made up of mountains. Although due to the bad snow ... read more

Here is a map of our travels while in Bulgaria - we landed in Sofia (after a flight from Beijing China), then drove to Karlovo, then to Bansko and Melnik, following which we spent time in Nessebar (posting about it is coming next), and then visited Kazanlak and Kran, then back to Karlovo on our way to Sofia to fly back to China. After staying in Bansko for two days, we decided that it is time to experience some more of the nature and sites Bulgaria has to offer. So we drove to the town of Melnik — according to government and provincial statistics (Melnik is located in the province of Blagoevgrad) - this is the smallest town in Bulgaria. Population: approximately 230. The town is not that difficult to find. From Bansko, we first ... read more

After leaving Bansko my family and I headed to the Black Sea coast. The interesting thing about Bulgaria (in a very summary description form) is that you can experience the pleasure of hiking tall beautiful mountains and 5-6 hours drive later you could be at one of the many seaside resorts. Our trip took us to the resort town of Nessebar located in the central part of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast (please see the map in the previous post) We had booked an all inclusive stay at the Nessebar IFA hotel (I believe this was a German hotel chain). The all inclusive meant meals and hotel rooms for all of us were included. The hotel was located South of the old town of Nessebar in the newer section of town. Nevertheless it was not far ... read more