Snowplough Apartments Bansko

Hallo zusammen,

wie im vorigen Eintrag erwaehnt bin ich zum Rila Kloster gefahren, dem Jerusalem Bulgariens, UNESCO Weltkulturerbe und in 1000m Hoehe in den Pirin Bergen gelegen.

Von Sofia bin ich zunaechst mit dem Bus nach Dupnitsa gefahren, 60km im Sueden, 2,50 Euro fuer die Fahrt. Dupnitsa ist tiefste Provinz, englisch spricht hier niemand (und ...

A lot of Americans celebrated and had fun on this day but not me. I went to the central bus station on time to catch an early bus but somehow the cashier sold me a wrong ticket so I missed the bus, and then she refused to give me the refund. The first really unpleasant experience for this trip. And the day didn't get much better after this. I ended up catching a later bus to Bansko, but because of that I ...

8th June

Sofia to Rila Monastery

Sunny am 27 degrees Late storm

After breakfast we left our lovely hotel room in Sofia to drive to Rila Monastery. We made one detour to see some sign-posted rock formations where we drove up a goat track for a while, then climbed a hill and got to see a nice view but with no sign of the rock formations ...

... out towards departure time to make sure we had gotten on it! The scenery was pretty average - could have been anywhere really with fairly flat regions all obviously under cultivation with something or other throughout the year. The little villages were a bit run down but better than I expected in some ways - all characterized with every house having several grape vines and often long ropes of what looked like drying ...

So I think this town may have been charming and quaint and traditional and all that at one time but now, it's hard to find that with the explosion of develpment that's going on. Lots of EU money pouring into Bulgaria it seems and the streets are littered with real estate companies, develpoment 'opportunities' and construction galore. Clearly lots of people are making money here. It's quite a juxtaposition of ...

... they stepped on a hot spot of the dirt or ground. Some of the bears were standing in the same spot for minutes on end just shifting feet and taking one step forward and then one step back. The rangers who worked there explained this was either due to the hot spots on the ground or too many years of horrible mental torture. Such a sad place, but definitely an eye opener and worth the visit ...

... Two more hours on the bus and we were in Bansko. Got ready and then we went out for a big group dinner. The restaurant was a traditional place and had a gypsy band playing some music. Had some cured ham type of meat and then and amazing (!!!) rice, sauerkraut and shredded pork dish. Blew the one earlier out of the water! On the way back a couple of us grabbed some 2L bottles of beer (for $1.50!) and sat on the balcony for a couple of hours having some drinks.

I'm an active member and a huge fan of the webiste www.couchsurfing.com, the best website on the internet with youtube coming in a close second. In my past travels I've gotten to stay with some pretty awesome hosts in Spain and Portugal, and hosted some cool travellers when I was living in Sevilla. Within ...

... I think as summer goes on i'll go for walks in the evening and talk to people on the street and at a cafe and such, but not tonite i don't think. I don't know anyone yet really. My next door neighbor has a 23 year old daughter, my age, how cool is that? hopefully i'll get to know her. her mom already invited me over na gosti - to go visiting - so i'll take them up on that offer. Dora introduced me to 2 of my neighbors today we saw while we were moving in. She is really a good counterpart

... I wasn't listening. After dinner Kami asked if I have a dog, which I took as my cue to get out my pictures of my dog (kuche,) grandma (baba,) parents, brother (brat) and friends (priyateli.) I also brought as presents a picture book of philadelphia, which went over well, and maple sugar candies from vermont, which they didn't really like as it's sweeter than what they're used to. Hey it's sweeter than most american candy too. After dinner we drove about 5 minutes away to visit with ...