Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Sorry for the horribly late posting guys but suffered a bereavement while on holiday and its all been a bit of a rush getting back and funeral etc. Anyway, here goes.

Arrived at the resort from Belfast around 7pm on the Saturday night, excellent timings from Balkan Tours, stayed at the Snezhanka which was, as always, welcoming, clean and warm with a welcoming meal waiting for our arrival. Had a brilliant first week, we skied for two days with Ditcho and then the remainder of the week on our own which was fab. Even managed to do the red run that ends down at the start of the three man lift and the black no. 2. A little bit icy in patches but nothing to worry about. The end of the first week saw some snow, which was much appreciated. It was bitterly cold mid 1st first, with temperatures plummeting to -26 at the top, include the wind chill factor and we were looking at -38! It was freezing and we weren’t properly attired which ruined the day for me. From then on I was properly clothed in thermals and several layers and had no problems thereafter. The second week was absolutely perfect. It snowed everyday bar the Thursday, which was sunshine and blue skies and we had 13 newbies arrive on the second Saturday. By Monday lunch at the lodge, they were all coming back next year and have subsequently booked since they’ve got home along with four new, new recruits! They all fell totally smack bang in love with Pamporovo and its people and had achieved more at the end of the first day than they thought they’d do by the end of the week. Nikki, Bobski and Sarah all skied down from top to bottom on the green on their own on the last day and couldn’t believe their achievement! Some of the fella’s did bits of blues and reds and were delighted with their progress. All did the bunji, including me – again! I had a bad fall on the 2nd Wednesday (too fast and too overconfident, poles, skiis, glasses, gloves, hat etc all strewn within a 20ft radius) so my bottle rather went a little bit after that. We had aspirations of doing half the wall on the last day but perhaps next year. Great leveller for me mind. As usual food up the mountain was great, Spiders being our preferred choice. George made us very welcome and as there was always around 12-15 of us, always reserved us a table either in or out, depending on weather conditions. One bit of advice for big groups – when eating out, if you’re not equally split or don’t mind splitting the bill evenly, get your own bill. We had a little bit of a downer at the top restaurant Mourgavets – overcharged by 70 lev! There were 13 of us and everybody had left their contribution but it came in short. We stumped up the balance but vowed not to eat their again without splitting the bill. Lesson learned – no big deal. Bell sellers as usual a pain in the butt – but hey they’ve to make a living too! I found if you just said no without getting into a conversation, they didn’t continue to pester you. My house is coming down with cheap bell, cheap bell from my first time visit to Bulgaria some 6 years ago, so I’ve done my bit!! All in all, weather perfect on the second week, we’ve never had it so good and found our skiing came on leaps and bounds because of the perfect conditions. Great company and as usual, great people in the resort. Thanks to Svetla and Geri at Markonys’ – always so helpful and ready to serve up a piping hot red wine or chocolate brandy and special thanks to Christina at the Snezhanka – who made us laugh madly all the time. Daks was perfectly suited for a late one and the music’s great. Also tried out the White Heart for lunch – great food and hospitality as well as BJ’s for another few late ones. All in all – another brilliant Bulgarian holiday in Pamporovo – never again will be only do one week, we’ve booked up for 2 weeks, 5th Feb 2005 with our newbies coming out on 12th for another week.
On tipping, leave a little extra for the cleaners if they've done a good job, we had clean towels and the room tidied every day without fail. A few quid to us can be several days wages to the staff at the hotels and restaurants, so don't be mean, if they've been good to you - repay the favour!
Flight home was a little bit tiring, 3am departure from the hotel, but what the heck it was the last night so we stayed up and partied until the coach came. Did wonders for the trip home, slept on the coach all the way and then on the plane. We were home before we knew it.

Could go on for ever, but will have to start the count down all over again now for next year – 350 sleeps to go!

Speak soon folks

Rie & Sandy

Hey Pete - sorry we can't come over for the posters night, its just a bit too far, flights etc. We'll be there in spirit though, so have a few for us and say Hi to the crew! Andy it was great to catch you guys, if only for a few mo's
Tequila and Bobski - can't wait for next year, although we'll see you throughout the summer no doubt - anyone fancy Sunny Beach!! Judith, I see you're going out on 5th Feb next year, so no doubt we'll catch you then!

So deeply depressed its unbelievable - oh for another fortnight or several in Pamps. Trying to sneak in a chocolate brandy at 11am in the office just doesn't have that same appeal!!!! Mind you, I could probably wangle a hot wine in the microwave and pass it off as hot ribena - only for medicinal purposes you know!

Speak to you later guys.

Reebee
xoxoxox

As we fly from Belfast its always so much more expensive than England. Usually one week is around the £450 mark each flights, hb accommodation. That includes our lift passes also at about £45 a go. We sort our gear out when we arrive. We paid just over £1400 for the two weeks but bear in mind its only the hotel hb and lift passes that need to double up, the flights are still only one each way. There's no way it should work out at double. We've thought about flying to the mainland and booking directly from there but its too much hassle to get connecting transfers and/or accommodation at the airport when we can fly direct from Belfast for around the same. We always find it difficult to book two weeks because of the flight arrangements, there is only one flight a week out from Belfast and sometimes it causes problems. Luckily we are "in the know" with the manager of the tour operators, so we're usually able to pull it off - have managed it for next year anyway. I would definately recommend two weeks, one is just not enough plus you get the bonus of partying your head of on everyone's last night knowing its not yours for another week!!! Excellent!!!

Good luck!

Rie