Bulgaria Ski discussion board

I was in the group on the other table in the "room of death!" Here's my version of the holiday that we experienced during our time in Borovets... (sorry, I tried to be brief, but I wanted to create a good picture!!)

We were a group of 8 (5 blokes and 3 girls, all in our early twenties). 5 of us were complete beginners and opted for the learn to ski pack. We booked our holiday on the internet through Inghams. We were looking for a cheap and cheerful ski resort that was ideal for beginners and had a lively nightlife. We all agreed that Borovets fitted the bill and opted for the Iglika Hotel - half board. We arrived on Saturday evening, just in time for our evening meal at the hotel. We all agreed that the food wasn't 5*, but for what we had paid, we were happy that we would not starve for the next week! There was a buffet with a salad section, usually a choice of some sort of chicken dish/ a meat dish/ something fishy and generally two options of potato/ rice etc. There was always bread/ rolls and butter available and food was regulary changed/ topped up. There were also various funny looking cakes for desert! We couldn't quite believe how cheap the drinks were ( which you paid for separately) and thought that if they were this cheap at the hotel, what would the rest of the resort be like! We only went for a few drinks around the resort that night and it was as cheap as we had hoped! We were paying roughly 2 lev per drink (the blokes were on beer and us girls vodka and coke/ lemonade etc).

On our first morning, we had our breakfast at the Iglika (buffet style - choice of continental - salami, meats and cheese or cooked "English" breakfast plus bread and butter/ a toaster and orange juice plus tea and coffee - again no complaints from our group!) we were all excited and all wrapped up in our jumpers/ fleeces/ hats/ scarves etc ready for our first day on the slopes. We headed towards the ski depot in the Rila Hotel to collect our equipment. It was extremely busy, very hot and the staff were very rude and abrubt! Once we had discovered how to put our boots on, we then had the mission of trying to walk in them!!! Up a few stairs (which was difficult!) and out of the Rila, we were greeted by a lot of instructors in red jackets gathering together their groups to teach. We were greeted by Steffan and we struggled to follow him up small icy slope towards the nursery slope where the beginners are taught, juggling our skis and poles as we went! We all introduced ourselves and as there were 5 of us, we were put with a group of 6 others (3 couples - similar ages to ourselves) who were staying at the Rila, to make up our group for the week. We were in touch with the other 3 in our group (who had all gone off to snowboard) via walkie talkie (good idea Kate!), so they would regularly join us for lunch or to laugh at us and take photos!! Our first day consisted of practising basic moves on the nursery slopes. The temperature board on the Rila read 12 degrees, so we had to remove quite a few layers of clothing before we even began!! We were quickly introduced to a Bulgarian skiing "tradition" - they do not have drinks in bars, they go to churches to have medicine! So within an hour of starting our ski lesson (about 11 o clock), we were sat outside at a church drinking hot chocolate and rum! We would stop at 2ish for lunch - to a restaurant that Steffan would choose, then about an hour and a half later, we would do a final afternoon of skiing and all head to a "church" (chosen by Steffan) for more medicine (hot chocolate with Baileys!) This was then a typical day for us in Borovets and we were a little dubious about whether the "medicine" really helped our aching muscles or whether it just helped Steffan's bank balance as he was obviously on comission! However, a few of us didn't have our medicine one morning (to the horror of Steffan!), and we did feel our legs were more wobbly than normal! We then decided that the medicine was working and headed to the supermarket to buy some cheap flavoured schnapps so we could fill a hip flask (well done again Kate!) and swig when we started to tire or ache!

Sunday night - after our first day on the slopes, we ate in the hotel and headed to a couple of bars, we then decided that we were all pretty tired, so would head back to the Iglika for another drink and then have an early night. On our way back, it was snowing quite heavily, so we had a snowball fight! What fun! We got back to the hotel and decided to sit in the "funny room with the strange chairs!" and sat opposite another group. As we were deciding what drinks to have and discussing how it looked like the "room of death" (said moments before the crash, bang, wallop), the lights went out and we heard a huge rumbling sound (I can only describe it as an engine of an aeroplane about to take off right next to us) followed by a loud bang. I had my back to the rest of the room and the others who were all facing the middle of the room suddenly screamed and leapt out of their seats, looking like they were going to grab me and pull me over the table! I felt a lot of cold down my back and turned to see what looked like shafts of glass on my back! I looked up to see some antlers swaying dangerously above my head , then about half a metre further, the sky and snow! We all then stood there like startled rabbits caught in the headlights of a car, until one of our group shouted "get the f**k out of here! Shame we needed to be told this fact! With that, we and the other group ran out and looked back to see the middle of the room in chaos, with snow and ice, wood and dust everywhere. A large wagon wheel that had obviously been suspended from the ceiling was rolling around the floor, we looked back in horror and to our amazement, a whole section of the roof had caved in! Some people were taking photos (as you do in a near death situation like this!) and staff were hurridly trying to stop people, rather than see if everyone was alright and unhurt! I spotted one member of staff holding my coat up as I had left it in the room (so they had obviously checked to see if everyone was out!) She passed it to me and hurridly walked away, not wanting to speak to us! We then went to order our drinks as we were all quite shaken, and sat in the other bar area, looking at the ceiling wondering if the whole hotel was unsafe, as we didn't know what had caused it! As Nic mentioned, all the staff did was pin a curtain over the door and do their best to cover up what had happened. Our room overlooked the roof and once back in our room, we could see a man (a staff member or manager, I presume) walking around on the roof to see if the rest was stable!! I could not sleep at all well that night and was still shaking in the morning! We headed to the Rila in the morning to inform our reps of the nights events and their first reaction was to ask if anyone was hurt and their second was to laugh! The man got on his phone and the lady did not do a thing apart from say they would get back to us (which they didn't) Upon speaking to some other people, we realised that it was (hopefully) a one off and a block of ice had dislodged from the sloping roof of the Iglika above and slid down straight through the flat roof of this room (also next to the restaurant area) below. By the end of the week, the roof was fixed - a few planks of wood over the area that had given way and ta - dar, a brand new, safe roof! ( But for how long...)

I absolutely hated the skiing at the beginning of the week and lost count of the times I wished I was somewhere else, preferably with a pool, a sunbed and a cocktail! I liked the resort, the hotel, even the cold (as it was not half as cold as I had expected and the sun shone every day!) It was purely learning to ski that I was not enjoying! (the point of the holiday, I know!) I had trouble getting the hang of basic and important moves such as stopping!! (All my friends and family were suprised when I announced I was going skiing as I hate the cold, love the hot weather, hate sport and love my home comforts, but I went with an open mind!) I hated the feel of the boots, carrying the skis, the pushy-ness of Steffan (he also arranged 3 nights out for us all at local restaurants even though we insisted we did not want to go as we were half board - he booked a table and told us the time anyway, so we felt we had to go! He told us this was a holiday for him too as he is a computer techinician in Sofia full time, but teaches skiing in Borovets for 3 weeks in his holidays, so we did feel a little guilty if we didn't go!) The other 6 in our group were staying at the Rila and their food was awful, so they were asking Steffan for recommendations of where to go - they told us that everywhere he had told them about was fantastic, so they were happy to go on his nights that he arranged!) I also felt that everyone in the group was picking everything up so quickly compared to me and I didn't want to keep them behind. They all did go on a couple of red runs, which I sat out, but by the end of the week, I had really started to enjoy the skiing and even managed a 6 mile green run on our last day! (I had managed to get the hang of stopping by then!) This was most certainly because of the help and support of Steffan along with the rest of the group who all went out of their way to help and encourage me (and were extremely patient!) By the end of the week, Steffan told us that out of 40 beginners classes each with about 10 people, only 10 were left! This showed in the ski depot when we collected and took back our equipment as by Tuesday (day 3), it was looking quite empty of people and the staff were becoming more friendly (and the tip box was being dusted off...!)

We had read and heard when we were there that a lot of ski instructors were next to useless and not at all helping their students to learn to ski! I think we were lucky to have an instructor that did want us to learn to ski! On the first couple of days, I was near to giving up, but Steffan was determined that I was not giving up and now I am glad that he pushed me, even giving me a few one to one lessons at the end of the day so I could practice when the slopes were less busy!

Overall, I think Borovets and the Iglika (apart from the roof!) is value for money if you are looking for a cheap skiing holiday with a small and reasonable selection of bars and restaurants and do not have high expectations. You have to remember that Bulgaria is still a relatively poor country, therefore, we are seen as "rich". The Bulgarians we encountered seemed fairly friendly, but, I feel, only because they want your money! I would go back (however, I personally would prefer to try a new resort, but that applies to any holiday). In my first week back at work, I actually wished that I was back on the slopes! We have kept in touch with the other 6 in our group and they had just a good a time as we did!