Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Right, I was planning to write this sooner but much of the stuff has been mentioned before anyway and the season is coming to a close soon and my opinion is going to be biased.

First off, I did a mid week report and it went down hill from there.  I was so ill with a nasty throat infection that I spent much of my time in my room. The room itself was often too warm, not good when you have a temperature and we had to open the door slightly as the room was very damp, again not good for fevers. Having got back Sunday night and going to the dr, I've found out I have glandular fever so the anti biotics I took in Bulgaria and in the UK were a waste of time. This is the reason for no improvement in my condition.

My illness ruined the hol as I couldn’t eat, drink, go on the mountain or go out much. I couldn’t even drink alcohol or fizzy drinks. Here are my findings:-

The country is great and the resort has plenty to do if you go on the slopes during the day. Outside of skiing there’s not a lot to do during the day, although you could stay in the boozer.

Hotel Perelik – room was nice although damp. Heating was always on, often too warm. Maids cleaned daily. We found the bell boys a nuisance, often over enthusiastic in the hope of getting a tip. We stayed half board and the free food was generally quite nasty and it cost us about £5 to go and eat some decent food elsewhere, often the whitehart pub. The Taverna restaurant is really nice in the Perelik. Morning food was best, you have free tea coffee/milk and a good selection of pastries, corn flakes or hot cold foods. Evenings however you have bread, soup and hot and cold foods which were generally not that nice and you have to pay for tea / coffee and for the milk jug! The waiters were really friendly at the start of the week but this waned over the week and in our case led to me being short changed by 10 Levs, not a lot but this is double what they expect for a weeks tip. This put a downer on our waiter as the same ones stick with you for the whole week. They clear away plates very fast and as soon as you stop eating they are floating by the table ready to pounce. This got very annoying when your partner is still eating. I felt ill everyday so couldn’t eat much at the best of times. The last day was the worst as all 3 of our waiters were lingering about and being so overly friendly as they knew the tour operators recommended tipping on the last day. Because of the overcharging we did not tip (having tipped on previous times anyway before we read the welcome pack). When we emptied our safety deposit box at reception they tried to charge us again for it which pissed me off. She was adamant we had not paid and I refused to pay again and suddenly she saw we had paid. Other people had similar problems.

Short changing in general was a bit of a problem with us in restaurants. They add on charges and charge for more expensive drinks so you really must keep an eye on it.

It seemed a little odd the way anyone could walk into the Hotel from the outside and the way it was all connected. I know of some people in our class going to different hotels to get the free evening meals! In the area they have a great internet shop where it costs 1 Lve for 30 mins. So that’s about 80pence an hour!

Flights – our plane out there was about 100 years old! It worked well though and the journey is quite short. The transfer form the landing strip to Pamporovo was very interesting. It was at about 8pm and throughout the whole journey (we were sat up front behind the driver) we were trying to decide which side of the road Bulgarians drive on. The answer it seemed was both. There were a lot of hairy moments going round sharp bends with a cliff edge on one side and rock face the other and we were on the wrong side of the road! I found it quite entertaining but my gf hated it. The way back was a little less nasty as we went by day so we got to see the towns on route.

Snowboarding – The first day is always going to be a mish mash and a lot of waiting around to get fitted out etc. Our instructor was friendly and helpful. We met some fantastic people in our group but only going to a couple of lessons and not being able to go drinking in the evenings ruined the urther possible fun we could have had. The hire equipment was good and quite new.

I popped into the snowshack with some crème eggs and met Gary (Steve’s bro) and another friendly english chap. I bought some burton mittons which did me proud.

It was quite warm outside, although I did have a temperature most of the time. On the mountain I didn’t need to wear thermals, t shirt jacket and salopettes were enough. I managed an hour on the mountain on Friday and it snowed a lot which was really good. The conditions were perfect although I was not feeling great

I was always amused at the bell sellers at the bottom of the slopes. On the Friday I gave in after one gave me a free bell and bought 4 bells. I was expecting them to be a couple of Levs but somehow I ended up paying 55 Levs!! They were nice new looking bells and I don’t mind giving the kid some cash to be honest.

There were lots of huskies about, we only saw them form the chair lifts though. I found one tied up and it was really friendly when I was stroking it. I took out my cam corder to film it and put my hand out again and the little bugger started nipping me  It was funny but it was a shame I missed filming the other bit. I’d love to have one.

The Dark Side – a couple of things struck me as odd. Firstly going through border control off the plane, the size of the Bulgarians was unreal. They were huge monsters! They would certainly not be messed with. The other thing I noticed a lot was that cars about the resort were generally yellow cabs and old tatty run arounds. Quite often I would see a blacked out BMW or another prestige car at the entrance to a hotel. Upon entering the hotel there were a couple very well dressed stocky men in dark clothing, often with sunglasses on speaking with the hotel staff. One can only assume things from scenes like this having heard about the shifty connections with Bulgaria….

Ladies of the night : Our findings are a bit limited because we werent out later than 10pm  but generally walking about the perelik building there were often groups of women / single women loitering about watching people. Its questionable as to their reasons for being there but I think they were ladies of the night. They caused no problem and this wasn’t an issue.

Despite the worry of getting ill again, I would really like to go back although Id try a weeks snowboarding on my own rather than having lessons as I managed to pick up the basics pretty much over 2 days. I would like to stay in a better hotel, perhaps Pamporovo although it’s a bit away from the nightlife but it looks nicer from the outside. The Sneshanka also looked nice, this is the place where I saw the doctor and the Murgavets looked nice, this is situated next to the Perelik. It would also be nice I think to be situated on the slopes at the Malina village in the huts on the slopes although this I imagine would be bloody cold and miles away from the nightlife.

Oh and one final thing, if you plan to go next year get there before March! We were told by our rep that March is the month of mystery as it may be snowy or it may be sunny. There were a lot of grass patches about!

Soche

You're obviously feeling a little better if you managed to muster the energy to write that mammoth report.

Really sorry to hear you've got glandular fever. I had that when I was 19 and to be honest felt like I was going to die so you did well to get up out of bed. Don't worry that you got ill because you were in Bulgaria. It is in your system ahile before taking hold so you woiuld have gone down with it anyway

Glad to hear you had a good time in general and perhaps 2005 will be the year for you

Ellie

Sarah - was a relief to get home, the week in Bulg was the longest I've ever had. Its weird at the moment. My main sympton is a nasty nasty nasty throat infection which hurts all the time and makes swallowing and eating (and sleeping) very difficult. My food is still mainly soup and blended food. I feel like a baby I've lost about 4kg which isnt too bad but im having mad cravings for proper food and booze. I can't wait to tuck into some nice cold beers and pizza without it feeling like they are ripping my throat apart