Bulgaria Ski discussion board

arrived at East Midlands two and half hours before flight due to take off, checking in not too bad, but we all have the same idea to get there early to beat the Balkan queue, Balkan at Bristol airport seem to have the monopoly on organisation better than EM, always queues there whenever I go, reckon if I camped out all night I would still not be first in the queue....

into departure lounge for a few Buds, and then to the cafe to pick up a few sachets of mayonnaise to help the sandwich on the plane taste a little less dry.

arrived at Plovdiv no problem there, may be a small aiport but they get you through fast.

off to Pamps, other than a few drunken guys who obviously thought it ok to shout obscenities down the bus and sing over the tour guide telling everyone what to expect at the resort, it was a good transfer.

first time in the Perelik room nice and clean, warm, few people had hot water problems in other hotels and had to be moved but Perelik fine, maids everyday, clean towels, food was lovely, but if you want a nice steak head for BJ's and order the peppered steak

went down to BJ's with my cadbury creame eggs and a few other goodies - where I was met with a great reception from my Bulgarian friends.

few drinks then off to bed. next day met Ivan a ski instructor in the lobby who explained it was the annual Marathon day and about 200 skiers taking part.
low and behold the queue to get the skies at the depot were not there????? had I come to the right place??? got my gear in record time....

met two guys on the bus to the depot who I later realised were the entertainment committee for the week, they suggested I join their group they had arranged to have Velco as their ski instructor and were in an advanced class, that was the best invitation anyone could have had - Velco turned out to be the best ski instructor in my eyes, not only was he a great instrutor but if making people laugh for a living was his job he would be a millionaire - ended up with a group of 13 - but what a group!!!! they were amazing.

so snow!!!! I lost track of what day was what but we had one day of blizzard snow and one day of fluffy snow - ahhhh!! rest of the days spent in sunglasses ski-ing down beautiful snow - def. book early March again, know its not guarenteed but the weather was superb.

If anyone manages to find the two trees I held onto for dear life before I fell in a huge heap - seeing that just beyond the two trees was the biggest drop I was about to fly over I just hugged them to stop - that jump is now officially nick - named "Gills Passage" by the group.

at night Velco met us every night to carry on laughing and making us laugh which was loveley as he lived in Smolyn so he made the effort every day and every night to be with us all.

David one of the brothers had us dancing most days up the mountain to captain Abraham on our skies with all the actions - which was the warm up exercise - we were falling over ourselves laughing - suggest you all have a silly dance on your skies each morning to get you in the mood for a great time.

Went to "Brothers" every day for brandy and hot chocolate,and then various for the lunch, but in my groups opinion the Ranch was the best place to eat in the day, a little small inside but worth waiting for a table to become free.

on the last day when the group had gone home Velco took me down a Black run for the first time - he found it difficult to keep up with me though, I went so fast down it - opps!!! forgot to mention I went down on my back about 50 metres after managing about 4 turns on the skies, I could not see but reckon it would have been funny seeing him shouting "Gill are you ok" and trying to catch me on his skies to stop me - the main thing was I did not lose an ear-ring but the fall was worth it, I got to do the red run after, all the way down, which was amazing. hopefully next year will get the blacks sorted....

the bell ringers were out in force, Velco promised Ludvig - Chicago Bulls the brothers would buy on the last day, so you can imagine how much the brothers were pestered every day - which was sooooo funny to watch....

the presentation evening was in the Pepsi bar, overpriced and very hot but still a good night, one of the bro's won those divine ski's!!!! last seen yesterday morning with them sticking out of his suitcase

Left Pamps yesterday morning where it was a blizzard so no doubt the groups this week will have plenty of snow also.

A great big thanks to all my group for making it the best week ever, we are all planning on going back same time next year and def. having Velco as the instructor.
today he gets a group of irish children who he says will be crazy asking him to go faster and through the woods - so good luck to him!!!

and thanks for a fantastic time this year on this site, had so many good tips from it, well done to the admin guys...

need to book for next year now, can't wait!

x

Well i am a member of that fantastic group!!!!! What a week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I loved every second of it. The group was amazing, so friendly and bursting with fun! I hope the trees are recovering slowly from our visit, i'm sure they are!
I will probably never have a better time, We were so lucky, velko is great fun, the brothers were also a laugh to be with!
Not a dull moment at all! I loved it and i will say it again, our group was amazing and i would not have choosen to be with anyone else!! I mean it.
Going back in january and in march again. Am gonna book about the same time too, it was great, snow beautiful and weather fantastic!
Cracking holiday, xxxxxx I can't wait to go back!

Nice to bump into you last week Gill, your jokes about bum sex really broke the ice my ski group were a cliquey bunch and totally up their own arses, (with the exception of Oz and Emma if you are reading this lol). Never realised how important it was to been in a nice group that support on another until this week really! That said Angel took me from snow ploughs to parallel turns and I got A(III) on my certificate, Anyway, a nice lady we met on the last night called Jenny is going make sure that I ski with nice people next year! All of this was made up for by the presence of ace mate Sam who we met last year, and also Mari and Guy. Also the local godfather who allowed us to gatecrash a private Bulagrian wedding in the Pereliks Bulgarian tavern!
Mourgavets ok, but we didn't think that was worth the extra. Would be quite happy staying at the Prespa, where the staff at least seem to smile! Food was usual Bulgarian hotel fare - plennty of meats and salads, with the odd real treat thrown in e.g stuffed vine leaves. Overall we had a smashing time, with great snow conditions, lots of food and plenty of cheap booze.