Last Weekend in Bulgaria

We're leaving. Soon. It's pretty hard to believe. Our two years here are almost up. Classes are through, and I gave my final exam last week. Now all we've got left is a LOT of grading, end-of-year paperwork, packing, moving out, and plenty of goodbyes. We've had some difficult times here, to be sure, but lots of amazing ones as well, and I think a lot of experiences that we'll still be processing for years to come. Next Sunday we're heading out for our month-long European adventurefest, so this was our last full weekend in Bulgaria. Many of our friends went to a big outdoor music festival, but it wasn't really our thing. I wanted to go to the Black Sea for the weekend or do an overnight hike. The reality that we were leaving in a week intruded on these plans, and we settled for one day in the mountains, and one day to get stuff done, which led to a busy weekend.

There's plenty of good hiking nearby on Vitosha (theoretically we could walk from campus, but a 30 minute drive is better), and an hour+ away are great hikes in the Rila mountains. I always like to go to new places though, and there was one major mountain range in Bulgaria that I hadn't hiked in yet: the Pirins. Situated between the ski-resort of Bansko to the north and the little wine village of Melnik to the south, they have Bulgaria's second-highest peak (Vihren at 2914m) and are delightfully rugged due to their glaciated past.  It's a 2.5-3 hour drive down to the Pirin range, which is why I haven't been hiking there yet (well that and the fact that during almost all of the school year there is too much snow for easy hiking). This was my chance.

Driving down after work on Friday, we spent the night in Bansko so we could get a morning start on our hike.  Our decent hotel room including breakfast was only 40 leva (off-season prices)!  Meanwhile our acceptable dinner at a schmaltzy and touristy mehana was 75 leva! Rarely have I paid twice as much for dinner as for lodging in the same town...oh well.
We drove over to the nearby village of Dobrinishte, which has a single ski lift that also provides access to some great hiking. 30 minutes on the lift carried us from deciduous forest at Hizha Gotse Delchev to sub-alpine krumholz and the beautifully situated Hizha Bezbog. Very nice.

Hizha Bezbog, in the Pirin Mountains near Dobrinishte, Bulgaria

We hiked a few hours through excellent mountain landscapes.

Djangal Peak, 2730m, in the Pirin Mountains

I wish we'd had more time. The lift stopped running at 4:30 in the afternoon, which is reasonable in the winter but dumb in the summer when it is light out until well after 9 o'clock. If we missed the last lift, we would  add 2.5 hours of steep (and fairly unattractive)  downhill walking on a ski access road.  The timing of the lift meant we had a farily short outing, but it was still excellent.
At the turnaround point for our hike we decided to go skinny dipping in Big Valyavishko Lake. This is not the coldest water I've swam in, but at 2280 m (~7,500 ft) it wasn't exactly tropical. At least there was no ice floating in it. Luckily it was windy and overcast, and we had nothing to use for a towel. :)

Big Valyavishko Lake, with two islands. Nice.

View East towards Djangal Peak from Big Valyavishko Peak

Swimming in the lake. It was chilly. I swam to the island, just 'cause.

Zoom in of above picture. You can perhaps appreciate from our faces how cold it was.

 
After our dip and air-dry, we realized we had 1:50 to hike back to Hizha Bezbog (and the ski lift) or we'd miss the lift down. It took us 2:30 to cover on the same distance on the way here, and we hadn't exactly been lollygagging.  Unfortunatley, the Hizha was only about 250 ft lower than our lake, meaning we couldn't even enjoy much of "it'll be faster going downhill" speed boost.  Time for a forced march. We hustled up the hills, and cruised on the flats, even running a bit on the downhills until Shannon's feet screamed at her to stop. Neither one of us really thought we could make it. But somehow we did...sweaty and breathing hard but with 10 minutes to spare. Woot!

The rest of the day was uneventful...30 minutes down on the lift, 20 minutes driving down on a windy mountain road, then 3 hours drive home, mostly on neglected and pot-hole ridden Bulgarian "highways." Note to folks living in BG: Google Maps will suggest that it is faster to go to Bansko via Velingrad (instead of Blagoevgrad). Don't believe Google. I didn't really, but I was curious to see the other route. The Velingrad route is about 30 minutes slower but much more taxing driving. The roads are in much worse condition and a lot windier. On the plus side, the Velingrad route has little traffic and is quite scenic, especially in the gorge between Velingrad and Septemvri. The portion west of Velingrad was interesting also, as it seemed like an area of Bulgaria that time forgot, with (I think) Pomak villages (mosques and all) old hunched over ladies in kerchiefs working the tobacco fields, and old men wasting away the day on a bench in town. Interesting byway, to be sure.

Today we had a productive day. I got up early (for a Sunday) and did laundry. Then we went downtown and did some shopping. We wanted to pick up some last minute Bulgarian souveniers. We went back to the Ladies Market, which had been the seen of some very frustrating cultural faux pas and/or "neither of us speak the other's language" miscommunications when we first went there in October of 2009. Now we understand the culture better, and our Bulgarian is as good as it will ever be. For no particular reason, we ended up at the shop of the same woman that refused to sell to us 2 years ago, after we offended her in some way. We were more careful this time. We bought pottery from her. We also bought pottery from her neighbors, but we were sure to wait until we completed one sale before we started another, lest it appear that we were trying to play one saleslady off another.
Then we headed over the gift shop of the Bulgarian Ethnographic Museum, where we bought some more pottery (more expensive, but we like some of their styles better). We also bought all kinds of other Bulgarian trinkets that suddenly seem important now that we're leaving. Last item on our souvenir agenda: art. Mike and Kate have lots of paintings from a local artist, and we've admired their work for 2 years. Yet whenever we saw the art sellers by Nevsky Cathedral, we never saw anything we liked. We were determined today. Past the booths selling old Bulgarian war medals and Russian/Bulgarian nesting dolls, we found the painting stalls. We eventually found Stoyan, dealer of some nicer work, including our favored artist, Rusalina Mihailova. We didn't find the exact thing we were looking for (a landscape of a cute Bulgarian village that we had visited...all of her works on sale today were of places we hadn't been), but we were both taken by a nice oil painting (framed and on canvas for only 50 leva) of some rowboats, so we have some art now. 

Sunny summer day in downtown Sofia.

The souvenir vendors near Nevsky Cathedral (the gold domes of the Cathedral are in the background).

Enough shopping...time to get to work. [Well, after a burrito (shannon) and duner (Jeff).] We found ourselves a table at an outdoor cafe in the park near the National Theater "Ivan Vazov" and I busted out all my final exams. Shannon graded multiple choice questions (THANKS SHANNON!) while I worked on the short answer. After a while a classical music quartet set up and played an hour-long concert at a summer festival stage right next to our cafe. It was about as pleasant a day as you can have while grading final exams.

The National Theater from our cafe.

Shannon, wielding her red grading pen.

Fountain in the park.

 It was a little less fun when the second act turned out to clowns. Seriously. Clowns aren't any less creepy when they're speaking in a language you don't really understand. Eventually the clowns drove us away, off to another favorite place, Pizzaria Ugo, where we graded and ate pizza and salad.
Hiking, shopping, grading, and even some laundry. It was a good, productive weekend.

We topped it off with yet another item that I really wish I had a picture of. We were waiting to turn left from the Billa corner onto Malinov (a very busy intersection), waiting next to the meager excuse for a carnival that was currently occupying the vacant lot formerly covered by the Balkanski Circus. As I got ready to turn, I saw a horse headed my way. Half-starved horses are not so rare in Sofia, but usually they're pulling a horse cart. This horse was was running free, running fast, and running at me. It came from across Malinov, near the Shell station, from the lane of on-coming traffic. It careened around idling cars, then bolted across Malinov, heading straight for us. I quickly dug for my camera, but only managed to capture this shot. Notice the blurry leg moving out of the frame to the left. I don't think I've ever almost been run down by a stray horse before while sitting in my car at a major urban intersection.

There's a lot going on here. Foreground: crappy carnival. Background: Vitosha mountain. Far left: A HORSE running down the street.

WikiLeaks hits Bulgaria

Wikileaks hits Bulgaria...
In this rather unflattering description of Sofia, written by a US Embassy staffer in April 2009, the author talks about the terrible streets, wild dogs, and organized crime.There are many nice things about this city and this country, but unfortunately, all of this is true as well (at least the trash strike ended before we got here...we saw one in Naples, Italy in 2008 and man was that awful). I particularly liked this line:

Drab, decrepit soviet style blocks rise up, in
stark juxtaposition to the Porsche dealership. Crumbling
streets with unevenly patched pavement, potholes that can
pass for tank traps, and sidewalks crammed with parked cars
are routine. Basic infrastructure is mediocre to poor.

 Read the whole article for a full view.  I honestly think things are getting better here, but it's really touch and go. The new Metro system opened a few months after this diplomatic cable was written (construction started in the 1980s, then was abandoned for 20 years), and is still quite shiny. It's great, and will be even better when they open the 2nd line and 1st line extensions that are currently under construction.  Streets are being paved in preparation for this fall's elections (apparently every 5 years the roads get better in preparation for elections, trying to convince voters that their MP is not so bad, even if the rest are bums).  The new expressway around the city (the "Ring Road" or околоврустен пут) is great in the sections where it is completed, and they've gone from 0 to almost-done in less than a year on the sections near the new IKEA (also going up in record time). The juxtaposition of old and new, flashy and trashy, are really quite overwhelming here. We had a lovely dinner last night with some Bulgarian colleagues in their very nice apartment, in a new building completely surrounded by drab, falling-down soviet-era apartment blocks. It turns out we didn't really need a map or directions to her place at all - her instructions of "go to Fantastico and it's the only new building in the neighborhood" were patently clear. I'd like to buy the whole country a few thousand gallons of paint. It would go a long way just to give everything  a decent paint job (something they've tried with some success in Tirana, Albania, actually). So anyway, read the unofficial "official" bad word on Sofia from WikiLeaks. I don't mind saying such things, as I'll soon be posting an album full of beautiful shots of Bulgaria taken on various ACS hiking club outings, which will even out the bad press, I hope.

5 perfect days in Thassos

Apparently some evangelical Christian pastor in the US did some heavy calculating and determined that the end was nigh, in fact, Saturday the 21st of May. Well-behaved Believers would be "raptured" bodily to heaven, while the rest of us would wait for our miserable end. We counted down the hours until showtime, but didn't see anyone ascending to heaven (we had even spent quite a while discussing who among us was most/least likely to be raptured...Hanna didn't have much confidence in my chances!). Although the rapture was apparently a bust, we spent a long weekend in what already seemed like paradise, so it was pretty hard to tell.  The paradise that would have to do for us un-raptured was Thassos Island, Greece.

Thassos Island is known as the "Emerald Island" of the Aegean. It is one of the largest and most forested of the Greek islands. It is far from the cruise ship circuit, and a bit off the beaten path of heavy tourism that fall upon other more famous isles like Santorini.  It is about 6 hour drive south of Sofia, then a short 45 minute ferry ride. Several of our friends have gone before, and all loved it. Shannon was skeptical that I would enjoy going to an island for 5 days -- would I get bored?  No, I wouldn't. It was wonderful. Or, as Shannon says "The most perfect amazing excellent vacation ever!"

The lovely bay that forms the 3km long beach of Skala Potamia and Golden Beach on Thassos. The high point of the island, Mt. Ipsario (1206m) is in the background.

This is the off season in Thassos. Many of the shops/restaurants are still shuttered up for the winter. It's a shame, because the weather was absolutely fabulous. It was about 80 F and sunny every day, with a breeze to keep it from getting too hot. The sea was pretty chilly still (I'm sure the swimming is better in July), but we still got in the water every day, and one day played at the beach all day, alternating from the beach chairs to frisbee in knee-deep water to playing catch/keep-away a little deeper. The beaches were very clean, and the water just sparkled.

20+ teachers (plus some family members, former teachers, and a boyfriend) caravanned down to Thassos, staying in a variety of nearby villas and hotel rooms. It was great. 9 of us shared my villa, about a 10 minute walk from the middle of a 3 km long beach (Skala Potamia and Golden Beach). Thassos is famous for its marble. Several colors are quarried there (including the "second whitest in the world"), and have been for millenia. Somewhat ridiculously, this leads to marble being so commonplace that the street curbs in the main town are main of marble, and crushed marble is even used as gravel on the dirt roads. Yup, gravel roads paved with sparkling white marble. The rocks of the island also made for enchanting sparkling sand (it looked like flecks of gold in the water) and excellent rock-hunting. Carolyn in particular found herself quite a rock collection.

Beachside cafe, with white crushed marble below the chairs.

I took runs along the beach, among the olive groves, up to a little village, and scrambled to a secret cove. One day we circumnavigated the island in our trusty red VW "хаиде". The 60 mile loop showed us different sides of the island, and we stopped at several beaches to sample their different flavors. One memorable spot was fairly unmarked but obviously no secret...we were never there alone. It involved turning down an unmarked dirt lane, driving 10 minutes down a gnarly dirt road, then hiking 10 minutes steeply down to the marble cliffs at the sea. A prehistoric marble quarry had left a hole next to the ocean that filled up with incoming waves. It was hypersaline because of evaporation (check out how well Pei Pei, Jess, and Carolyn are floating in there). The hole was so clear it was deceptive how deep it was...it looked only 3-4 feet deep, but I never touched bottom, even when jumping off a smallish cliff (I never felt brave/foolish enough to jump off the top cliff, but Jamie and Rich did last year after he proposed, apparently!)..

Jess jumping into the quarry hole.

Jess, Pei Pei, and Carolyn in the quarry hole.

The refraction does funny things to their body size. That and the high salinity that makes them float really well make for silly pictures.

Another day Shannon, Martyn and I did a 6 hour round trip hike to the very top of the island, 1206m high Ipsario Peak. It was quite a stunning hike, with huge cliffs, ancient trees, views to the beach, the mainland beyond, and even the not-so-close island of Samothraki. There was so much contrast on the island, with a great beach, a stellar hike, history (we kept driving by and sadly never stopping at any of the many Ancient Greek archaeological ruins...I've heard they're pretty good though).

Martyn and Shannon climbing up to the summit of Ipsario peak. The ferns above treeline made is super green.

The beach viewed from the summit. We of course went swimming after the 6 hour hike.

Jeff and big big very old and gnarly tree.

We all got plenty of sun, sea, relaxation, and good food. Our two-day work-week after Thassos was HARD -- everyone just had such a great vacation, and it fully felt like summer. At the time, we still had a full 5 weeks of the school year left! Still, I have to thank the monks Kiril and Methodious, who brought Christianity and literacy to Bulgaria 1200+ years ago, as our long weekend was in honor of their efforts. Thanks K! Thanks M!

In summary, Thassos is freakin' awesome. Beautiful beaches. Great hiking, ancient ruins, etc etc. We had no crowds, though I'm sure that's a different story come July and August.  Either way, highly recommended.

Click below for a Flick slideshow with some additional pictures.



P.S. Bulgaria finished a new piece of freeway a few months ago, that allows the main Serbia-Greece highway to bypass Sofia with a proper 4-lane limited access divided highway (called the "Lyulin" highway). This 17 km section is lovely, but I never expected to take it, as it doesn't go anywhere I want to go...just for bypassing the city if you're on a through route. NOTE: If you're heading north from Greece, and trying to get to Sofia, near the town of Pernik you'll come to an exit. It will tell you to exit for Pernik, and stay straight for Sofia. If you follow the signs for Sofia, you'll zip right over the "old road" between Pernik and Sofia, that cuts between Lyulin and Vitosha mountain. The old road is congested, windy, and in bad condition,  but is also goes to Sofia. The new road is shiny, empty, well-paved...a generally excellent road. Well, excellent unless you're trying to go to Sofia. The new road will eventually connect to the city center from the west, which is quite a bit out of the way for us in Mladost, over on the southeast. I said eventually, as you currently can't get to Sofia at all from this road. That's right. If you follow the signs for Pernik, you can get to Sofia via the old road. If you follow the signs for Sofia,  you can't get to Sofia.  Nice highway, Bulgaria, but you need to maybe work on your signage, maybe just temporarily cover up some stuff until you finish the rest of the road.  On the other hand, I suppose it's not so much worse than the 710 freeway in California, that heads from Long Beach to Pasadena. At least it's supposed to. It stops several miles short of Pasadena, leaving you in a surface street traffic nightmare, and it's been this way for decades, so if you're trying to go to Pasadena, it's best to NOT take the road labeled to Pasadena. Tricky.