I had a week in Bulgaria recently - what a country of contrasts! The ski resort of Bansko, where we were based, has seen a lot of development over the last decade, but all that has ground to a halt now and apartment blocks stand unfinished and goats were grazing the vacant plots outside our apartment. The town has a lovely old centre, and there is still a really strong tradition of self-sufficiency with town gardens growing nearly 100% fruit and veg, and old folks taking their one cow to graze the road verges. Outside the town you still see haymaking by hand, raking the hay and stacking it into tall ricks. Horses and carts are frequent, and at this time of year everyone is getting their firewood delivered, chopping it up and making huge beautifully constructed logpiles ready for the winter. You can buy excellent locally grown fruit and veg for next to nothing, and all the restaurants serve fresh salads and grilled veg alongside the barbequed meat.
We went there for the mountain walking and weren't disappointed. Early July is a good time for alpine meadow flowers - Geum, Geranium, Alchemilla, Campanula - and as you gain altitude (Bansko is at 1000m and the Pirin mountains nearby go up to 2500+) you move through different ecological zones. We got up to the snowline and found crocuses flowering on ground which must only have been free of snow for a couple of days. It was lovely to see so many of the plants which I know from garden use, growing in their natural habitat. Unfortunately I didn't take many flower pictures as I was having a hard enough time keeping up with the OH as it was!
Another thing that struck me was how much more public people's lives are - in this country we are used to shutting ourselves away in our houses or our private gardens when we get home from work, but in Bansko many houses had benches outside on the street where the old people would watch the world go by, or sit and chat, and the streets were full of people taking a stroll with their kids, nibbling on sunflower seeds as they went and greeting each other. Even activities like bike mending or firewood chopping all seemed to happen on the streets, and it made me think about what we have lost with our 'englishman's home is his castle' mentality.
The walking was great and I'd recommend Bansko as a destination for anyone who enjoys mountains and nature, and wanting to try something a bit different. Being outside the eurozone is an advantage as well! (In case anyone's interested, here are details of the apartment we stayed in www.brilliantbansko.com). Sounds like the mountain biking is excellent as well, though we didn't get round to trying it.
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