Day 12 (April 13) Sofia-Rila-Bansko-Razlog

Adventure Day!

Today was the big day where the action really began, as we took to the Bulgarian roads!

The day started somewhat awkwardly though, as we got a wake-up phone call from the Hostel at 9ish saying that the car rental lady was waiting for us there! We had misunderstood, and assumed that we had to organise picking up the car from the agency (which we were obviously going to leave until we'd had adequate sleep!), rather than them delivering to our hostel.

Never mind... we dashed out of bed, threw some clothes on and walked the 5 mins down the street to the hostel. Here we met the representative from 'Carrent,' and filled out the paperwork. She then took us out to the car and, explaining that the car was only parked legally for the next 20 mins, she showed us how to buy a ticket. This involves finding a little sunken kiosk on the other side of the road, asking for a ticket, and then filling out the details relevant to your car/time/date and displaying it on the windscreen. We were still a bit dazed through this whole process, and basically just hoped that we wouldn't need to buy a ticket from a Bulgarian kiosk for the rest of our trip, as neither of us really followed what to do!

With the car waiting for us, and legally parked for an hour or so, we headed back into the hostel to have breakfast. At this point, our friend Om appeared and asked if he might join us on our drive to the Rila Monastery, as we had mentioned our plans over cold spaghetti the evening before. His was keen to check out the monastery (about 2 hours drive from Sofia) and then catch the bus back to Sofia. Of course we said he was welcome to come, and that we would collect him from the hostel in about an hour.
We then had breakfast, went back to the apartment to shower and pack, and brought our bags back to the hostel where we loaded up the car and collected Om.

The drive was pleasant. A slightly scary induction do Bulgarian driving upon first pulling out of the kerb and entering one of the least organised roundabouts I have ever come across! But other than that, just a pretty drive through the countryside, aided of course by the lady inside the GPS machine, with whom we would come to share many memories, good and bad.

Passing through a small village

We arrived at the Monastery a couple of hours later, and it really was spectacular. Such a beautiful and serene setting in the mountains with snow-capped peaks in the background. We had a wander around, went inside the church and walked around the back along a path through the forest.

Rila Monastery

Us with our friend Om!

After an hour of wandering, Emma and I were hungry for lunch. Om was going to explore for another 20 mins and then catch the bus back, so we exchanged email addresses and bid him farewell.

We then found a little cafe out the back of the monastery with a lovely view of the hills, and had another amazing salad and also DELICIOUS Bulgarian hot chips with feta grated on top. Mmmmm.
We used this time to decide what we were going to do for the evening, as we had a few options. Our vague plan was to stay in the monastery, which we thought sounded like it could be an interesting experience, but when we enquired we found out that it was fairly expensive - almost as much as a hotel, and with only very basic facilities. We also assumed that we would probably be put in a single room each, as the rooms were designed for the monks that live there.
After a bit of discussion, we decided that seeing as we both still had a bit of energy left and there wasn't a lot to do here, that we would kick on and head towards our next destination, Plovdiv. This way we gain an extra day to spend later in the trip, or else find somewhere nice to stay along the way.
So we got back in the car and set course for Plovdiv, opting for a route through the mountains and the well-known ski resort area of Bansko.
The GPS had us arriving in Plovdiv around 8pm, but by 5 I was getting pretty tired and had had enough of driving. We decided that we would try to find somewhere to stay in Bansko, which is a popular ski village, but out of the ski season. We arrived, and found the gorgeous village at the base of the mountain, full of log cabins, ski rental shops etc, but all extremely quiet and very few people around!

Bansko

After finding some unsecured wifi to scab, we opened up TripAdvisor (oh, TripAdvisor), and noted down a couple of hotels with good reviews. We then went to investigate - One was closed until June,  the other was really cute, owned by a Bulgarian woman who was very surprised to see us, and put Emma on to her English speaking daughter to discuss details. Emma then went and had a look inside, and came back with the report that it was nice, but that there were absolutely no other guests staying there, which left it completely void of atmosphere. Back to Trip Advisor...
Next on the list was 'Radenska Palace," a resort-type place with reviews mentioning a lovely spa, pool and massages. Suddenly this town was sounding a lot better! We called, and they were open and had a room available for only 25 euros! So off we went. Radenska Palace was actually in the town of Razlog, a smaller village about 5 mins drive from Bansko.
The place was great! A totally unexpected and unplanned indulgence (but not price wise!).
We had a swim in the pool, a spa and a sauna, then went and ate dinner in the tavern which was absolutely perfect (complete with open fire). We went back to our room feeling completely relaxed and satisfied, and lay down and watched a movie. To complete the picture, at the end of the movie we looked out the window and it was snowing outside!! An amazing day.

Snow outside our hotel room!