POST ROUNDUP: The Bulgaria Trip {Feb. 2014}

That's it. Bulgaria posts are done and you had the opportunity to see my adventure skiing and eating in Bansko, the most popular skiing destination in Bulgaria.

So, here's another edition of Post Roundup, where I compile all my posts from a trip of mine. You can read my Dec 2013 - Jan 2014 PHILIPPINES trip Post Roundup HERE.

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Skiing At Bansko (Bunderishka Polyana and Chalin Valog) - My first time skiing was on Bunderishka Polyana, an easy slope literally next to Banderitza (a hard slope). We also went onto Chalin Valog, another easy slope but is much more fun than Bunderishka. 

Skiing At Bansko (The Ski Road) - The Ski Road is a 6.3 kilometer path made for skiing from just south of Bunderishka, crosses Chalin Valog to the main town of Bansko. Pros of skiing here: very calm and relaxing and you get to enjoy a beautiful scenery. 

EATS: Bansko's Mexana Restaurant - Tender and juicy bacon, a salad with all sorts of yummy goodness, and a crazy man that welcomed us and let my sister and our friend carry bunnies inside the actual restaurant.

EATS: Euphoria Bar & Grill - Valentines Day was celebrated with a risotto of chicken, arugula and buckwheat and a tasting plate of five scoops of ice cream with assorted flavors. 

EATS: Chateau Antique - An interesting looking castle on the outside was a fancy restaurant on the inside. Their tiramisu is a highly recommend!

Chateau Antique's Tiramisu

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EATS: Bansko's Chateau Antique

Our final night in Bansko and unfortunately, my dad was not feeling very well. He decided to stay home with my mom, and let my sister and I to have dinner with our friends. Here's what he missed out:

The exterior of the restaurant was a type of a castle, which interested me immediately. Once entering, it was a rather fancy looking restaurant with a bar and ornate decorations and paintings on the walls. We ate in the fanciest setting I could have imagined; a part of the restaurant which was perfect for a huge round table, set up flawlessly. The only thing missing was the president to step in and join in on our dinner.

Since we had a snack earlier (Tip: Do not buy any street vendor pizza in Bansko. You can pay 2 Lev for bread at the supermarket that has the same taste.), my sister and I chose the lightest appetizer, a small pizza (again?!). It looks like a pizza, but it was garlic bread. 

The garlic bread was not up to par with my expectations. My first slice of the home-baked bread was bitter... and all was revealed when I flipped the bread over: it was burnt. 

I opted for a pasta dish for my main. Above is a ricotta and spinach stuffed ravioli with mushroom and walnut sauce. The pasta didn't have the spinach and ricotta taste, but the sauce made up for it by giving it the body that it needs. I am also a big fan of mushrooms, where it and the cream made a satisfying duo. The walnuts gave it an unusual texture, but did not do much besides that.

The final dinner before we go back to Stockholm concluded with tiramisu. The tiramisu gave this "okay" meal a delightful finish. The ladies fingers were covered with that lovable coffee taste, and the cream tastes very good... I wish there was more lady fingers though. 

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More Satisfying EATS from Bulgaria: 

Euphoria Bar and Grill

Bansko's MEXANA Restaurant

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EATS: Euphoria Bar & Grill - Bansko

It was Valentine's Day when we ate at the Euphoria Bar and Grill at the town of Bansko. It is a restaurant offering a rather large selection of food, ranging from pizzas, pastas, Kid Menu-style and even Chinese food. Euphoria also features a bar and is great if you're a fan of food and watching sport.

My experience here was also filled with a two "firsts". First time tying risotto and first time trying hummus.

This night was kicked off by some salad and homemade hummus. So, this was my first time trying hummus and I knew from that first taste that I wouldn't try hummus again very often in my life. It had much more "depth" when spread with the bread, but it's still... "eh". 

For my main course, I chose the arugula, chicken, quinoa and buckwheat risotto. Again, something to check off the "something I have eaten for the first time" list. However, the risotto disappointed me. Just like the hummus, it was very dry and flavorless. As a Filipino, I can say that the rice wasn't of best quality. Trust me, a majority of my life consisted of eating rice for three meals a day. I KNOW what good rice is, and this risotto was surely not it.

My sister had fries and chicken nuggets from the children's menu, while the adults had a variety of foods from the separate Chinese Options menu.

After a long debate with my mom if we should go order dessert or not (as we bought some ice cream from the supermarket), we saw an option that might suit me and my sister. For dessert, we got a tasting plate of homemade ice cream, one scoop for each of the five presented flavors.

My sister and I tried our best to identify the flavors of the ice creams because the waiter and the menu did not tell us what the flavors were. The first one we tried (on the far left of the plate to the right). After a small nibble, I claimed it was pistachio while my sister thought it was mint. The second one was a bit weird because it tasted very... unusual (Spoiler: We think it's Cookies and Cream). The third one was an obvious chocolate. The fourth one urged another debate between me and my sister: I believed it was rose (I've never had rose ice cream, but I would imagine this would be its taste), she believed it was strawberry. The final one was caramel. 

In summary, our experience here in Euphoria was a bit of a mix of highs and lows, with the lows coming mostly on the food and the highs from the restaurant's amazingly comfy atmosphere. We spent dinner watching the Sochi Olympics' ice hockey battle between Norway and Canada (Canada won..) and talking to some great friends. Our friends seemed to have enjoyed both the food and the company, so maybe I just picked the worst things on the menu. Who knows? The only way I could is to go back and try again *wink*. 

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Skiing At Bansko (The Ski Road)

I mentioned in a blog post that I went skiing at Bansko's Chalin Valog that was a part of a Ski Road. The Ski Road is a 6.3 kilometer long track which leads you from Bansko's Bunderishka Polyana to the Bansko town center, on the first Gondola station.

Skiing on the Ski Road was relatively easy and the views you get are gorgeous. There will be a section of the road where you can see snow covered mountains behind the numerous buildings of the main town of Bansko.

Here's a gallery of all the awesomeness that I have seen:

A view of the Ski Road shortly after its entrance from Bunderishka and Banderitza.

A majority of the road is surrounded by trees on its left and right, as seen in this photo.

Nearing the Bansko town at the end of the Ski Road.

I shall end this post with one of my favorite pictures:

Natural beauty, natural awesomeness.

Hopefully you guys enjoyed the little gallery I've put up. To sum everything up, I think that the Ski-Road was a fabulous addition to our skiing experience in Bulgaria, because I experienced skiing on natural terrain and got to see a lot of natural sights around me. The Ski-Road is another experience I will never forget, and hopefully you can experience skiing on this ski track someday, too!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BANSKO, BULGARIA!

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Skiing at Bansko (Chalin Valog & Bunderishka Polyana)

Bulgaria was so much fun! I learned how to ski within twelve hours of skiing training and lessons. But personally, I also enjoyed the environment, surroundings and breathtaking sights that I have seen throughout our one-week trip.

At the main town of Bansko, you must take the Gondola lift either towards the middle station which you can ski at three slopes, or to the topmost (the main) station which features a difficult slope called the Banderitza and an easy slope, the Bunderishka Polyana, where we went for the majority of the trip and where our skiing lessons were.

I want to take this moment for every person reading to appreciate the beauty of the surroundings of Bunderishka Polyana and Banderitza. So amazing! Here's a view just after the drag lift (of the Bunderishka):

The view on top of Bunderishka Polyana.

The Banderitza (difficult slope) on the left and Bunderishka Polyana  (easy slope) on the right.

Ski lessons went on for four hours per day for three days. Our instructor was very patient with us, and coped up with our successes, failures and falls. Although some of the activities were a bit repetitive, I can say that I learned a lot. Remember to snow plow (putting both skis in an "A" shape) to stop, to parallel (form the skis as two straight lines going at the direction of the slope) and to be perpendicular to the slope while wishing to come up using skis.

Skiing was not that difficult actually. As a teen who has lived a full twelve years in a country which doesn't event experience temperatures lower than 25 degrees Celsius, I thought that skiing was easy to learn, and I surprisingly coped up very well. I can curve and I can avoid people in front of me, so... that's good, right?

Also, a part of the Ski Road (I'll talk more about this in another time) is another easy slope called the Chalin Valog. The Chalin Valog is much more challengeing than the Bunderishka, but it is much more fun. Unfortunately, I only had half a run on this slope, because we had it on the second-to-last day of our trip.

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The Contributors Have Introduced Themselves.

Patricia (The Formal Rulebreaker)

Shriya

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UPDATE: Going To Bulgaria!

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Hello everyone! Time for another update!

(So sorry if there's so much updates...)

So January is finished and here comes our first official international trip for 2014! We're going to Bulgaria from Sunday (the 9th) to next Saturday (the 15th)! We'll be going on a skiing / sledding adventure in a town called Bansko in southwestern Bulgaria. 

We're not sure yet if there will be Wifi there, so don't be alarmed if I don't post anything during the times. Update: There will be Wifi in the apartment where we will be staying, but there will be two scheduled posts before the posts in Bulgaria start, to give me a buffer time. Rest assured that I will be blogging about this, so just stay tuned! Hopefully, I'll make up the time by posting some facts about travelling in European countries, but I have no plan yet.

So, just stay tuned to my blog, and wish us a great trip to Bulgaria. Peace!

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Bansko has an app that lets you check the ski lifts, weather, and even town maps and offers! Check it out here!

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