The Spell of Bulgaria
During the last few years, hundreds of millions of dollars were invested into Bansko, which is a little town bordering Pirin National Park, about 100 miles south of Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia. The boutique Villa Roka Hotel in Bansko is one of many hotels in the country’s biggest ski resort town.
Bansko is a spell, isn’t the mountain, which is about as big and challenging as a midsize resort in Vermont. And it’s not the snow, which is lavish, powdery and present from December to April. It’s that in Bansko you can ski all day, eat yourself with steaks, drink more beer than anyone ought to and pass out in a fairly nice hotel room — all for about $60 a day.
The attractions in Bansko are honestly small and gathered in the old quarter, where cobbled lanes spread out from ploshtad Vuzrazhdane, the square marked by the statue of Father Paisii, author of the Slav-Bulgarian History, one of the books that inspired ordinary Bulgarians, and helped launch the National Revival.
On the square is also located the Church of Sveta Troitsa. Whilst strolling among the cobbled streets of the old quarter, you will pass timber doors and stone walls pictured with photographs of people, many of them repeated. The notices in fact are of the recently deceased and advertise dates and times when the family will again be gathering in their memory.
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