On the flight from Heathrow to Sofia, I was reading Bai Ganyo, a classic Bulgarian novel from the late 1800s. She asked if I liked it, and I replied that I had just started. She read it in school and didn't like it: "Bulgarians aren't really like that." Bai Ganyo is kind of a loveable rogue with various (mis)adventures in Europe. She was Bulgarian, but went to London for a month 20 years ago and never left. She trained in Bulgaria as a mechanical engineer. Growing up during the Communist era, her family was always suspect because her grandfather was a political prisoner who died under torture in captivity.
After a night in Sofia, we drove to the ski resort town of Borovets, which was much quieter than I thought it would be during summer. The tallest peak in Bulgaria, Mount Musala (1) at 2,925 meters abixe sea level, rises in the Rila mountains above Borovets. There is nothing technical about the climb: just put one foot in front of the other an haul yourself up.
The hike begins was a gondola tide to Yastrabets, leaving about 2,000 vertical feet of climbing. Knowing of my propensity for altitude sickness, I was on a prescription. Having no altitude headache, the first two miles (but only 200 vertical feet) were no problem. After Musala Lake, the real climbing started. After about 300 feet more rise, I had to turn back. Mountain sickness had set in; my breathing was very labored in the thin air, and my leg muscles were screaming from lack of oxygen.
We got some Bulgarian Yogurt (2) with blueberry jam to help restore our energy back at Yastrabets and enjoyed the fine views. Having been defeated by the mountain, we descended back to town in the gondola.
(1) The name is derived from Arabic (via the Ottomans) and means "close to god," or "place for prayer."
(2) Generally known in the US as Greek yogurt, although made with a yogurt culture called lactobacilis bulgaricus.
Trailside flowers
Collected works of Lenin were book decorations in the hotel lobby. The books' spines suggested they had never been opened
Odd sketch of flying a kite near a smokestack at hotel
The gondola ride to Yastrabets
View to Musala. Green patch in middle distance is ski trail
Bulgarian flag colors on the trail marker
Entering the Rila National Park
Musala lake
Above Musala Lake, where I turned around
Bistritsa River flowing from Musala Lake
Rock perched off trail
Bulgarian yogurt with mountain blueberries at Yastrabets teahouse. Just the thing
Views back up the valley
The upper Gondola Station cat helped us eat our ham
Descending on the Gondola
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