Bansko (and not Moscow)

Going to Bansko was a recommendation from Mélusine after Rila, which was a good one, even though the night on the train from Burgas to Bansko was chaotic, even though I got my stay cancelled twice by two different Airbnb hosts, and even though the only hike I did was not worth it (23 km to see mostly pine trees…).

I visited the old town and city center on the first morning. Bansko is one of the most beautiful cities I have visited in Bulgaria so far, even more than Plovdiv. Plovdiv’s old town is quite nice, but the rest is just a regular city, whereas Bansko is literally a mountain city and ski resort (maybe that’s why I loved it more). The mix between old and new was lovely, and the city is filled with cuddly cats.

This last detail is really important because Bulgaria has a lot of stray cats and dogs everywhere, but most of them are scared of us (they’ve probably been chased too much). But the ones in Bansko are so friendly. Once, I got out of a grocery store and tried to call a cat (which is what I was trying to do most of the time whenever I saw one). And he actually came to me! He was a young one. I sat down and he immediately tried to get on my lap. He was not in the best shape, but he had water, and a lady came later to feed him (which was so kind of her).

This happened to me twice more in Bansko. The last one even tried to get into my handbag to sleep (I kind of understand, with the sweater inside it seemed cosy). I would have let him if I didn’t have to catch the train to leave.

The journey back was atrociously long, with a lot of unexpected events happening, and mostly bad ones. I’ll avoid most of the details, even just for myself, but the first train I took (the little one going from Bansko to Septemvri) actually derailed on the way. We were stuck on the train for about 2 hours, and I missed all of my connecting trains afterwards. But somehow, I took it quite easily and saw the whole situation in a funny way. I would have never imagined this kind of thing could happen to me.

Zoé

P.S.: The title comes from an inside joke that started when most of the other volunteers thought I was in Moscow for my days off (8 days), which made absolutely no sense to any of us… Accent misunderstandings, aha!