Borovets Day 5

Weather:

Cloudy, snowy, windy. Freezing cold!

Instructor:

No comments today so I must be skiing alright.

Slopes:

We decided to go up the gondola at 9am to avoid queuing again. We planned to do a few runs before the lesson but it took so much time to get up there that we ended up having time for one run only.

The top of the gondola is guarded by a very friendly cat. I hope it's long fluffy hair keeps it warm!

Meeting was at the top today, at the White House cafe at 10h30. We waited inside for the remaining members of the group, holding a hot chocolate to warm the fingers. The temperature today was -11°C!

There was time for a couple of runs before the weather changed. Strong wind, snow and poor visibility battered the top. I was very jealous of Ricardo's balaclava as my nose gained icicles.

A skier must have got seriously hurt because he was taken down the mountain from the top on an ambulance, a snowplough type of vehicle with tracks. Mitko says the Ski Patrol usually ski the injured person to the gondola and a special gondola takes them down. Using an ambulance means serious injury!

Mitko decided to take us down. A third of the way down visibility improved greatly and by half way the trees were sheltering us and it wasn't as cold. Well, it was a more comfortable -6°C!

Lunch was at The Terrace Lounge of Hotel Rila. It has wonderful panoramic views to the slopes. We sat in the sheltered and warmed open bar which was sheltered indeed but at -3°C it wasn't that warm.

We finished the lesson at lunchtime because we had booked a trip to the hot springs with the Balkan Holidays rep.

Hot Springs:

A 40min drive from Borovets in the village of Sapareva Banya sits Aqua Club Kotvata, a thermal mineral spring. It is a fairly big complex of indoor pools, outdoor pools, spa and restaurant.

By the entrance, some prohibition signs. We were all laughing out loud, assuring each other we had left our guns at the hotel!

Outdoor pools were our aim and it has several pools ranging from cold (icy surface) to warm (20-25°C), hot (30-35°C) and very hot (40°C). It's surrounded by the Rila mountains and the scenery is gorgeous.

The very hot pool was a bit too much for me and Xana. It felt like I was being boiled alive. Jorge and Ricardo managed a few seconds submerged up to the neck and came out with flushed skin from the neck down.

We spent the majority of the time on the hot pool which was lovely. The others did a few trips to the cold pool and back which is wonderful for blood circulation, but it was a bit too cold for me and once was enough to try.

The heat of the water was welcome on sore muscles and I took advantage of the jacuzzi jets to massage my achy calves.
The sun was setting as we left the hot springs and the colour on the mountains was beautiful.

The outdoor pools are open 9h-19h every day and 9h-21h Fridays and Saturdays. Adults pay 15lev weekdays and 20lev weekends.