Middle-aged flash packers

We have stayed at The Jasmine Hotel in Sofia before. Snazzy it ain’t but comfortable and conveniently situated it is. It’s very well situated for the Vitosha National Park which we haven’t visited yet but may well do before we fly home. After a hearty but strange breakfast (frankfurters and unpleasant looking mushed eggs for Steve, I stuck to a crepe and a choux bun) we were off to our destination of Smolyan.

Smolyan is apparently the “pearl” of the Rhodope Mountains and will be our base for the next 4 nights.

A 3.5 hour journey saw us arrive at our chosen hotel. Unusually this was not booked via Booking.com but we usually find Booking.com pretty good in that if you chose something with a rating of around 9, you’re safe. Anything below 9 but above 8.5 should be ok but dip below an 8 – well just don’t. As controversial as whether or not you put jam on your scone before the cream or after, so it is with Airbnb and Booking.com. We plump for the latter having had some poor experiences with the former but we have friends who find it inexplicable that we would even contemplate anything other than Airbndb.

Our hotel of choice looked rather tired and lacking a bit of tlc. Having the outside restaurant on top of our “villa”

wasn’t ideal in my view but actually it was very quiet so all was well.

Dinner was a pleasant surprise. Mozzarella salad Bulgarian style (sheep’s cheese) followed by a big plate of meat and finished off with a delicious chocolate and pistachio slice of gateau resulted in Steve’s undying loyalty to this hotel, even if there were flamenco dancers clacking away all night on our villa roof.

We decided to get up at 7.30am the next morning to complete our hike by early afternoon. This is the new us. It will take a bit of getting used to for me (S had to virtually drag me out of bed, I was so tired) but it saves walking in the hottest part of the day and also avoids afternoon thunderstorms which this area is prone to.

After a very poor breakfast (S’s loyalty had a wobble) we were off.

It’s always nice to be able to walk from your door and we were perfectly situated for this particular hike. The route was well marked, basically you follow the yellow blazes with “Snezhanka” and Smolyan Lakes” on them.

The fields and hedgerows here abound with wild flowers. It’s truly lovely and their abundance suggests a lack of pesticides being used which in my book is great. Not so great are the resulting bugs that come in some very scary looking shapes and sizes but you can’t have it all.

As we walked along the road taking us to the lakes, we saw more evidence of the ludicrous over building that has scarred some areas of Bulgaria. Not quite on the scale of Bansko, but still a blot on the landscape are abandoned apartment blocks where the money ran dry and building companies just left their projects to rot.

We eventually reached one of the lauded Smolyan Lakes. To be honest, it was somewhat underwhelming. More of a pond. Apparently the lakes emit negative ions which are supposed to be good for you. I don’t know about that but I did enjoy the extremely vocal frogs who replied to my rather good imitation of their croaking.

The trail turned off the road at this point and into the woods. Some trees had fallen so there was a few detours to be made but it wasn’t long before we made it to Orpheus’s rock. He certainly picked a good spot and a quick clamber saw us enjoying a panoramic view of the Rhodope mountains. They really are rather glorious and go on for as far as you can see.

Next stop was the Snezhanka Tower. Eastern Europeans do like a tower, probably from their Soviet days. It cost the princely sum of £6 for both of us to ascend the tower and enjoy the views, which we did.

Then it was a leisurely stroll back down through the forest and a stop off for a shandy at a local taverna.

On our way back, we spotted a couple sitting outside their camper van, feeding a fox. Without even looking at their number plate, I knew they must be Brits and we passed the time of day as they opened a huge bag of doggy treats and indulged the vixen who must surely have thought she’d died and gone to heaven.

Back at the ranch, we were both extremely tired and after a quick tick check had a very indulgent afternoon snooze.

Shower time proved slightly problematic as the hose decided to part company with the shower head. Our hosts, who we have now got to know and are very helpful if a bit lacking in the practicality department, attempted to fix it but were unsuccessful, meaning that morning showers will be a little more interesting than usual.

Dinner was delicious- Greek salad followed by chicken stuffed with sun dried tomatoes and cheese, followed by baklava.

A good day; the unwinding begins.