I think it would be a bit irresponsible to ignore it and go to Rila. I wouldn't relax either...
I go for breakfast early and then assess the situation. It turns out the hotel has a wee computer room with a few computers in them. They aren't very fast, but they have a powerpoint and an internet connection. Problem solved... if I can't get a pre-prepared presentation from my boss I have time to put one together.
It's now 9am....I head downstairs and book а massage to celebrate. I sit through the first session. Almost everyone is at RIla. I have no laptop or wireless internet as a distraction, so I have to listen and take notes to get me through it... There's some interesting stuff, but nothing groundbreaking. At the coffee break, I slip out and phone my boss... I get an irate agreement that he'll send me a few powerpoints to piece together.
I curse myself for not having went to Rila....... Did I mention it was a Spa hotel... I head down and cleanse myself of frustrations and stress in the pool... I have a time for a shower before my massage and then a floppily pack some lunch in before the afternoon excursion leaves... I change to camera, iPod and Lonely Planet tourism mode instead of Notepad and conference proceedings mode.... I also can resist a couple of shots out of my Bedroom window:
The afternoon excursion is a visit to Melnik/Мелник. Melnik is a wine region in Bulgaria, and the little town of Melnik is the centre of that region, and also the smallest town in Bulgaria.
On the Bus, the tour guide tells us various facts about Bulgaria and it;s history. I know much of it. Judging by his tone and how he tells the stories.. it would seem that things were better before the democratic change according to him.
We drive through the same lush greenery that we traversed the previous day, only today there's a blue sky above it. This lush greenery is actually us crossing between mountains in the Pirin range so that we can continue south to Melnik... Its about 50 km... but it's going to take about 2 hours. I am lucky to travel well... I wouldn't advise anyone who can't sit on a warm bus for hours going through windey roads to try to be a tourist in this part of Bulgaria without a helicopter...
We pass as close as 10km to the Greek border(I send Paprika an SMS), and the tour guide points out that the home of Baba Vanga is very close... I later learn that Baba Vanga was a sooth sayer, who had great success in finding things that were lost and healing people.... there seems to be some truth in it... she died in the mid 90's which intrigues me a little, as these stories are usually from long ago.
Eventually we stop in a Layby and get out to get some photos of Melnik:
There's a even Vinyards:
We continue down to the street in Melnik... It;s clear as soon as you get out of the bus that this is a tourist town. There are people sitting around everywhere selling wine for astronomical amounts... sometimes it's just in a 2 litre coke bottle. The prices are astronimical... more than you'd pay for a reasonable bottle in the UK. I surprise them by heading into one of their shops and buying Bulgarian phoen credit for a friends sim card I have in my phone.
We continue to walk deeper up the river in Melnik(The river Melnik???)..
It's a quaint little village that was much larger 100 years ago before the industrial revolution. The old style houses are still evident, and before them there are even roman ruins... Melnik is also kown for the sand structures which tower over the village in pyramids... they are quite strange:
Eventually we reach our destination... the home of a wine merchant of Melnik where you cans sample the local wine. We walk throught he house and see the 17th century traditional decor:
There are double windows to make it look like the house is more grandiose than it is and has more floors:
Underneath the house is a wine cellar... which has a constant through draft to keep the wine cool:
Beside this... we get to taste wine:
I've tasted Bulgarian wine before, and ain't bad. There are many types of Grape... Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, etc... this appears to be the Bulgarian "Tourist" grape. I'm no connoisseur, and maybe the bottle was corked, but this is some very bad wine... there's more expensive Merlot next to it which tastes pretty good... but the local brew isn't up to much. If this is on purpose, to make you buy the merlot, then I think it's a shame. Bulgarian wine could very well be a growth industry as Bulgaria enter Europe and some tourist trap appears to be doing their best to advertise it;s lack of quality to an international group of people... again.. maybe I'm wrong.....
We discuss the wine with various other people. There's an Italian woman I know from previous conferences who is ripping into the quality of the wine with an Italian guy... He turns out to work in the Louvre... very cool.....
Once we are back out on the street, we head back to the Bus. Whiel we're waiting for folk to catch up, a Romanian girl asks if my name is American, as the "Mc" at the start is a little like MacDonald and thats American. I come on a bit strong with my putting her correct, but it had to be done.
Back on the bus... I exchange headphones with the two romanians and it while's away the journey. I needed some ИIN to wake me up and they asked what I was listening to at the wrong moment... i.e. one of the heavy bits.... they turned out to be able to handle it no problem. They had a selection of off the wall metal and punk to treat me to.
Back at the hotel the conference goers are preparing for the Social evening... There is a choir of 5 male singers warming up. I catch my 10 year old Bulgarian friend and get her to fill my phone with credit.... I can barely do it in English and in Dutch, so I doubt I'd manage it in Bulgarian she manages it no problem.
The social event consists of some champagne and a 5 man choir singing greensleeves I start to talk to the people around me, but get into trouble from the tour guide for not respecting Bulgarian culture. Since there's another 25 songs before we get food a quick word in the ear of the Italian guy puts us in the sauna 5 minutes later....
By the time we get back up, the singers are singing their last song..... we are presented with a Conference tie and then we get to have food....
Our dinner party consists of a Serbian, two Romanians and the Italian.... a very Multicultural lot...
After dinner we drink a better quality Melnik wine and have a few games of pool....
We get on like a house on fire and are all quite merry by the time we go to bed.......
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