Bansko New Year 2010 fireworks across Bansko. The view of Bansko from the private jacuzzi tower at Grand Montana was perfect for witnessing the blaze of colour and noise.

Happy New Year. My thank you to the contributors to this blog over 2009, especially Tina, Ivanka, Vanya, Frank, Nikola and those who have sent stories and emails.

Looking Back And Ahead To 2010

Poll results on this site were that 85% thought that, in general, Bansko is improving and 15% thought it was getting worse. This general view I think is bourne out by the large numbers of visitors from Bulgaria, Greece and Romania right now. The choice of nightlife keeps improving and on this topic I welcome the new Piano bars: “Sing Sing” at the Kempinsky, “My Way” at the Perun Hotel, the piano bar at Lucky Bansko and others.

New Year 2010 Bansko Fireworks

New Year 2010 Bansko Fireworks

New Year 2010 Bansko Fireworks

Before looking ahead its helpful to reflect back on 2009. In general, I feel Bansko has become a more attractive place to visit during the year.

But there are some things that have not got any better. And it’s customer service that crops up time and time again. It has improved, but it is inconsistent.

The other day I witnessed a Bulgarian guy going mad with rage at the Gondola lift ticket kisok. He was shouting “why they can’t you have a separate booth for day passes, where no electronic picture is required… and that this is not how Bulgaria should be embarking on its tourism. …”

No one in the queue would disagree with his sentiment. Words made all the more potent coming from a Bulgarian! Ironically there was no queue at all for passes at the temporary ticket office by the ski hire centre.

Alternative Bansko Lift Pass kiosk: Few Queues Here

Today Bulgarians were explaining to me they waited one hour and fifty minutes for their food to arrive in a mehana. It was midnight before they got anything. The food was good, but the very slow service was unacceptable for them — even making allowances for a busy period here in Bansko.

More than ever, preperation for visiting Bansko is as necessary for Bulgarians as it is for foreigners.

Your comments below are welcome. Wishing you every success in the New Year.

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It was a spectacular fireworks display as you can see from the video. I had a wonderful time — a little piece of English tradition which has gone a long way to help Bulgarian children in need. Natasha  emailed me a short summary of the event I wrote about on Friday http://banskoblog.com/2009/11/charity-bonfire-night/.

“…The organisation is also far from being just us.  James at the Avalon is hugely instrumental in the event.  He also made all of the burgers, sausages and ran the BBQ.  Simon and Joy of Applebee Chalet made the burger buns and bonfire toffee, Sy and Malcolm did the fireworks, Malcolm’s children made the guy, Chalet Soltir and Chalet Rozov made the cakes and helped us run the bar and BBQ,.

Andrew Bridges looked after all of the lighting and construction of the bar, resellmyapartment.com, Bower Properties, The Irish Pub, Murphy’s, banskotouristinformation.com and creative interiors assisted in the ticket sales. It truly is a team effort by all of the Bansko ex-pats.  The total raised so far is 1,231.58 BGN with another 100 BGN due from the municipality on Monday — and more donations are coming in.”

Thank you for perfect organisation. Hope to have the same fabulous experience next year too.

However… I am still completely baffled how the most wealthy municipality in Bulgaria has to rely on charity to provide an acceptable level of care for those most in need.  Anyone have any ideas? Do local Bulgarians who have received massive windfall cash from land sales give any of this to charity?

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