After two days of demanding hikes there was a slight fatigue in the women's part of the team.To boost the morale of the team I took advantage of the fact that the area around Bansko is famous for its thermal springs. Therefore, I supplemented today's program with a visit to the thermal swimming pool in Dobriniste.
Narrow gauge railway from Dobriniste to Bansko
I chose Dobrinishte for several reasons, firstly, the bathing place was traceable on the map, there was also information about it on the internet and from Bansko it was possible to get there in style by the narrow-gauge railway Septemvri-Dobriniště. This line, which has been in operation since 1926, has a gauge of 760 mm and a total length of 125 km. If you run your finger along the map, you will see that in places the line is routed, in very interesting places and in a very interesting way. Unfortunately, we will only get a taste of this track in its last and youngest 6.6 km long section, Bansko - Dobriniste. In Bulgaria, the train generally had the advantage that, unlike buses, it ran according to timetables that were available on the internet. Departure was at quarter to ten. This was enough time to have breakfast, pack up and definitely leave our first retreat. The train station was located next to the bus one. The ticket came to 1 Leva per person and was bought on the train. The interesting thing was that the conductor wrote it out for us by hand. The other interesting thing about the train was that the outside doors did not close permanently, so the whole journey was done with the doors open.
Bansko - Railway station
The train ride took about 15 minutes. Then we had to walk about one kilometer along the main road and we were at the swimming pool. The price of admission was a popular one. The problem was with the storage boxes, when there were about 20 of them for the whole swimming pool, of which 5 were immediately taken by us with all our backpacks. The swimming pool contained three main pools with a temperature of 24° and a pool bar, a children's pool and a smaller pool with whirlpools and a temperature of 38°. We used the pool services until about 12pm. The mountain sun was burning nicely and we got a nice sunburn.
Dobrinishte - Railway station
Thermal baths in Dobrinishte
The pool made us hungry. For lunch we looked for a stylish Mechana Babuch, which was located not far from the swimming pool.
Chopped salad
Tarator
After we were fully fed, we walked quickly to the station to catch the train back to Bansko. From there we were to continue by bus to Sofia. It was about half an hour late. This didn't add to the peace of mind, because in Sofia we needed to change to a bus to Samokov. The problem was that the last one left at 8 and our window was getting dangerously narrow so we didn't miss the bus. Even though it was half empty the driver pretended we couldn't all fit and we would be standing from Blagoevgrad. This did not prove to be the case and we set off for Sofia, half empty. I noticed an interesting phenomenon. While we were pushing as far back as possible, the Bulgarians were sitting as close to the driver as possible. We caught rush hour traffic in Sofia, so the delays increased. So I called for a quick transfer, as there is a bus to Samokov from the south station and we were at the central station. That meant a quick run to the metro. Once again, navigating their chaotic line management and getting to Business Park station quickly. There we quickly collected our money and bought some snacks at the bakery. Then we made the five hundred meter transfer to the South Station, which is more like a lineup of the Shuttle buses under the bridge. We caught the penultimate bus and had an hour's journey to Samokov ahead of us.
Sofia - South Railway Station
After arriving, I checked the timetables to see what time the bus to Borovets leaves tomorrow, we bought supplies for tomorrow at the store and went in search of our apartment Pri Pavkata. It was near the bus station. We checked in and went to sleep. Tomorrow we would climb Musala, the highest mountain in Bulgaria.
Samokov - Bus station and bus departure to Borovets
Useful links:
Thermal baths in Dobrinishte
Bulgarian Railways (BDZ)
Apartman Pri Pavkata
