9th to 30th of December, 2021.
I cannot see much of the villa from the outside because it is already dark. But K. takes me to quickly see the floors and rooms and it is when I realize how huge the place is. My room is super cool and spacious, with a balcony and a beautiful view of the mountains.
We have dinner together and soon enough we all go to bed.
The first few days are relaxing and we don’t do much. They tell me I will be by my own during the week because N. has work to do in Sofia and K. will be going South, to the coast, to do some surfing. They give me some small tasks but the main one is to clean the whole villa because they will have visitors for the New Year’s. That was actually not our deal, because they told me I would be helping with restoration but…
When they come back, N. makes delicious traditional Bulgarian snacks: Banitsa (similar to Bürek, a thin and circle piece of dough, filled with cheese and rolled as a pancake); Tikvenik (the same principal but filled with pumpkin, walnuts, cinnamon and sugar); Gyvetch (game meat cooked with potatoes in a clay pot); Gyvetche (potatoes and vegetables with cheese, cooked in small clay pots, individually); Dried bell peppers stuffed with bulgur.
The area where the villa is located is very beautiful, surrounded by mountains and hills. I always take the same road to go for my walk because there is nothing around and it seems to lead to nowhere. One day, I go up a hill, and the view is amazing. I think it is the first time I go by myself, exploring an area covered in snow, since I broke my wrist, almost one year ago.
N. and K. invite me to spend Christmas Eve with their families in Sofia. First we will have dinner with N.’s parents and after we will go to K.’s cousin. It is around these days that I meet K.’s little sister, M.
N.’s parents are so cute! They are super kind and welcoming. And her father is a very charming elderly man. I also meet her brother and an uncle. Everybody is really nice to me and they even get me some Christmas presents! A lovely traditional Bulgarian blouse together with a handkerchief, a tiny wooden bottle, like a souvenir, which is written Bulgaria, and a travel body care kit. N.’s mother cooked everything by herself (apart of the bread, which N. baked) and everything is delicious! What a fantastic buffet! The menu is: two pickled salads (cauliflower, red pepper, onions, carrots and maybe some more vegetables), one sweet and one sour; Lutenitsa (tomato, bell pepper and eggplant spread); stuffed dried peppers; cabbage and grape leaves rolls (filled with spiced rice); a beans and tomatoes pure. For desert, we had Compote and Tikvenik. I tried a warm Rakia with sugar and had a few glasses of white wine.
At K.’s cousin house, everybody is also very friendly but the atmosphere of the group is completely different from the one at N.’s parents. They are more “relaxed” in a way, but still traditional, as well as for the food, as for how they eat: they all are sitting in the floor to do it, as people used to do it in the past, when they only had very short tables. There is a lot of food but since I am still fool from the other party, I only drink some red wine. Quite a lot, actually. One thing which called my attention from the food, it is this huge bread they bake, a circle, white and light one. After all I had some more Tikvenik and later on Baklava.
It is getting late and I want to sleep! Tomorrow they want to go to the mountains, so V. can “try on” his new snowboard. But I am so tired! Why is it that everybody in the world thinks that we have to be awake until late in holiday celebrations? We arrive at home around 3 in the morning!
Going up de mountain it is a bit scary for me because there is a lot of ice. We visit a monastery first, Dragalevtsi Monastery, because they road is closed until 2 p.m. There is a great view of Sofia and it is the first time I am in an actual skiing mountain.
Back in Saparevo, a group of K.’s friends stay in the villa to celebrate the birthday of one of them. A big group of people, actually. Something like 30 people. But not all of them stay over night because we don’t have enough space.
I help N. to prepare some food for us because the guests will have barbecue. N. bakes a delicious walnut cake with an sweet cream cheese icing. It is delicious! I socialize just a little bit, eat and have a beer, and then I go to my room. Me, V. and M. are sharing one of the rooms.
The second day there are still some people around but much less. I make some baked pasta at night and everybody has a little bit, including some of the guests.
Because N. is going back to Sofia the second night, me and K. have only one day and a half to clean the house again for the next guests. It is a bit of a rush but we manage.
We take two buses Friday morning to Sofia. Next day we are going to a small village, to spend New Years with K.’s friends.
P.S.: One day, me and K. go to the neighbor (a very kind elderly man) and make Rakia! It is cool to learn something so traditional…
