Here I am spending my second full day in Sopot Bulgaria. I have met Nik and his lovely and extremely helpful wife and business partner Lena of Skynomad. Nik has offered to take me for a tandem paraglider flight sometime before Carlos, Hugh and Ellis show up this weekend. I had hoped it would be today but tomorrow seems more likely.
Sopot is a quiet Bulgarian village nestled up against the base of either really big hills or moderate sized mountains depending upon your reference point. The local paragliding site is reached by a short 10 minute or less drive up a largely cobblestone road to the base of a two seat chair lift. The chair lift takes you to the top of the mountain which is something close to 900 meters above the primary LZ located adjacent to the base of the chairlift. The LZ would be doable but very technical for a hang glider but is relatively straight forward for the paraglider pilots who fly here. A hang glider pilot would undoubtably earn his RLF rating if he could manage to land twice in a row without breaking anything.
The night before last I met several paraglider pilots from other countries including Norway, Great Britain and other Balkan countries. A few said they had been here before and that this was about the only place that they had travelled great distances to and chose to do more than once.
The towns people are reasonably friendly, however most speak little or no English. Also they do not take Euros, if you come you need to bring the local currency called Lev's, I believe.
For those of you who are single or still care about such things I would rate the great majority of young women here somewhere between very pretty and stunning. I don't know what it is about this place. My guess is it's the natural spring water that bursts from the hills everywhere.
Everything is inexpensive here. I don't know how much longer that will last but Sopot is a bargain still. You will be pleasantly surprised if you come. It's a pretty place and worth a look. I'll write more when I get some time in the air.
Dan T
Sopot Bulgaria
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