About us
You would have to be a great dreamer and an optimist, at the dawn of Bulgarian entrepreneurship, to start a business without a ‘briefcase stuffed with money’ or relatives (in the right places). You would have to be slightly mad. Odysseia-In is exactly that – a crazy project for its time, which owes its conception to the efforts of Lubomir Popiordanov and half a dozen climbers and mountaineers, members of the Edelweiss Alpine Club, Sofia. Together, we had traversed the Bulgarian mountains, the Tatras and Pamir. Somehow, it seemed natural to try and make a living out of it. We weren’t short of ideas, but reality struck even before the end of the first year. Yes, we had some foreign guests already, who for some reason had placed their trust in us, but in 1991 the company was in unannounced bankruptcy. In 1993, we added to our business the import and distribution of outdoor equipment. We grew slowly, made mistakes, our services were substandard. In 1994 Momtchil Damyanov joined us. We learned at the expense of our first clients, we learned while travelling, and the course I took in France in business development and marketing, supported by a program of the French government, gave us our first corporate contacts. An important expertise in making business was provided by a couple of MBA consultants via USAID. The rest was a matter of integrity, faith and perseverance, common sense, talent and creativity, determination. That’s the key to understanding Odysseia-in – a phenomenon in Bulgaria’s business history, whose team still holds in high regard the company’s mission, corporate ethics, vision and commitment.
Team
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Asen Marinov
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Asen is well known among our American and English guests. He has more than 15 years of experience in the mountains and has hiked in several regions in USA, Europe and Asia. Asen is a keen guitar player and also photographer. Asen speaks English. |
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Dimitar Samunev
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Dimitar is a mountain guide with a lot of knowledge about nature and wildlife. He has graduated the University of Forestry and leads summer and winter snowshoeing groups. Dimitar speaks English and Spanish. |
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Gavril Dimitrov
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Gavril Dimitrov is our Executive Manager of our retail chain of stores, called "Stenata" (The Wall) and their on-line store www.stenata.com. He is Fluent in English, Serbian and Russian. He has lived abroad for a few years in Belgium, Germany and USA and has a passion for travelling and discovering new places. |
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Ioanna Georgieva
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Ioanna is our best tour leader when it comes to culture, history, architecture and religion. She is fluent in French and English and holds a Master of History and currently studies Cultural Tourism. She has real passion for art, architecture and Christianity. |
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Irina Shalamandova
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Irina works in the Reservations Department and as a mountain guide during the summer. She has gained experience from trekking in Latin America (Guatemala, Peru and Bolivia) and several mountains in Europe. She speaks Spanish and English, loves nature, folklore and dancing, traveling and being “out”. For Irina volunteering is the best way to discover, and lately she gets involved in a "green" project related to the "Eho" high-mountain hut in the Central Balkan National Park. |
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Kancho Shipkov
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Kancho is a professional mountaineer and one of our most experienced guides. He leads also groups for ski mountaineering. Kancho is also a member of the Bulgarian mountain rescue team. Kancho speaks English. |
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Kiril Petrov
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Kiril is leading our most challenging German speaking groups. He is a man with huge mountain experience behind him and a keen photographer too. Whenever in Sofia he works at our outdoor shops: www.stenata.com
Kiril speaks German.
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Krasimir Ivanov
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Krasimir is leading our most challenging English speaking groups. He has more than 15 years of experience in the mountains, some which gained in the US. Krasimir is a co-founder of Bikearea and a keen biker. Krasimir speaks English. |
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Lubomir Popiordanov
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Lubomir Popiordanov has a hugebackground: master of law, mountaineer, passionate traveler, photographer, painter, author of a book, producer of films, publisher and philanthropist, freelance journalist…! More than ever he spends time to participate in and initiate socially significant causes like nature protection, preservation of the cultural heritage and introduce creative and innovative thinking in the travel business. He believes that Bulgaria can be a prestigious place to live in. And more, that tourism can be developed in a responsible way. Lubomir is married with three children. Founder and CEO of Odysseia-In. |
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Mihail Mihov
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Mihail is our Product Manager for the Geman market. He has a hard time staying in the office and can be often seen all over Bulgaria. He is a licensed mountain leader and in the summer is usually “outdoors”. He loves working in the field of responsible tourism, education of mountain guides and Internet marketing. Mihail recently became very active on civil issues and actions for the protection of the Bulgarian and European natural heritage. He is proud to be part of the civil society, which is very strong in the country. Whenever possible he is in the mountains with his friends. |
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Momchil Damianov
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Momchil has been for a long time with the company and is currently Lumobir’s associate. He loves mountains and nature. He also holds a degree for mountain leader and thus making his hobby a profession. Apart from that he has a passion for rock and ice climbing. He prefers walking in the high mountains, but also likes discovering historic and cultural sites in natural environment. He has trekked in the Alps and Himalayas. Momchil is an instructor in the mountain-guiding courses organized by the association “Mountains and People”. Momchil is fluent in French. |
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Nina Milanova
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Nina is the head of our Reservations Department, fluent in French and English. She can organize everything related to your stay in Bulgaria – accommodation, transfers, meals…just name it! She manages the contacts with our suppliers and knows them well. Although her work is related with long-office-hours she loves travelling and visiting new places. Her colleagues are also her best friends and this makes work more pleasant. All office parties begin or end at her desk! |
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Philip Gologanov
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Philip works in our Reservations Department and is also the Webmaster of our sites. He has a Masters Degree in Tourism, fluent in English and also uses German and Russian. His great passions are motor sports and everything related to cars, engines, motorbikes, etc. He owns a couple of cars & minivans and rarely separates from them. Philip loves skiing, biking and soft hiking. |
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Rositsa Lozanova
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Rositsa is among our most experienced tour leaders. Apart from leading groups she works at Zig Zag Holidays (our daughter agency). She is crazy for Bulgarian traditions and music. Rositsa speaks German and English. |
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Stela Stoianova
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Stela is our Product Manager for the English market. "Life is measured not by the number of breathings that we make but by the moments that stop our breath." Following this moto everyday I try to find, feel, touch a new emotion. But finally I found out that the real happiness doesn't hide behind the fulfilment of my dreams but behind the sharing of the moment with the people around. That's why I am here, to make you feel at least a part of this sweet enchantment with unknown places and unseen beauties. With my best wishes for a real extreme happiness. See you around! |
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Svidna Mihailova
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Svidna is our Product Manager for the Spanish market, fluent in Spanish, French and English. She obtained her master degree in Tourism Management in Barcelona and has a huge travel experience. Among her favourite destinations are Nepal, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and Crete. She is well acquainted with South Europe (Spain, France, Italy) and the east coast of USA. But what she best knows and likes are the mountains of Bulgaria. She is also a mountain leader and loves skiing and ski-mountaineering. Svidna has a passion for tango and guitar.
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Valia Popiordanova
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Valia is Lubomir’s wife and chief accountant in the company. Long-term performance of the company and its financial stability is thanks to Valia’s firm policy. She successfully combines analytical rigour (accounting) with the art of housewife and raising her children, currently three – Andrea, Sofia and Georgi. She loves travelling in places like the deserts of Morocco and Tunisia; Spain, Italy, France and India. She has a passion for red wines, cheese and jazz. Valia is our pretty woman with a gentle touch for fashion and beauty. |
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Vasil Todev
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Vassil is a person with various interests. He has graduated geography at Sofia University and is well familiar with GIS. He enjoys the outdoors on foot and by bike. He is the founder of BikeArea. Vassil recently returned from an expedition in Africa. Vassil speaks English. |
