Bulgaria

Back in August, knowing I would be away for 3 weeks straight of work travel in September, I invited Adam to join me on the last of the trips which was to Bulgaria.  I called and enthusiastically asked him if he wanted to go with me he said "Why would we go to Bulgaria?" Not the response I was hoping for... so I went alone.  Yeah, right.  I stopped downtown and picked up this bum and asked if he was interested in a vacation:

Geography:

History:
Bulgarian history is quite extensive with evidence of civilization as early as 5,000 B.C.  The history includes rule under the Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and Bulgarian Empires and also settlement of groups from all over Europe and Asia.  We were interested to learn that during WWII Bulgaria started out as neutral, then joined the Germans, then turned and fought against them at the end.  After WWII, Bulgaria was a communist state until around 1990.  During this time, the communist leaders had a vacation spot on the Black Sea, north of the city of Varna.  Local Bulgarians, lacking luxuries, were not aware of this area that their leaders were enjoying.  It was/is surrounded by forests and would have been well hidden from the main roads.  Today, the luxury hotels and beaches are used for vacationing and conference centers.

Sunny Day Resort
We stayed at a resort area about 15 kilometers (~10 miles) north of the city of Varna for 3 nights.  The weather was nice during the day for the most part and quite cool at night.  This area is 100% tourism but was built starting in the 1950's (during the times of communism).

 

Someone must have told the organizers that we prefer rooms with a view! They put us on the top floor and we had a great view of the pool area, and even the "kids club" shows in the poolside gazebo.  We were entertained with classics like the hokey-pokey!  The white circles beyond the pool area are sun umbrellas on the beach, and the black beyond the beach is the Black Sea.

Gorgeous sunrise over the black sea.  Every night we saw boats out dropping nets and early in the morning the fisherman returned to pull in the catch.













I'm still mad about not going beyond knee-deep water my visit to the Mediterranean, so I was determined to swim in the Black Sea.  The weather was great for it, though, and the water is much warmer than the North Sea.  The water was very clear- had a great swim.

This hotel area was all-inclusive and I was there for a conference, so we didn't venture off the property for the first 2 days.  But, Adam rented a car for our check-out day and we ventured North.

Cape Kaliakra
Sixty kilometers North of Varna, Cape Kaliakra jets out 2 kilometers into the Black Sea.  Over the years, it has been a popular point for shipping on the sea and has thus also been a strategic point for battle.  A fortress was built, destroyed and rebuilt several times over the ages.  The cliffs drop off the side down about 70 meters to the water.  Today, this area is open for tourists to see remains of the fortress, artifacts from over the years, buy a souvenir, or eat at the restaurant.

Gorgeous blue/green water and red-tinted soil and rock

Remains of one of the fortress walls

I found this handsome guy at the end of the cape!

The very tip of Cape Kaliakra includes a small shrine and also fantastic views of the sea.

Varna

We drove to the city of Varna and checked in at the Cherno More hotel which is situated in the city center, near the beach.  We had some dinner and were amazed at the prices- the food and drinks cost about HALF of what they cost here in The Netherlands.  Adam had a burger and fries for 3 Euro and we shared a 25 piece sushi roll sampler for 7 Euro!  That is even cheaper than in the US.  After lunch we walked around at the city and the beach to watch the sun set.

Have you ever seen that episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond" where Amy entrusts Robert to ordering the wedding invites, and he purposely messes them up so that she won't make him do anything for the wedding?  It crossed my mind upon entering the room Adam reserved:

"Hank N Pat request your presents..." Twin beds, how romantical!

But it had a fantastic view!

On Sunday morning we visited the Varna Naval Museum (no pictures allowed inside) where we explored history and artifacts of battles on the Black Sea.  One interesting point was that in the Balkan War (vs Turkey), the Bulgarians put mines all over in the water.  When WWII started, they had to go find and disarm them all so ships could travel.

Another story that caught my attention was that of a sailer who was also a poet.  He was charged with being a traitor and sentenced to death, but was later declared innocent but it was too late.  Afterwards, they published all of his poetry and named sections of the navy after him.  I wonder if it made them feel better.

After the military museum we headed up to the Cathedral to meet up with Hylke, a friend of ours from Den Haag.  He spends a lot of time in Bulgaria and happened to be in Varna visiting a friend.  They were kind enough to show us around to the market for lunch and to some nice terraces for beer and coffee.  It was a great afternoon with sunshine and a slight breeze.

 This is the Orthodox Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin.  Built in the 1880's, it dominates the skyline but is much smaller on the inside than you would expect.  I found out now that we could have climbed the bell tower!

 Here we are with Hylke (in orange) and Peter (in white) enjoying the local Bulgarian beer, Zagorka.

I saved the best for last- what left the biggest impression on us both was the population of "wild" dogs around Bulgaria.  Dogs with ear tags are officially registered, but none of these dogs seemed to have an owner.  Don't worry, they are all fed and appear fine except for the occasional 3-legged dog or one who could use a good bath.  They are definitely not starving.  I watched one eating pizza in the market and sadly saw another one drinking soap water.  They must have pretty tough stomachs.  The dogs are sweet and visit you without begging for food.  Had I been in Bulgaria as a 10 year old, I know I would have been crying all day and pleading to bring one home! It would have been my mission to "save" them.  I'm not going to lie, I still felt that way.  I only tried to keep 2 or 3 dogs that I just KNEW would love to move to NL with us.  :)  This sweet little guy came along the beach and curled up next to Adam while his 3-legged pal laid about 10 feet away.

And this cutie had one of his front legs mangled and maybe partially amputated.  He hopped around the best he could on the beach.  He sat nearby and watched us, but never came closer than 10 feet.

Wrapping it Up...

So, back to the start when Adam had initially asked me why we would go to Bulgaria, my response was "We'd never go there, which is exactly why we should!"  I'm glad this was enough to convince him.  On the way home we had a chat about our weekend and about the places we had seen and things we learned and I was again reminded about how lucky we are to have this opportunity and how thankful I am that Adam is willing, with some arm twisting, to explore with me.