Bulgarian Experiences: The Black Sea

Knowing that Bulgaria is smaller in land size than Iowa, it always amazes me how long it takes to get anywhere. The first Friday in August I let my summer school class out early to catch the bus to Plovdiv. There I took the city bus from the North Bus Station to the train station which is in the central part of the city and bought a ticket to the Black Sea city of Burgas. Volunteer and friend, Clare, and I had been talking about doing this but weren't sure how we could pull it off, especially since I was working. Finally we decided, enough talk, just go. So, five hours later I was in Burgas, which is a vacation destination in itself, but very big and very touristy. We wanted to visit the small, less developed town of Varvara south of Burgas. Clare had left from her site earlier in the day, figured it all out, and texted directions to me. I was to get off the train and find a bus to Ahtopol which is a little bigger than Varvara with better chances to find somewhere to stay. It was an hour and a half ride, so once we got on the road, there was nothing to do but relax and enjoy the scenery. Once in a while we (the other passengers and I) would get a glimpse of the sea, but for most of the trip we were looking at big rolling green hills and deep ravines.

I thought Varvara was south of Ahtopol, so when I saw the city sign that said "Varvara" I got a little panicky. I thought the bus driver had taken me too far, and, of course, when I get nervous my Bulgarian gets really bad and the name of the town is so hard to say, and I was the last one left on the minibus that was full when we left Burgas, and I kept saying every five minutes, "Ah-to-pol?" then "Ax-to-pol?" and every variation there is between the Bulgarian h and the English x. Finally he held up two fingers and said, "dve minooti," so I relaxed, until the two minutes turned into five. We finally pulled up to a curb in what looked like a fairly big town, and I got off the bus not knowing for sure if it was the right town, but I thought I better get off the bus before the driver slaps me for being so annoying, and then I heard Clare yell my name. Oh, how I appreciated hearing my name.

Our room was in a very big and very nice house in the Bulgarian style of being gated and with lots of flowers and grapevines growing overhead, and the room was very nice but extremely small. We had to laugh because we didn't think it was possible to get smaller than the room we shared in Panichishte, but it served the purpose. After dropping my backpack in the room, we went on a little walking tour of the town. The sea was the attraction, but there was plenty for tourists to do in the evening - shop, eat, dance to live music, and watch the belly dancer perform table-top. In Ahtopol, we were only about 20 km. from Turkey, and there is still a Turkish influence on the culture from when Bulgaria was part of the Ottoman Empire.

This is one of the beaches in Ahtopol.

Another view of the beach in Ahtopol

Saturday morning we got up and found a bus to take us back north to Varvara. It was a short standing bus ride, and the only thing we knew when we got off was the direction to the sea, so that's where we headed.

This path beckoned so we followed it with a spectacular view at its end.

The video shows a small beach to the south. After spending some time on the rocks contemplating the beauty and awesomeness, we ventured to the beach. There was a little open-air cafe so we had lunch then took our towels down to swim in the sea and lay in the sun. I was a little surprised by the bare butts. Apparently swim suits were optional, but those who chose to go bez drayhe were in the minority, so I didn't feel too uncomfortable. Anyway, I probably would have been told to get over it. The water was very nice. It seemed clean and was warm.

Either we were very lucky or there were a lot of buses running between the coast towns, because when we decided to head back to Ahtopol, we walked back up the lane, stopped at a cafe for coffee, then walked across the street to a bus stop, waited no more than five minutes and a bus pulled up. (When I think of all the connections I made to make that weekend happen, I'm a little baffled by the flawlessness of it.)

After dinner we walked around the town and found a great place to watch the sun go down across the bay and over the Balkans.

I tried the trout Friday night. It was so good I went back and ordered it again Saturday night.

I enjoyed taking pictures of the sunset so much I decided I needed to photograph the sunrise. I set my alarm for 5:00 and was so excited I didn't have any trouble getting up. I knew the spot I wanted take the pictures from and walked right to it. It was so peaceful. Virtually no one else was up so I had the spot all to myself. Unfortunately, I was too early, and the horizon was lined with cloud cover. I was starting to feel my lack of sleep, so I entangled myself in the straps of my bag, used it as a pillow, and closed my eyes - just for a minute - there on the park bench. I woke up just in time to see the sun peeking through the clouds.