Varna on the Black Sea in Bulgaria is the bees knees and after the somewhat hot and depressing Bucharest it was a joyous moment when we opened the door of our top floor (Penthouse) apartment and bathed in both the coolness of the air con and the majesty of the 180 degree sea views from a gloriously large balcony. We were in heaven. From start to finish Varna was great and we partly wished we had more time to stay and just enjoy. We began our adventure here by heading into Varna city....we stayed a little further up at Golden Sands...we were going to catch the public bus, but a taxi stopped for us and another lady and her daughter...said he was heading that way and for a few dollars and in half the time he dropped us of at the Sea Garden. This is a very large and pretty park/gardens that run along the coast. We walked through and it was beautiful and cool. (Really hot out in the sun... Which we discovered when we walked to the Shrine of Remembrance and the old Roman Baths). There were churches, museums, the beach, shops, ruins, fountains, statues, cathedrals. We just walked around for a few hours taking it all in. The vibe of the place was very nice. It was like the Mornington of Bulgaria. Everyone heads there on holidays and obviously have money to spend...though nowhere near as pretentious as some of the summer spots we saw in France. After a good few hours we headed back to the apartment. I was really hanging out to swim in the Black Sea. Donned the bathers and walked the 50 meters to the sand. Found a square metre on the "free" side (most of the beach involves paying for the privilege
of having a deck chair and bar service....though it seemed to be only a few dollars). Hung with the families and oldies (all wearing clothes) and entered the water. Two things to note here. As I walked into the water you sunk quite deep into the wet sand and the pull of the receding waves was pretty strong...tough on knee. Secondly, I only had to go out about 3 meters and it was nearly over my head. Really weird to swim so close to shore. Also note...lots of little black seaweed stuff...so not as clean and clear as our beaches. BUT...gloriously cool and refreshing. It was funny watching people enter the water. Woman of all ages were guided in to the water by their male counterparts and lifted protectively over the waves. I just walked in by myself and dived under. BR went out further than me, but it was a worry seeing people thrash about in the water, obviously cannot swim well, but they head out into the really deep stuff. Headed back to the air con after the swim...too hot to lie/sit on our square meter of sand. Headed out to dinner. Found a place that specialised in BBQ (Greek influence). Indulged...and it really was...in a platter for two. Skewered meats for 2 people, salad, beer and live entertainment. Listened to covers of Abba between local Bulgarian hits. Couple of oldies got up and danced. A little later a local traditional dance group entertained us...a strong Greek influence. It was a fantastic night.
Jumped in the car the next day and headed to the Stone Forest. This was only about 10 kms out of Varna and was really intriguing. Their Bulgarian name is "Pobitite Kamani", which means "stones beaten into the ground". They were limestone pillars as high as 10 meters and were really intriguing. We were told by the ticket man that they were formed millions of years ago when the area was still part of the sea. How funny though when he mentioned many had sexual/fertility magic and that I should touch them. Not sure what he was getting at...I did sit in the fertility circle. After this we headed to Aladzha Monastery which was a medieval Orthodox Christian cave monastery. It was inhabited by hermits in the 11th century. Quite fascinating that they carved out little rooms and lived there. Though the area is beautiful so I can understand the peacefulness. Back for another swim in the afternoon. Nessebar...a world heritage site is our next stop on our way to another World heritage site Plovdiv.
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