Bulgaria was very relaxed compared to all of the other ports. Partly because I had planned SAS Overnight trip and partly because me and all my friends were exhausted and could barely get out of bed! We docked in Varna, Bulgaria which we learned is the summer capital of the country; where all the Bulgarians and many foreign tourists go for R&R and rightfully so. From where we docked, it was a 5 minute walk to a huge, white sand beach. And on the first day, that's where my friends and I parked for the morning. I found some free wifi nearby and enjoyed some time relaxing on the beach while perusing Facebook and catching up on emails. After sitting for a while, we walked into town to look for a place for a late lunch. We found it at a place called Happy Bar and Grill. Despite its incredibly American sounding name, it was a Bulgarian chain kind of similar in atmosphere to a TGI Fridays. We had some kebabs and other Bulgarian dishes before departing for the beach. A few of my friends wanted to explore Varna's famous Botanical Gardens. I went with them and walked around the large park that bordered the beach. There were all kind of stalls selling books and crafts lining the winding pathways. All around us were remnants of the Soviet Union and it was really interesting to see which buildings they preserved and which they let fall into decay. After walking through the park, we went back to the beach. I spent the afternoon just sitting and enjoying the breeze and free wifi -- a wonderful combination don't you think? We had dinner on the ship, for free, and decided to take a nap. This nap did me in. I could barely get out of bed at 9. All my friends wanted to go out and explore the nightlife of Varna, but I couldn't convince myself to get ready and go out. Mainly because I had to leave for my SAS Field Program at 7am the next morning.
Best decision I've made. I woke up and had breakfast and felt great. Other people on the trip were a little more worse for the wear. One guy, Robin, didn't go to sleep. I felt great. We got on the bus and drove about 2.5 hours to the city of Veliko Tarnovo. This is city was the capital of the second Bulgarian Empire and had a beautiful fortress built out on a peninsula, high in the mountains. Two rivers carved out valleys surrounding the fortress. We of course climbed all the way to the top and explored the church/monastery that had been built on the highest point, overlooking the valleys and the city. We climbed back down and walked around the old town for a while. Then we ate some lunch at a beautiful restaurant. The restaurant was built in an old inn and was recently named as the most historic building in Bulgaria. For lunch, we got a chicken and vegetable soup, veal and rice, and yogurt with fresh berries. Delicious.
We got back on the bus and drove up into the mountains and stopped at a small village called Abernassi. In this village, we visited a preserved Turkish house which was pretty cool. Then walked to a small church just up the street. The Church of the Nativity was very bland on the outside and didn't even look like a church (it wasn't allowed to because of the Muslim Turks who ruled Bulgaria when it was built). On the inside though, there were 2,000 beautifully preserved frescoes. Breathtaking pictures in paint and gold leaf of 1,500 saints and biblical stories. We weren't allowed to take pictures which stunk. But oh well. After the church, we got back on the bus for our 1.5 ride to the town of Tryavna where we would spend the night. Tryavna is famous for its wood carving, so we stopped at the wood carving museum before heading to our hotel for dinner and sleep. After dinner, we went to a small club/bar called Cucaracha in the small town of 10,000 people. We were the only patrons and enjoyed talking with and getting to know each other. That's one of the benefits of doing Semester at Sea trips, you get to meet people outside of your friend group.
The next morning we had a traditional Bulgarian breakfast. Which was not good. But I suffered through. Then we got on a bus and took ridiculously winding roads up a mountain to a small Ethnographic preserve called Etar. It was a lot like a Bulgarian version of the Log Cabin Village. The small town was based around a small river that powered the primitive machines. We enjoyed our time there, not only because it was quaint but also because the weather was great! Finally! It was about 75 degrees with a nice breeze. We stayed for about an hour and a half and packed up the bus to go another hour over the mountains. We stopped at huge Russian style church built on the side of a mountain. It looked like we had stopped somewhere near Moscow. It had the golden onion domes and everything. Even some of the text on the church was Russian. It was beautiful. But we only stopped for about 30 minutes before we drove to the capital of the Valley of the Roses.
Bulgaria is world famous for its rose oil production. All of the rose oil for France and 85% of the world comes from Bulgaria because its of the highest quality. 1 kilogram is worth about 4,500 Euro on world market. Fancy right? In the city, I forgot its name, we stopped at Thracian tomb and another ethnographic preserve. This preserve was designed to demonstrate how rose oil was refined in the middle ages. We got to taste some Rose Brandy, which kind of tasted like you were drinking liquid flower, but it wasn't horrible. The rose preserve also offered some beautiful picture opportunities. All of the flowers in Bulgaria were phenomenal, super bright and healthy. Which was strange seeing as it was late July. After a visit to the gift shop, we got back on the bus for our 3.5 hour bus ride to the seaside town of Nessebar.
Nessebar is really interesting because the whole city is located on a small peninsula, barely 1 square kilometer. And on this square kilometer were 43 churches. The saying among Bulgarian tour guides is, "Nessebar's ABC: Another Bloody Church." Basically the whole city was a giant tourist island. There were all kinds of tourist shops, I bought a fake Armani watch to replace the Timex I lost while cliff jumping. After walking around for a while, we went to dinner at a restaurant right on the ocean. Once we were finished with dinner, we got back on the bus and drove back to the ship.
The next morning, I got up and went to the Varna Grand Mall with a couple other friends who I hadn't seen in a while. I was surprised with how modern the mall was. It looked like a European Ridgmar or North Park. Everything was in Bulgarian, but we made due. Best of all though, there was a target sized super store in the basement so I got to get a 24 pack of Diet Coke to bring with me back on the ship. After shopping, we caught a taxi back to the Explorer and left the city of Varna behind, kind of. We actually anchored out in Varna's harbor for a full 24 hours because the trip between Varna and Istanbul is so short. The ship just now started moving and we will be in Istanbul at 8am tomorrow!
I'll write again after Istanbul!
Robbie
No comments:
Post a Comment