What to see in Bulgaria Pt. 4: Southern Black Sea Resorts

After telling you some stuff about the beautiful Bulgarian mountains, I would like to mention interesting places at the sea side. Bulgaria has a sea and it is the Black Sea. It is kind of closed and it resembles a lake. As far as I know, it used to be a lake some thousands of years ago. That is why it is less salty than many other seas. The whole of Eastern Bulgaria has no border with another country, but has the sea. If you want to visit a certain sea resort, you have a vast variety of choice. The problem is that the Bulgarian sea has been filled with enormous hotels in the last twenty years. It is a bit difficult to find good places where you could have a calm break or camp with friends. On the other hand, if you know  the proper places, you can do both. If you are looking for a party, then do not worry, there are many party places  at the Black Sea resorts. Let us start from the southern part.

You can go to Tzarevo and Arapya. Tzarevo is a small village, calm and beautiful.  In the summertime there are tourists, so when I say “calm”, I do not mean it is completely empty.  It is just not so full of disco clubs as other resorts. Also, it is not big. The great thing about Tzarevo, in my opinion, is  that you can find some nice beaches in the area. There are bigger sand ones and there is one, which is small and full  of little stones. I have also seen Black Sea dolphins in the Tzarevo area. There is one magical place in Tzarevo. You have to go from the “Old” town to the “New” town and there is a church. The church is a bit isolated and looking at the sea. It is interesting because right above its door there is a pirate sign: a skull and two crossed bones. I have  never seen this sign or symbol (not sure how to call it,  but I am sure you know  what I am talking about).  It is very beautiful at sunset and when the moon is full.  Definitely worth seeing.

Then there is Arapiya. Arapiya is or used to be a camping area.  Now, if you like camping (tents and stuff), Bulgaria has  a variety of amazing places where you could go  camping. Arapiya is one of them.  It is  a small bay with a nice sand beach you will love.  The area is full of caravans and  tents. Most of the visitors are Arapiya  veterans and love the place. It is one of those  places that has become a traditional destination for some free spirited Bulgarians  who love  camping. The problem with Arapiya is  that hotels and restaurants appeared and kind of ruined its beautiful wild spirit. Stupid, I would say. Still, if you want to go, you will like it. It is very beautiful. If you are a fan of  bars and restaurants, there is one popular bar the “locals” (a.k.a. the typical Arapiya visitors) love and go to every day to drink beer and to eat at lunch and dinner time. Then there is Pomero, which is a new fancy beach bar.  If I have to be honest it does not fit with Arapiya’s idea but it is a very nice place, especially by night. There are some other nice bars, as well as two or three shops where you can buy some products.  You have to pay for setting your tent but the price is about  ten leva or five Euros per tent per day, so if you share with one or two fiends,  you will not pay a lot. The local shops offer sort of cheap bread, rice, fruit, vegetables, spaghetti, and so on, so  you could organize yourself a really cheap vacation at the sea side.

If you go to the north, you will reach Lozenetz and Kiten. I have been to Lozenetz like once but I know it is also some people’s favorite place and that you can go kite-surfing there.  Bulgaria does not have very good kite-surfing destinations but  I have heard Lozenetz is ok. Kiten is a bit more touristic village. It is one of Bulgaria’s popular destinations. It is a small village but it has enough  small shops, bars, and restaurants. To me, Kiten is a diving destination. It is where I started diving for the first time and I loved it. The diving center I took a course at is named Marina. If you are into diving, you could visit them.  They offer both courses and one time dives. The Black Sea is not the perfect diving destination because there are not so many stuff to sea, and because the water is not so clear. Still, it is interesting to dive there, because it is different than other places. Also, if you decide on a night dive, you can see the plankton glow in the dark, which is impressive.

There are other villages and small  towns on the way and they all resemble Kiten and Lozenetz. Of couse, each and every place is charming in its own way, but  the Southern Bulgarian sea side could be quickly described as happy, loud, full of bars, restaurants, disco clubs, and  small shops which offer a great variety of stupid small souvenirs.  Most villages have bigger restaurants with live music. There are also the very typicalkapancheta or small restaurants which offer a few very typical dishes.  Yes, in Bulgaria we are used to  eating certain stuff at the sea side. First, there istsatsa. It is a sort of very small fish, which  has usually been fried. You could eat it with some beer  and it resembles French fries. It is so small, salty and fried that you have to eat it in the same way. Then  you can ordertarator:a cold soup, made of yogurt, cucumbers, garlic, and walnuts (these you will not usually find  in restaurant producedtaratorbecause they are expensive). Usually,taratoris eaten in bowls but when you  order it at a restaurant at the sea side, you   can ask for it to be in a big glass cup. You can drink it  and it is very refreshing. You could also order some of the typical Bulgarian salads, such as Shopska, Ovcharska, Jatvarska, etc. There are many other stuff you could choose from at  sea side restaurants, but the ones I mentioned are like  very “traditional” for the Bulgarian tourists at the sea side.

At the middle of the Black Sea’s cost you will find Bourgas. It is one of Bulgaria’s largest cities and I like it. It has very nice central part, namedMorskata gradinaor the Sea Garden. It is a sort of a park which is situated right next to the sea coast. Bourgas is nice  city to visit but in my modest opinion, it is not the best place to go if you are looking  for sea side vacation. The beach is not very clean and the whole place is not the most typical  tourist destination (at least not for Bulgarian tourists). There are better resorts not far from it. You could go to Pomorie, which is a nice little town about fifteen or twenty kilometers away from Bourgas. Pomorie is famous for it… mud. That is right.  There is mud at the sea coast which heals certain bone and muscle problems. The summer of 2013 there was a nice, smiling guy who offered “mud procedures”. You pay him one lev (or fifty Euro cents) and he puts mud all over your body.  You lie down calmly, until he tells you that you are ready to go.  Then you can go and wash yourself. I do not know, to me it sounds like a lot of fun J J J. Then there is one of the most  famous Bulgarian sea resorts: Sunny Beach. Why  is it famous? Because it offers wild parties all day and night long and because booze there is very, very cheap.  Sunny Beach is famous or better said notorious in some countries outside Bulgaria as well.  Many teenage tourists from England, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and so on  come to Sunny Beach with one and only one idea: to drink and to party.  When I was a teenager,  I loved Sunny Beach,  I  admit. Now, I do not like it so much because it is very dirt and it looks horrible in the mornings.  I still like the fact it is very alive during the summer (I have heard it is completely empty during the winter though). There are all sorts of bars, which offer promotions and Happy Hours. The bad thing about it is that  if you get two drinks at the price of one, you will not get a lot of alcohol. Bartenders are smart and they put the alcohol, necessary for one drink into two glasses. Then they fill it up with ice and coke or juice (depending on the type of cocktails you have ordered). The other trick you should be aware of is that there is a lot of fake alcohol and cheap Bulgarian booze put into fancy bottles.  Fake booze is easy to recognize because it tastes awful, but many people buy it and get deadly drunk.  Most of the central part of Sunny Beach is meant for foreign tourists. Then you have certain fancy bars and clubs that foreigners never visit, but rich Bulgarians adore. There is one very popular musical genre in Bulgaria, namedchalga. It resembles Serbia’s turbo folk (if you have ever heard of it)  and it is characterized by gypsy sounds, mixed with some traditional sounds. Then you add a fancy looking video of cheaply looking women and there you have it.Chalgasingers are always sexy but in an aggressive way. They  have big fake boobs, long fake nails and hair, fake eyelashes and, very high heels, big silicone lips and not a lot of clothes on. They have  a huge fan base. Many Bulgarians adorechalga,despite the fact its morals are not to be set as an example.Chalgadivas would usually sing about  cheating, the importance of money, and how heart-broken they have been left. So, when you go to Sunny Beach or any other town in Bulgaria, you will find  a variety ofchalgaclubs, where the only music you could  listen to ischalga.If you are a foreigner, especially an Erasmus student,  you should probably go one of these clubs because (unfortunately)chalgais very  typical for Bulgaria and you might be interested to see what it sounds and looks like. In Sunny Beach clubs like that are: 4as Pik, Multiplace, and some others.  If you like techno music than you are lucky.  Sunny Beach has two of the best  techno clubs in Bulgaria. One of them is called Cacao Beach and the other one is Bedroom. They are actually together and they are situated right next to each  other on the beach. Bedroom has great atmosphere. You could sometimes go to a party there because they invite DJ’s. Cacao Beach is, however, the place. It is famous  for itsSummer Solar Festival at which many famous DJ’s come to perform.  You could go to a party with Armin van Buuren, Tiesto, Roger Sanchez, David Guetta, and many more. Since the parties are at the beach, the whole sensation is great. The entrance price depends. If you buy your ticket online in advance it would be about fifteen to twenty Euros. If you buy it at the entrance the same day it is maybe about thirty or forty Euros. In my opinion, the parties are definitely worth it.

Sunny Beach does not stand alone. It used to be near three other villages: Sveti Vlas, Nessebar, and Ravda. In time all these became connected. More and more buildings, houses, and huge hotels appeared and now you cannot really tell where does one village end and where does the other begin. Ravda is the farthest one. It has nothing special about it. Then there is Nessebar. It has an old and a new part. The so-called “Old Town” is amazing to see. I believe it forms part of UNESCO’s important world sites. Nessebar’s “Old Town” is situated one a small peninsula. Its houses are very old and in the typical Bulgarian style (wood and stone). It is very beautiful and I am sure you will really like it. In the center there is an old church which is interesting to see. The whole “Old Town” is very peculiar and worth visiting. Since it is situated at the Black Sea sea side it is full of restaurants, small shops, and bars. The most famous and interesting bar is Michael’s. The bar is very difficult to find, so you will have to ask. It has been made to resemble a cave. There are cave-looking walls and water running down. There is a small lake with turtles as well. Even the typical cave shapes and formations, such as stalactites and stalagmites have been recreated for the purposes of the bar. The “New Town” is nothing really special. It offers the normal for the sea side bars at which you could have a cocktail with friends.

Then there is Sveti Vlas or St. Vlas. It is famous for its yacht port. It has been built by two brothers with unclear past and supposed connections to the mafia. There are several very expensive bars and shops right next to the port. You cannot imagine what cars park there. I have seen  tourists take pictures with some of the half a million Euro cars. Some of them are so rare that I have never even heard of them. The yacht port has been divided into two parts. There is one part which you could enter. You can see the yachts there. Then there is the VIP part which you cannot enter. The most peculiar yacht belongs to the founders of the port and it looks like a nineteen or eighteen century wooden boat. It is very interesting. The beach next to the port is nothing really special but it is ok I guess. There is one nice beach bar and one expensive restaurant. The village of St. Vlas is nothing special. It has one central street and then it has small hotels and guest houses. You could find cheap places to stay. 

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