We decided to visit Bulgaria this year as it looked cheap, interesting culturally and likely to still be warm in October when we had to travel.Never having been to a Balkan country before it seemed like a good choice.
We decided to base ourselves on the Black Sea coast and found a nice spa hotel in Nessebar (prefering to stay somewhere away from the crowds in Sunny Beach) The Nessebar Palace Hotel is a Bulgarian 5 star hotel about a mile from the village of Ravda.
Our room was quite spacious with a super-king size bed, large bathroom,safe,mini-bar and balcony. However, after a couple of nights we had to ask to be
moved because our room looked out over the road and was quite noisy. It was also north facing and did not benefit from the lovely sunshine in the afternoon.
The second room was much better,looking out over the pool and the sea which was always remarkably blue and twinkly.
This hotel has a spa centre,indoor and outdoor pools,shops,hairdresser, 2 restaurants a cafe and a pool bar as well as children's clubs and facilities.There was plenty of outdoor seating and loungers , a small park and it was only a few hundred yards to the beach.
Everything was very clean and the staff were obliging and polite. The food was buffet style but very good and the cakes were absolutely delicious.
One criticism would be the coffee which was simply awful and best avoided . We found this to be true elsewhere in Bulgaria as well. If you wanted to join in there were plenty of activities both during the day and at night and the young, lively team of entertainers kept most people happy. It was, however along walk down to old Nessebar and the taxis were quite expensive (bargaining starting at 20 levs for a 5 minute ride)
Luckily the local buses in Bulgaria are fairly frequent and quite cheap.
In Old Nessebar in the evening ,life centre around the bars and restaurants but there are cabaret bars, discos and clubs with exotic dancers in Sunny Beach. The two are connected by land train but for us Sunny Beach looked and felt over commercialised and one can only wonder at what the future will bring as some of the charm seems to have already been buried.
Bulgaria is certainly cheap but prices in the resorts are considerably higher than in more out of the way places.For example a beer in the hotel was 3 levs but up in the mountains only 80 stotinki.
We found the beaches to be lovely with fine golden sand and plenty of water sports on hand for the energetic. There were many abandoned impromptu beach bars which had obviously been used in high season and as our holiday progressed more and more of the shops and bars were closing for the year.Tthe owners disappear back to their mountain villages until the next season.
Initially it was difficult to identify the culture as specifically Bulgarian as the country has experienced a turbulent history and has been conquered many times.However the locals are at pains to point out their revolutionary spirit and in town centres we found many statues honouring famous rebels and patriotic figures.
The art galleries and museums are full of local colour and a wealth of Neolithic and Thracian artefacts and the orthodox churches are beautifully kept and highly decorated. We heard about ,but did not have time to visit, the monasteries at Rila and Bachkovo. Our guide book showed us images of dazzling frescos and we saw for ourselves ornately decorated icons and fascinating relics , even in the smallest of village churches. We saw very few mosques despite five hundred years of Turish occupation.
The most interesting towns were indeed Old Nessebar itself , the old quarter of Plovdiv and Sozopol where the restored nineteenth century houses lined narrow cobbled streets and the Byzantine architecture is beautiful.There are preserved heritage villages such as Bozhentski and Zheravna.
The Turkish and Greek influences came across in the bars and restaurants but but we were disapponted with the food in general apart from the sea food .
Every restaurant seemed to serve the same salad of diced cucumber and tomato topped with grated cheeses- shopska salata- somtimes with the addition of peppers or boiled eggs. Meat was usually grilled and often pork and the soups were hearty with a boiled potato sitting in the middle. The local wine was quite nice but often served too young and the rakiya was too fiery - even the locals dilute it with water.
The most picturesque areas for us were definitely the coast and the mountains. The Balkan range runs across the middle of the country and divides it in two. Inland the scenery is a bit bland and even taking a boat trip up the Virgin river was a disappointment as we had been told we would encounter a wealth of wildlike- we actually only saw a heron and a turtle.
We did not make it as far as Sofia in the west but did take a chair lift and Sliven and saw the Blue Rocks . there was no snow but it was easy to imagine how beautiful the mountains would be if all white in the winter. There is a popular ski resort at Bansko.
It was interesting to see the big old concrete socialist housing blocks which were described to us as matchboxes and to get a sense of Bulgaria's more recent history but for the most part the towns were unattractive , especially the ones with industrial heritage.
We do intend to return but this time for some ski -ing at Bansko and probably visit the capital Sofia or the Valley of the Roses in May when the roses are harvested.
If you are thinking of visiting Bulgaria it's probably better to to go now while there is still an echo of the former communist era and people still talk about life when there were only Russian tourists.
I
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Good review...you are so right about Bulgarian coffee! where does it come from?......
MALU 16.11.2007 20:30
"to go now while there is still an echo of the former communist era" - what is that supposed to mean? I'm sure Bulgarians aren't sad that that era is over, why should tourists want to experience it?
greenierexyboy 16.11.2007 19:47
Have been reliably informed that the skiing is "cheap and basic; good for the absolute beginner"
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Advantages: Cheap hoilday, not overcrowded, friendly people,fantastic food,beer 30p a pint,Not a 'tourist trap' Disadvantages: Street vendors harassing you, hygiene in toilets, quite a long journey, can be crowded at PEAK times
bwsr2 07.07.2001 (08.01.2002)
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Review of General: Bulgaria
Advantages: Cheap hoilday, not overcrowded, friendly people,fantastic food,beer 30p a pint,Not a 'tourist trap' Disadvantages: Street vendors harassing you, hygiene in toilets, quite a long journey, can be crowded at PEAK times
bwsr2 07.07.2001 (08.01.2002)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of General: Bulgaria
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bwsr2 15.02.2004 (05.05.2004)
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