Apparently, sudden holidays leading to four day weekends are a common occurrence in Bulgaria. Well, at least more common than in the U.S. where they never happen. So, for my first four day weekend, I decided to join the group going to Sozopol, a town on the Black Sea Coast. Sozopol is another ancient town founded by Thracians 4,000 years ago. The name was changed to Apollonia after the Greeks moved in 611 BC. After some additional invasions, the name was changed to Sozopol in 330 AD. Like all Bulgaria, the country in charge varied over the years but it is now a great town with several great examples of Turkish inspired Black Sea architecture.
Things started off with misfortune when one of my roommates, who was supposed to transport some of us in her car, Britney Spears, woke up with a fever. Being adaptable as we are, we ended up taking a 6.5 hour bus ride through the lovely Bulgarian countryside, to Burgas, where we caught another bus to Sozopol.
Upon arriving, our hotel, told us that due to some online booking malfunction, our rooms were double booked and we would be staying at the Relax Hotel (yes, that is actually the name. I’ll give you a moment to sing the song to yourself…) just across the street. Now, it is important to remember that we had booked two triple rooms at the original hotel and we were put into three double rooms at the new hotel. More on that later.
We headed out in search of rations and ended up at this restaurant overlooking the beach. Sea breezes, pleasant weather… how did you spend your weekend? I managed to get some spaghetti sans cheese and then we went back to Relax to sleep.
The next morning we ate the interesting continental breakfast where I ended up with warm milk on my cornflakes. Lesson learned: always test the milk. My roommate and I then headed down to the beach to swim. I have a weird complex about aquatic plants touching me, but it wasn’t too bad and the water was really clear (yet I still tripped on a rock and scraped up my shin). Also, I learned the following about beachwear in Europe: 1. It’s optional. 2. If you choose to wear something, a thong, bikini, or Speedo is acceptable regardless of weight or age.
After our swim, I headed into town with two other members of the group where we were shortly stopped by cheesecake and coffee (them) and ice cream (me). It was delicious. After finishing our sugar, we looked around several art galleries around the town and walked back to our hotel along the old fortress wall.
At the hotel, I watched the Bulgarian folk channel, which only shows folk singing and dancing. That night we went out and had pizza because we were getting a little tired of Bulgarian cheese food. After dinner we checked out some artists’ stands and what was taking place at the Apollonia music festival. We found a jazz piano/guitar duo that was playing and went to hear them play. Although I can’t remember their names, the pianist is Bulgarian and quite famous (and really good).
The next morning, after some bad Relax breakfast, my roommate and I went for a swim again, where I was stung by a jelly fish on my hip. I had no idea jelly fish lived in the Black Sea. Checking its biology beforehand didn’t occur to me. It was not as painful as my last jelly fish sting, but I’m starting to think I should swim exclusively in fresh water.
After recovering, we headed back into town where I got ice cream (again) before we headed off to look at more art. A couple of us were really interested in buying a painting while we were there. I bought a really nice one in the impressionist style of a water scene in the ugliest frame I have ever seen. I will be replacing it soon. That afternoon I walked all around Sozopol’s old town and took a lot of pictures.
For dinner, we ate Chinese food and followed it up with the Sentimental Swingers show at Apollonia. It was fantastic. Everyone in the audience was bobbing and swaying to the music and the band was great.
When we got back, the Relax receptionist explained to us that we still needed to pay for one of our rooms, which was weird because supposedly the other hotel had taken care of us. Apparently, we were not supposed to get three rooms. How we were supposed to know is beyond me, seeing as how our original hotel took care of the arrangements. According to the people in my group who managed to straighten it out, Relax was going to call the police on us the next morning. Our original hotel paid for all but one night and so we thankfully stayed out of Bulgarian jail by paying an additional 10 leva.
We left without breakfast the next morning. I haven’t skipped breakfast, unless I was sick, once in the past 25 years. I was not a happy camper. Luckily, someone in my group had a granola bar. I must have looked bad because he pretty much handed it to me without asking if I actually wanted it. It was a good thing too, since I saw a toddler with a pretzel a minute later and I probably would have knocked him down and taken his bread. We did stop for breakfast before getting on the 6.5 hour train back to Sofia. I was very antisocial and glad to be home by the time it was over, but I also really enjoyed the weekend.
