Date: June 28th to July 2nd, 2023

Bus to Burgas

After those few days in Istanbul, it was time to pack our luggage and start the next phase of our adventure: taking a bus to Burgas, Bulgaria, to visit my mom for a few days. This would be Sandra's first ever visit to Bulgaria. The reason we opted for a bus (with the same AdaTur company that I used to come with my mom for the cruise is that there does not exist a more convenient route. Despite Burgas and Istanbul being fairly close to each other, there is no direct flight between the two airports. There also isn't a ferry as far as I know. So, instead of what would be an hour flight, you are forced to endure a 7 hour bus trip. This time is inflated by the multi-hour queue at the border. You definitely need to pack a ton of patience! But I guess that's just how things are here and everything is more laid back. Not only was our bus extremely behind schedule getting into Burgas, the bus driver decided to take almost an hour long dinner break some 15 minutes out of town. I don't understand why he didn't just go Burgas first to let people off, and then had his dinner there.

Burgas

We spent the night at Hotel Burgas, where I also stayed on my first ever trip to Bulgaria in 2021. This is the hotel that looks very similar to the Hotel Lux in my Slovak hometown of Banska Bystrica. After checking in, we walked around the downtown area where there are many outdoor bars open late. Here we grabbed a refreshing beer and tasty Bulgarian food. The next morning we went for a run in long beach-side public park. Burgas is a very livable city and a good choice for retirement for those looking for a more relaxing lifestyle.

Nesebar

We next took a cab to the airport to pick up a rental car. We then visited Nesebar, a UNESCO world heritage site. Settlement in this ancient city can be traced back to 2000 BCE. This is so insane to me. Basically, now in the year 2024, there has been as much civilization "after Jesus" (common era) as before. It later became an important trading post during the Greek realm. It later became part of the Byzantine (East Roman) empire and many of remaining landmarks date back to this era. The 19th century saw the addition of various wooden houses which remain to this day. During the summer months, Nesebar is very popular with tourists due to its close vicinity to the Sunny Beach resort area. For a more quaint experience, one may want to visit Sozopol south of Burgas, which is a similar ancient city built on a rock outcropping poking out in the Black Sea.

Lozenets

We next drove down Lozenets, where my mom has been living in her retirement. Since the apartment is quite tiny, we ended up staying at the fancy Oasis Resort. It is part of a larger Oasis complex that also features residential Oasis Beach Club, several restaurants, and even a campground. This is basically where the Bulgarian rich and famous (but not rich enough to have their own local villas?) stay. The hotel is nice, but we preferred the main Lozenets beach for day time. The resort beach was too quiet, although the pools were packed with families with kids.

Anyway, after checking in, we went to visit my mom. This was Sandra's first time out here so I wanted to show her the apartment. My mom did an excellent job decorating the small space to make it bright and airy. I also took Sandra to Tegel, the local grocery store. We also had lunch at one of the many seasonal restaurants. Bulgarians are really into salads and they are really good at them. I actually very much like this cuisine due to how heavily it is based on vegetables and also fish. Speaking of fish, we also had Sandra try these really weird skinny green fish that are popular here. Even the bones are green. Interestingly, the day of our visit coincided with some dance festival and we saw groups from various regions perform their traditional folk dances. Later we ran into some of the performers while taking sunset pictures. I also got to, unknowingly, say goodbye to my fluffy cat, which has since this visit passed away at the ripe age of 18 years old. I got this cat, with her sister, when I was still working in California. They followed me to the east coast for my Ph.D. and eventually ended up living with my mom when she was still in the D.C. area. They then made their way to Europe, to an apartment in Slovakia and later a house, then Czech republic, and finally Bulgaria. Those cats had traveled more than some people. The other "skinny" cat, also ended up passing away couple months after Fluffy.

Besides this, we spent our time in town mostly relaxing at the beach. Neither of us are into sunbathing, but it was still nice being able to just relax on the sand next to the warm sea. However we discovered a peculiar thing. The water, while of very comfortable temperature, was full of these tiny "bugs" (likely some crustaceans) that kept biting us. They didn't draw blood or leave any mark but it was still annoying. They seemed to be concentrated mostly in the shallow part so once you got further in, you were in the clear. I also managed to capture a nice picture of a jelly fish by just randomly sticking the GoPro in the water.

People watching here can be fascinating! Below are some samples from the beach "Gypsy" bar to show the local clientele. You definitely see more upscale look than you find at other Bulgarian resort towns like Sunny Beach, which tend to be dominated by foreigners looking for a cheap holiday. Lozenets is more the destination for the well off locals, and although you do hear the occasional foreign language (but not English, that is very rare), most people seemed to be Bulgarian. The outfits are also quite interesting and much more revealing than what one may find in the US. This was also true for staff: the lady in the octagonal sunglasses in the last picture was the hostess. And it was also true for men, as the picture in the second row clearly illustrates.

Sofia

Then after those two full days in Lozenets, it was time to say good bye and once again travel towards our next destination: Rome. We had a direct Ryanair flight out of Sofia, so we first had to get there. The 4 hour drive to Sofia gave us the opportunity to see a bit more of this fascinating country. Unfortunately there was no time to stop anywhere, nor to to make detours to famous places like Plovdiv or Bansko - next time. We only had a bit of time to visit Sofia's Alexander Nevsky cathedral, where an attendant was strictly enforcing another no photography rule. I did however manage to sneak a picture. We also visited the Russian-themed Church of St. Nicholas the Miraclemaker. We then dropped the car off and made it aboard the Ryanair flight. This was by now my third time flying this popular European low budget carrier but it was Sandra's first. The seats are definitely something to get used to. Not only they don't recline (which is fine with me, I don't recline my seats anyway), they have the cushioning of a typical Metro train plastic seat. But the reason we chose Ryanair is that they were the only airline serving the Sofia to Rome route without needing a layover. The same is true for the Bratislava to Burgas route. I guess it's ok to put up with awful seats if it means your total flight time is 2 hours instead of 7.

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