As the trip to Bulgaria was a last-minute decision, I hurried to the bookstore in town as soon as the itinerary has been confirmed to find some information about where to visit, what to see and how to do along the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. As the stretch of coast between Varna and Burgas is a fairly popular holiday destination for the Germans (the former East Germans had been going to Bulgaria's Black Sea coast for holidays since the 1960s, as it was one of the very few foreign destinations that the citizens of the former communist state were allowed to visit), quite a few guidebooks about Bulgaria and its Black Sea coast are available in the German language.
After some cursory readings, I came across a town by the name of Nessebar, just a short journey by bus away from the hotel and casino strip known as the Sunny Beach, which, according to the authors of the guidebook, is worth a visit. The old town of Nessebar, located on an isthmus northeast off the coast of Burgas and connected to the mainland by a causeway, is an UNESCO World Heritage Site well-known for its historical monuments, medieval churches, Byzantine ruins, as well as the presence of large numbers of Black Sea style architectures unique to this part of Bulgaria.
There are frequent public buses from Burgas or Sunny Beach to Nesebar; the journey between Sunny Beach and Nesebar takes about 15 minutes, while it is a 40 minute ride from Burgas, depending on the time of the day. Tickets can be purchased on board from the ticket conductors. Alternatively one can walk all the way from Sunny Beach to Nesebar, although this would take at least an hour. Most buses would stop at the main bus stops outside the city walls and ramparts of Nesebar's old town on the way to/from Burgas or Sunny Beach. As most buses in this part of Bulgaria do not display its destination or stops-en-route in Latin alphabets, it is better to enquire first if the bus stops at the bus stops in front of Nesebar's city walls before you pay for the ticket. In case the bus does not stop right in front of the entrance to the old town of Nesebar, get off the bus at the bus-stop 50m from the beginning of the causeway connecting Nesebar to the mainland, and walk along the causeway until you reach the old town.
Not sure of what to expect of Nesebar, I was not really that impressed by this place at the first sight, as I found it to be a fairly touristic town and a bit lacking in character. Although the houses are indeed unique and the views of the Black Sea very pleasant, unfortunately this place has become overly commercialised. Every corner of the old town is full of shops, bars, restaurants and more shops, and not all shopfronts are well-coordinated, which means there is a great disparity of colours, styles and sizes, all vying for visitors' attention. As a result the entire old town looks far too modern, even disjointed, to my taste.
That being said, there are still some corners inside the old town of Nesebar which warrant a visit. The unique thing about the kind of Black Sea style timber-framed architectures found in great abundance in Nesebar and Sozopol, another Bulgarian Black Sea town famous for its Black Sea style houses is, instead of the entire house being constructed using timber and white-washed mud-plastered walls - a style commonly seen in other parts of the Black Sea region such as the well-known Ottoman houses in Safranbolu, Turkey -, in Nesebar the ground levels of the buildings are constructed using stones and rocks. This unusual mixture of stone foundation and timber-framed white-washed mud-plastered upper parts makes the Nesebar houses special in its own right.
Given Bulgaria's status as one of the world's most important commercial producers of essential rose oil and rose related by-products, it is not uncommon to see huge rose blossom all over Nessebar. Rose oils, fragrance, rose cosmetic and other skincare products can also be purchased in many shops inside the old town of Nessbar at a fair price.
A visit to the old town of Nessebar is incomplete without visit to some of its Byzantine ruins. There are several of them, I found this one, situated on a small hill overlooking the old harbour and the sea the most pictursque of them all. There is a nice little cafe with outdoor seatings available right next to the ruins of the church, and I decided to have a cocktail drink in the sea breeze while hiding away in the shade from the burning afternoon sun of the Balkan.
Old churches dotted the city centre of Nessebar, which offers a good glimpse into the architectural style of Byzantine, medieval and early Eastern Orthodox Christian buildings in this part of the Balkans.
Even prior to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria has long been a popular tourist spot for visitors from the former Soviet and Eastern Bloc. As the former Yugoslavia became a no-go area following Tito's deteriorating relationships with Moscow, the beautiful Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, with its soft white sandy beach and warm waters, became the destination of choice for those living inside Communist-controlled Eastern Europe who yearned for the fresh, salty smell of the sea.
With the opening of Eastern Europe in the aftermath of the collapse of the region's former communist regimes and Bulgaria's accession to the European Union, the country's Black Sea coast is now full of tourists from all over Europe. Although some of the tourist infrastructure are dated from the pre-1990 era, the whole old city of Nessebar has become sufficiently capitalist in the last 20 years that it is now difficult to envisage how the place might have looked like during its communist days. If anything, this place is more capitalist than most places I had seen on the Balkan Peninsula: it seems no streets or buildings inside the town centre is not connected to the tourism business. Facades of traditional wooden buildings are now draped with shop signs, colourful fronts and other gimmicks aimed at attracting attentions from passing tourists. To be honest, some quarters of Nessebar have sadly become so overtly commercialised and kitschy, it risks losing its original flavour, and the whole place now feels like a huge open-air bazaar plus tourist amusement park.
There is even a restaurant serving Vietnamese food in downtown Nessebar; not sure how the food would have tasted like :b
For those who like to hang out in pubs and bars for a bit of fun in the evenings, welcome to Nessebar. Along the scenic harbour front are numerous pubs and bars offering alcoholic drinks, live music and other kinds of entertainment for those who are in search of some active night life.
As I had neither interest in noisy pubs nor active night life, I opted to walk all the way back to my hotel along the scenic waterfront, passing by the landmark of Nessebar, a huge Black Sea style wooden windmill erected next to the causeway connecting Nessebar to the mainland. In the afternoon many residents and tourists strolled along the waterfront, jogging, cycling, or simply walking their dogs.
Although I myself am not too fond of this town, it is nevertheless an interesting experience to visit this part of the Black Sea coast, having been a regular visitor to Turkey's Black Sea coast over the last few years, and see what the fuss about Nessebar is al about. But one thing is for sure: both the weather and the beach on this side of the Black Sea are certainly far better than on the Turkish side of the sea.
Copyrights@2012. All text and photos by YC Cheng. All Rights Reserved.
Copyrights@2012. All text and photos by YC Cheng. All Rights Reserved.
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