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If there’s one overriding characteristic about Bulgarian
tourism, it’s that beyond the ski slopes, few know
much about it. During the Communist era, the Black
Sea coast was the holiday destination of choice for the entire
eastern bloc. You might be expecting a grey, grim,
concrete sprawl…but is that fair? Ruth England went
to find out.
Ask a random group of people to come up with a few
fascinating facts about Bulgaria and chances
are they’d be hard pushed to know what to say. Few
distinct images come to mind; it’s less newsworthy
than the former Yugoslavia, and less
touristy than either Greece or Turkey. Oft dismissed
as little more than a dour, pre-1989 prime ally of
the erstwhile Soviet Union, it is,
in fact, a great open-air museum of Balkan culture
and architecture. Check out the beautiful churches,
fine mosques, pretty villages and folklore by the bucket
load.
Sitting in the far south-eastern corner of Europe, Bulgaria borders Greece, Romania, Yugoslavia, Macedonia and Turkey. Around
85% of the 7.9 million population are
Bulgarian, speaking a Slavic language similar to Russian
or Serbo-Croat.
During the long Communist years, Bulgaria all but
turned in on itself. As the Eastern bloc dismantled
in the late 1980s, much of the Bulgarian economy collapsed.
Market forces have been introduced, albeit more cautiously
than in other former Communist states, and the steady
growth of private enterprise is making its mark.
Progress, such as it is, isn’t entirely welcomed by
some, who blame the inevitable loss of full employment
and security on Bulgaria’s move
towards capitalism. This is still a nation in transition,
but Bulgaria is patently
more open to the outside world, and more visitor-friendly
than ever before. Can tourism help to restore Bulgaria’s fortunes
in the 21st century? Let’s hope so; certainly there’s
enough here to justify a vibrant, successful industry.
The mountainous interior makes this one of Europe’s top
hiking destinations. The long, white sandy beaches
on the Black
Sea coast, where Ruth stayed, is a natural for beach buffs. Indeed,
this coastline was earmarked for extensive tourist
development as early as the 1960s. Better still, it’s
a cheap place to visit. Who knows? Maybe, finally, Bulgaria’s time
has come.
Ruth stayed in Elenite, close
to the fast-growing resort of Sunny Beach, described
by some as the next Costa del Sol. The first
thing to strike Ruth was how far her preconceptions
were from reality. Rather than sitting in the midst
of some urban jungle, her hotel was surrounded by woodland
and a blue flag beach.
That wasn’t the only thing she got wrong. Like many,
she’d assumed it was a fairly chilly nation. In fact,
temperatures regularly hit the 30s in summer, much
like Bulgaria’s neighbours, Turkey and Greece.
One thing she is right about, however, is that this
is still one of Europe’s cheapest
holiday destinations. Ruth stayed for a week at a 4-star
hotel on an all-inclusive basis for around £450. Granted,
4-star in Bulgaria doesn’t
mean quite the same here as elsewhere, but it’s still
fantastic value.
It’s all too easy to stay put on an all-inclusive deal,
but Ruth decided to see what else was in the area. First,
a trip to Nessebur for lunch. On the 40-minute boat trip, she
asked other holidaymakers what they made of Elenite.
The verdict was resoundingly positive: the food was
good and it was cheap, so they were happy enough. All
in all, they’d got more than they bargained for – and
only in a good way.
Nessebur is
a charming little town, with echoes
of its Greek, Roman, Turkish and
Bulgarian history. The pretty cobbled
streets and eye-catching architecture
are a far cry from the bleak images
of the communist years.
It’s also a great place to grab a bite to eat; locals
reckon some of the best restaurants in the area are
here. Enter Preconception Number Three, preparing to
crash to the ground: Ruth had assumed that the food
might be a bit stodgy. She was pleasantly surprised;
in one restaurant she counted no fewer than 15 different
salads on the menu.
It’s great for shopping bargains too, with a mean line
in wartime memorabilia. Interestingly, Ruth found that
if you pay in sterling, rather than lev,
the local currency, you’ll get a better price.
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Time to
move on. Ruth joined an all-day jeep safari
into the surrounding countryside. Again,
she was in for a surprise, with vast plains
as far as the eye could see, followed by
rolling hills covered in trees.
Their first stop was at Erketch village.
Bearing more than a passing resemblance to a set
from “Fiddler on the Roof”, just 300 people live
here today – a tenth of the former population.
Most left when farms were nationalised during the
1950s. There are a couple of things to see. One
household makes their own traditional lemonade
(not that there were any lemon groves in the vicinity).
In another area, the village seemed to be frozen
in time. No matter, the visiting Russian tourists
seemed to like it, as they arrived by the busload. |
Varna couldn’t
be more different. Bulgaria’s third
town and the region’s capital is a bustling,
vibrant city. It’s come a long way from its unfortunate
history as a cholera-ravaged garrison town in
Ottoman times. There’s plenty to keep the culture
vultures amused, and great shopping if you prefer
less cerebral distractions. A word of warning,
though. Ruth was approached by a couple of men
offering a very favourable rate to exchange money.
Don’t do it, no matter how tempting it looks.
Black market transactions can easily mean a wad
of newspaper, topped and tailed with a genuine
note. Ruth’s top tip: stick to the banks.
In keeping with much of what Ruth had seen, Varna would
benefit from a bit of tarting up.
That said, the old town has a lovely feel to it. One of the more
unusual features: the outdoor maritime museum, close
to the beach, with its display of Soviet wartime artefacts.
Bulgaria was more
westernised than Ruth had anticipated, yet it still
feels unmistakably eastern European. How long will
it last? Not long, if the major tour operators have
anything to do with it. This place is destined to figure
large on the tourist maps soon.
Ruth England
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