Bulgaria Recap

All the way on to Bulgaria… “I don’t know what to expect for Bulgaria because I know NOTHING about it.”  This is what everyone was saying on ship and our Global Studies professor actually talked about a country we were going to visit before we got there for once because of it! Even so and even after being there for four days, I still feel like I don’t really know much about it.  Bulgaria was the hardest country to get to know because it was masked by tourism.  My three favorite things all could have been done in the United States, so I was kind of disappointed, but at the same time, it was like being in a beach town in Florida, so no complaints there!  Here’s the sccopage:

Day 1 (I don’t remember dates at all at this point anymore! I’ll only know the date before Morocco because that’s my birthday!)-  “Wondrous”

The only thing I had planned today was an SAS trip titled “The Wonders of Bulgaria.”  In the description, they glorified it as an enchanting stone forest in the beautiful countryside followed by the magnificent Golden Sands park.  So we’re thinking in for a gorgeous drive and going into these great national parks, especially because the stone forest was #2 on the top 5 things to do in Bulgaria.  Well, we pull out of Varna and get into the countryside to find that it’s like driving through the Midwest.  It was just like being at home with corn and corn and oh, there were some sunflowers I guess too :)  So we were kinda like okay, well at least this forest thing will be way different.  Nope.  We hop out into the 100 degree hottest-place-I’ve-ever-been-in-my-life desert.  (Foreshadowing of our death in Egypt I’m assuming!)  In this desert are a few stones that look like really crappy ruins that we are so used to seeing.  Major disappointment, but hey, we tried to make the best of it! We had 30 min. of freetime but could only bare walking around for 10 and felt like we saw the gist of that.  Onto stop number two- alright! Golden Sands!  Well, it turns out this isn’t a national park or anything, it’s the tourist capital of Bulgaria! It’s like spring break Bulgaria addition, drunks all over, huge resorts, nothing special! We had 1 hour of freetime here to swim though they never told us to bring our suits and the beach in Varna looks just about the same.  So this trip was kinda of a waste, but much better than being at work still!!

But back to the morning- We had to tender to shore the first day and our ship was parked a mile and a half out there! It was a 15 min. tender ride in those hot, smelly lifeboats, but an experience too.  We had no idea what Varna had to offer or what to see, but I wandered four a few hours with my friend Hillary (who I already have arranged to come to a Badger game on Oct. 17th when we play Iowa, her state).  We hit up a nice coffee shop (the only thing we knew they had because the menu had no english) and found the post office.  Varna has about 500,000 people and this is the central post office (only one on our map), but we walk in and find only a tiny room with one sketchy table and one little old lady! Hillary bought some stamps and we just laughed on the way out.  Also on our map was a bunch of HAPPY signs so we decided to see what those were.  It was an Americanized restaurant, so we ate there and I got a delicious Hoegarten (sp?)- Aimee that’s the one you like right?  It was the best beer I’ve ever had!  Overall the morning was fun but not because of amazing scenery or sights.

Honestly, the highlight of the day was finding free internet on the front steps of the Panoramic Hotel!




Day 2- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Today was kinda a waste in the morning, but everyone just wanted to sleep in and we didn’t feel like there was anything we had to see, so today was the day.  It was actually raining when we finally got up at 10, so we didn’t feel guilty at all!  We putzed around until lunch, then left the ship for BUNGEE JUMPING!!!!  The line was ridiculous because locals kept coming and butting in line (they claimed they had reservation but I don’t think so!) so it was 5:00 before we were up and we got there at 1:30.  Standing in line gets you pretty nervous!  The thing I never thought about with bungee jumping is the fact that you dive headfirst… well if you don’t do it right, you can either over or underrotate in which case you get whipped back around at the bottom! Usually people came back up saying “Oh my gosh that was the sweetest thing I’ve ever done!”  But we saw one girl like separate her shoulder and came up just bawling! Haha  I was the last one in my group to go because everyone wanted to get it over with… everyone went smoothly except for Jon.  He chickens out, gets down, and if you don’t go within 5 min. you lose your 50 Lev.  They say something to him and he gets back up and asks if they’ll pus him, so away he went… feet first! Haha He got whipped so bad but sad it didn’t hurt. 

Mine was smooth, and what a rush that is! I don’t scream on roller coasters or anything so I didn’t think I would, but standing on that bridge looking that 200’ down and having your body say don’t you dare make me is different! As soon as I was away I screamed my brains out!  It wass terrifying and coming back up is all disoriented and the you see the bottom of the bridge and you see stars and you think you’re going to die, and it’s AMAZING! Haha  Definitely the highlight of Bulgaria right here.

I skyped a few friends and called the parents as well, which is awesome to hear everyone’s voices, but also bad because it makes me miss home :) That night was bar hopping which wasn’t very fun because people were pissy, so I just went back early and hit the hay.


Day 3- Oh boy…

I felt really guilty that I had sold my trip to Nessebur and that I was missing out on Bulgarian culture, so I bought another one for $50 that went to Balichek and Kaliakra and also dinner and a show.  Balichek was pretty but nothing special, I just went nuts with the street vendors because I still had 120 Levs of my original 200 (about $150) and the last day is a beach day! I’ve become quite the shopper, let me tell you, it’s fun not being cheap, but as soon as I get back home I know I’ll be worse than usual!  Our tour guide pretty much ditched us and nobody got back to the bus when we were originally told except me and one other girl, and we ended up sitting there for 30 min. waiting for the tour guide as well….

Kaliakra turns out to be just a peninsula that juts out 2 km into the Black Sea.  We pull up and the tour guide says you have 75 min. though there isn’t anything in particular to see… way to sell it… but it was beautiful! There were red cliffs and water and just great views. 

On to the second highlight of Bulgaria.. the shit-show.. We are at this place for hours and they greet us with bread and shots of brandy which was like um… okay!  Nobody expected alcohol on an SAS trip, but it turns out there was all you could drink wine and open bar the entire 4 hours and this was all included along with the dinner and show!  People just went nuts!  The dinner was okay, the show was ridiculous!  It was more like a Vegas show- the girls were basically strippers and there were some random stunts.  My favorite part of the night was watching one of the lifelong learners George.  He’s about 75 years old and he was sitting at a table with a couple of my friends and his wife.  His jaw was just dropped with a cracked smile nearly drooling the entire show! To make it better, his wife’s face was just the biggest scowl you’ve ever seen- It was hilarious!!  (I did find out later he was even making comments like wow they are attractive so it was really awkward for the people at the table!)

The last 90 min. of the show was all American music (live band) and everyone was just drunkenly dancing it was so much fun :)  Overall an interesting, yet fun experience even though it was all something I could have done in the United States again. 

Day 4- Bum

I spent my last 50 Lev at the mini-bazaar and hung out at the beach.. fun fun!

Overall, not too impressed with Bulgarian culture (I still couldn’t tell you what that consists of), but can’t complain because of the spring-break feel to it :)

I don't have any pics of me yet doing this, but this is Amanda from my Cappadocia trip about to BUNGEE JUMP!