I start with a few lengths of the pool:
I love swimming first thing in the morning. It's an exercise that wakes you up and that you don't mind doing because the water is so refreshing. I attempt to swim lengths of the very small pool until I'm tired enough to feel exercised and then go for a shower.
Today, I've decided to head into town and do the touristy sites to get them over and done with. I have the lonely planet of Bulgaria and I'm going to have a look at some of the historical monuments it describes:
Clichéd as the lonely planets have become, it's a good way to have information at hand when you're exploring. The information is usually pretty honest, and you can get a little history lesson without getting too bored. The map's alone were worth it for Varna and eventually I was giving directions to Bulgarians.
I've decided to walk into the town along the beach. It's still early, so the sea looks lovely with a morning haze:
The path slowly winds down the hill towards the beach, where I walk along and see the various bars, which sit along this stretch of beach - they are all closed and cleaning up ready for a day of business:
On the beach theres already people lazing around, and groups of older people sitting in the fresh mineral springs:
They look quite refreshing, but the chemicals which pump through them stink of eggs.
From here I head up to the park. It's called Primorski(Which I think means "sea garden"). The park is huge, and full of things for people to do. Today appears to be the lac market, and theres lots of old women selling doillies and tablecloths:
I wander through while my iPod feeds me with a little Soundgarden. It's starting to get really hot.
I come accross the Copernicus Observatory. I don't go in, cos it's all in Bulgarian, but I take a photo of the Copernicus statue outside which can go beside my similar photo from Warsaw:
Eventually, I pop out of Primorska and get the map out to find my bearings and work out where I can go and see. I've popped out at Place Ekzarth Josef, where I refill my water bottle at a fresh spring, Then I head up a street which appears to be called "the 27th of July". From here I get out onto Knyaz Boris I. I know this street from yesterday. It's the main shopping street, and has, at it's centre, St Nikolai Church where the wedding will be tomorrow. I'm now hungry, so despite being tempted by the easiness of MacDonalds,:
, I head into BMS, where we ate yesterday. I start with "govorite li angliyski?". i'm in at the deep end. None of thr four staff speak English. I prepare my requests in the queue. I successfully order Shopska Salata and Shkembe Chorba, with some khlyap(Bread) and a beer to wash it down.:
After some food, I'm ready to continue the Lonely Planet tour of Varna. I head up to the Archeaological Museum. The father of the Dutch family raved about it at dinner last night, and the lonely planet describe it as a must see. The building is a very regal and imposing structure and is a relic in itself. I'm still lapping up the cyrillic, and the sign looks great:
Inside are various relics which have been found in and around Varna during the past 9000 years or so. The exhibits are in chronological order and there are old tools and recepticles from the first settlers. These then blend into bronze tools and more sophisticated patterns from when the Greek empire swallowed up Bulgaria.
The museum is a little dull(Lighting wise), but the relics are quite interesting. Maybe I've overdosed on museums too many times in my life to get to excited by how old a coin or a spear tip is. Eventually we get into recognisable things. You're not mean to take photos, but heres, one of some headstones which used to decorate buildings in memory of the dead:
The real stuff in this museum is the gold which they have. The gold is reported to eb the oldest gold worked by human hands in the world. Theres loads of it, and what makes it really amazing is the detail. It's from about 4000BC, and they seem to have had an ability to make microscopic detail on jewellry.:
In particular there is an Angel which needs a Microscope to see the detail. You don't imagine people in 4000BC being so cosmetically minded.
After this, nothing is that impressive, and I'm glad to get outside to some light again.
One more tick on the Lonely Planet, and it's back to wandering again.
I walk back across the centre of town aiming for the Roman thermae remians of some baths. They are not however the Roman baths, which are a seperate set of ruins that I've yet to get to. Wandering done the little streets stryingt o find the entrance, I wonder if I'm already there, as all the streets are dug up and everything seems to be in ruins:
Eventually, I come across a sleepy little ticket booth which is surrounded by the Roman ruins. I pay for my ticket an guide leaflet over a sleeping kitten, which doesn't wake up even though I'm paying over the top of it, and the woman sat the leaflet on it. This kind of sums up the sleepy aspect of my day touring and Varna in general:
I seem to be the only person in the whole grounds. It really feels strange being a tourist here, you hardly see anyone else as white as a scotsman or walking around with a lonely planet. The beggars seem to have noticed this to. I see them looking at the whiteness of my calves and then making a beeline for me.
Anyway. I wander round the ruins of the various parts which make up a Thermae; Tepidarium, Frigidarium, Caldarium. The Romans were very advanced, we just have big pool for lane swimming and childrens pool. The most impressive thing about the ruins are their age. There isn't really that much to see. The most impressive thing is their age(200 AD). Nonetheless it's really peacful walkinga round these vast structures of a civilisation long gone:
After this peacfulness, I tick off my lonely planet and head further down the street. The Roman baths are down here. They are not as old as the Thermae, and consist of little more than foundations. It's amazing how blase the Bulgarians(And now I) am about ancient relics when the pickings are so rich. I tick it off anyway:
From here, I walk towards the cranes, and get down to the path which leads along beside the beach. This then leads into primoski, and lets me head back to the hotel. It's coming up on 2pm, and I've already seen most of the major Lonely Planet attractions.
It's a 45 minute walk back to Morskata Gradina where we are staying, but my iPod still has ibattery, so I enjoy the iWalk with a little Silverchair:
When I get back to Villa Maxim, almost everyone is around the pool and wonder where I've been all day. Various people have been arrivinga ll day, and theres a now a dutch friend of the bride's who I have met a few times in Amsterdam. Obi Wan and his dutch mate are very pleased when I quickly change into my swimming shorts and jump in the pool for a refreshing dip. We then mess around in the pool playing with the kids until it's time for dinner:
Dinner is a quick trip into town while The bride sorts out some last minute wedding things, and we get a bite to eat in BSM again. I don't mind having eaten here so many times in such a short space of time, cos they have a great selection of fresh food, and it feels truely Bulgarian, also at about 8 Euros for four people to eat dinner, you can't complain about the price either.
Once we get back to the hotel, we head down to the bars and clubs around the beach where I'd been that morning for some drinks. While I'm waiting for everyone to get ready, I bump into the Groom's family. I know the Groom's brother from Amsterdam, but I now get introduced to the Groom's mother and Father and the brother's girlfriend. They are all great fun, very friendly. There is little English spoken by anyone except the brother and his girlfriend, but we manage to speak about Bagpips, kilts, and Veliko Tarnavo where they are from:
It is famously beautiful, and one of the reason's I want to go back to Bulgaria; I know that there is so much more to see. I have been invited by the father to visit them, but only on the condition I bring a Bulgarian bride to translate. I'll do my best!
We make it to a club/bar called the Copa Cobana. We are joined by a Spanish Bulgarian couple who have just arrived. They live in Valencia, and speak only Spanish and Bulgarian. They are however very friendly and great fun - despite the langauge barriers. We are also joined by many of the groom's friends who I hadn't met until now. They are great fun, and real seem to know how party. Eventually we decide to hit the hay, but only after the groom has shown me a pop corn stall that him and his mate(Who I now know in Amsterdam) set up about 5 years previous. It was meant to make them money on the side when they were students. Once they left varna, they put a padlock on it and assumed they'd be back. The stall still sits there untouched with the same padlock on it. They still have the keys so I imagine it could be very funy to just turn up one day and opne up for business again. The people who have built bars around it since would be shocked.
Life seems to be very free and easy here.....
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