Sunny Beach, Bulgaria - July 2007
Dogrose

Yesterday Yorkshire, England today Sunny Beach, Bulgaria! Yes we’re here at Bulgaria’s famous resort sunning our selves with the other million tourists.
We’ve only been back from our 3 month tour of Central America 7 weeks but as most of the UK seems to be underwater due to the relentless rain this summer we decided we’d had enough. So, a quick flick through last minute travel sites and here we are, 14 nights of sea, sand and glorious sunshine thanks to Balkan Holidays.com.

Although the holiday was a last minute decision the idea of coming to Bulgaria wasn’t. We’ve been talking about checking the country out for property as an investment ever since we sold our beloved home in Scotland. We found our selves with 3 weeks between commitments in the Uk and faced with the choice of just hanging around, lodging with inlaws and getting wet every time we left the house or sweating our way around a country that nods their heads for no and shakes them for yes - well - no contest really!

Normally we wouldn’t be doing the package thing but after checking out the price of flights (expensive) we managed to find a last minute holiday, 14 nights B&B, 2 star hotel allocation on arrival for £305 each (including booking fee). We had a choice of Sunny Beach (at an extra £10 each) or just choosing the Bourgas area. I choose the later on the assumption that we would probably end up at sunny beach anyway and I was right.
The Globus hotel is actually 4 star, tv, aircon, mini bar and almost overlooking the beach. Very nice after the type of place we often found ourselves in around Mexico. We actually feel like we’re on Holiday. Not that this is meant to be a holiday!

The flight from Manchester arrived into Bourgas airport around 11pm local time. It was a good flight on which I got pleasantly drunk. That is one of the plus points about package holidays, you’re cushioned every step of the way so you can afford to let your defenses down and party a little.
I very rarely drink on flights but when I saw they we’re selling Boris Jelzin vodka in their duty free section I just couldn’t resist. I have to say that it is a rather nice vodka and with a name like that you’ve got to try it haven’t you?

I regained consciousness this morning at around 11am, having missed our first breakfast and the induction meeting, we organised our selves and went out to survey the area and find food.
There’s no shortage of eateries or bars along this strip, in fact it looks a fun place to come if you’ve only got a couple of weeks vacation. It’s certainly hot but then this is the hight of season!

We stumbled into a nice looking bar called “The corner”. All the waitresses we’re young and slim and dressed in the type of provocative outfits that you could only get away with in a fun kinda holiday resort.
Every time the waitress brought part of our order we were given a receipt which, we presumed, would all be added up at the end to reveal our final bill.
One seafood salad, a salami and cheese toastie, 2 beers, an orange juice and a rather warm frapachino later and we felt sated enough to continue our exploration of the area. We added up all the tiny bits of paper to find that our breakfast/lunch came to a whopping 84 leva (about £28). Shocked but not too surprised after our visit to Playa del Carmen in Mexico, where everything was at least triple the price of the rest of the country, we called the waitress over to settle up. She presented us with another receipt for 21 leva. It turns out that each slip was a new, revised bill, so thankfully, our 14 day exploration of Bulgaria is not going to break the bank after all!