It was raining in Manchester. It was raining everywhere in the UK according to the radio.
It had been raining for almost the whole six weeks we had been back in the UK. Did we care? Not then we didn’t, we were sitting in the airport, watching planes take-off in clouds of spray. Waiting to catch a flight to Bulgaria, where it was rumoured that people were dying of heatstroke. People were drowning in the UK, swept away by floods. We decided to accept the risk of heat-stroke.
The plane was full, full of farting holiday-makers and screaming kids, but a bottle of Boris Jelzin vodka helped us get to Burgas airport. The same bottle helped us onto a green bus that took us through the dark to the Globus Hotel at Sunny Beach. The Globus overlooks the beach, if you get a room on the right side. Our room faces the car park and a pleasant little square lined with restaurants, a hair salon and a travel agents.
We eventually suss that the air-con doesn’t work while the balcony door is open and the room starts to cool. This is the first time for weeks that we’ve been too warm. Nice.

Sunny Beach – July 2007

What a sleep. It’s early afternoon by the time we get out of the room. We’re hungry, so we walk, looking for somewhere to eat. There’s plenty of choice and plenty of places offering five or six hours of Happy Hour.
We get ‘breakfast’ in a place called The Corner. It looks more of a nighttime cafe than a place to get breakfast. The girls wear outfits that look like costumes from a Flintstones movie and the roof in part of the cafe is held up by statues of topless ladies. What the hell, they serve food. Herself orders a salad and I make the mistake of ordering a toasted sandwich of cheese and salami. A couple of beers and a small confusion over the bill later and we’re back on the street looking for a supermarket. There’s no shortage of estate agents and we glance through the photos in the window but most of the adverts are for apartments in the town. We find a shop and buy water and something to add to the remaining vodka.
Even though there’s plenty of people on the beach, the streets are not crowded and there’s a very relaxed feel to the town. We wander for a while but it’s very warm and I should have worn my hat to protect my baldie head, so we retreat back to the hotel for an exiting night in front of the tv.

We spent the first two nights in Tsarichino, the nearest village to Balchik about 3k along the road to Kavarna, at Andy and Rita Hursts property (see Trusthydrania) and if they had had an internet connection in their upstairs apartment we would have stayed a little longer. Unfortunately it was a Sunday when we decided to move, as Kelvin was getting net withdrawals and although Andy was on the phone trying to get the bits to connect us it didn’t look likely to happen until Monday. Their home was a useful location for us though as one of the properties we wanted to view was in the adjoining village Briastovo.

As you would expect for November, most of the hotels by the port were almost empty and willing to negotiate their rates for the rooms.
One hotel that we inquired at in the summer (see Victoria hotel) charged 75 lev a night but at this time of year was willing to drop to 40 lev and offered us a further reduction of 10 lev a night if we were staying for more than a week.
This included breakfast, satellite tv, fridge and net connection although, like most of the smaller hotels we have stayed in around the world, when it actually comes to it the net connection never seems to work. This for us is a problem as most of our work is on the internet and every time it happens we vow that we will not book a room unless we try out our laptops in it first. Needless to say we have never actually done this yet.

There appeared to be a lack of internet cafes around the port area although the Lonely planet states that there is one near the Town hall (maybe it’s a virtual cafe) but we did find one internet gaming hall near the supermarket in town where the owners were most accommodating.

As you would expect of a small fishing port, there isn’t a lot to do in Balchik in the winter months, apart from eat, relax with the locals and take in the sea air – oh – and catch up on your blogging when you get a connection!

Down a little side street close to the city centre you will find a quaint National Revival Period Mansion that was originally built for a Varna merchant (c. 1860) and which is now the home of Varna’s Ethnographic Museum.

It did take a little finding (we walked by it three times) as the entrance is through a small wooden doorway from the street which leads you into a courtyard that could easily be mistaken for a private house.

The interesting and varied displays are set over three floors and reflect the rich material and cultural heritage of the local population during the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.

The ground floor is dedicated to traditional means of livelihood – agriculture, wine making, weaving, iron smelting and fishing.

The first floor has an impressive range of costumes and jewelry and the four rooms on the second floor are laid out with the sort of furniture that you would have found in a house of this period.

Not all of the displays have explanations in English but you can buy a small booklet written in various languages at the ticket desk.

It’s not a huge museum, you can have a leisurely walk around it in an hour but it’s definitely worth a visit.

The museum can be found at: ul Panagyurishte 22, Tel: (052) 630 588

Skiers and snowboarders will be in their element, with thousands of miles of prepared piste that offer a test for all abilities, from green to black. And, for those looking for more than skiing or snowboarding from their holiday, there are a host of other exhilarating activities to try, from reindeer sleigh rides to snowmobiling, or you might care to simply relax in the spa centre of a luxury hotel, in the heart of a postcard-perfect snow-draped resort.

For more information Click Here

Nansi has sent in some beautiful pictures of Veliko Tarnovo.
To view the complete slide show click here

Thank you Nansi.

Those of you who watched the documentary “Bulgaria’s Abandoned Children” shown on BBC2 Sunday 18 November would no doubt be left shocked and disturbed by their plight.

Most of these children have never stepped foot out side since entering the institution. They spend their days rocking back and forth to relieve the boredom, nobody speaks or plays with them and they are so malnourished from their poor diet that many are too weak to walk.

Here is what the director of the documentary Kate Blewett has to say:

“I am overwhelmed by the response to my film Bulgaria’s Abandoned Children. Thank you all for making the effort to write down and share your thoughts and emotions after watching this deeply depressing film. It is the very reaction and help that you can offer that, for me, is the purpose of putting such tough viewing on television. There is really no point in spending months on the road filming and bearing witness to such neglect and unhappiness – if then nothing changes. Perhaps I can take the opportunity to tell you a little more about the actual filming.

Filming was immensely depressing! Day in and day out, watching the children’s empty lives and seeing their minds trying to cope with the total lack of stimulation and love, by self-harming and rocking in such a purposeful and often violent way. I knew their misery was deep-rooted once I learned how long each child had been there. As the filmmakers, we were often in a difficult position because we needed to keep our access open in order to document life in the institute over a period of time, rather than just dropping in and out of the children’s lives. We needed to be calm and unobtrusive so that we did not change the routine, so depicting an accurate picture of life at Mogilino. I must say I did get more and more angry with each visit – frustrated and speechless too, sometimes.

Most of the staff were fairly welcoming – and showed no shame for the way the children’s bodies and limbs were wasting away. It was as if all was fine. This was something I witnessed in China too when making The Dying Rooms – the staff were not embarrassed to let us film dying children, as it seemed the norm. The Director’s absence in Mogilino and her lack of information about individual children said it all.

I think something very important to mention is that to anyone visiting the institute it would look “pretty ok” on first viewing – because the walls are painted, the place is bleached and the children have clothes on their bodies and quite often shoes on their feet. The actual physical environment is surprisingly acceptable – because the staff know how to clean! What really matters is the condition of the children themselves – wasted limbs, bed sores, chronically dry and cracked skin, soggy thumbs that are sucked for a long period of time without medical help, relentless rocking and self-harming, cuts and bruises to the body.

The children lack access to sunlight and fresh air and they are deficient in vitamins, mineral and nutrients for essential growth – so they are all a lot smaller than they should be. The Director and staff put this down to “their disease”. Their disease is the institute.

The children that particularly disturb and upset me are the blind. Imagine being dumped by your parents just for being blind and then living the rest of your childhood in the darkness at Mogilino. We all know what blind people are capable of. But not at Mogilino. They fade away. Some die. Vasky and Stoyan will die if they stay there.

The film has had a massive impact both here and in Bulgaria (although it has not yet been screened on television in Bulgaria it has been all over the newspapers) and I am exploring how best to help the children of Mogilino and others like them elsewhere in Bulgaria. The charities and organisations linked to on this page are doing marvellous work and I hope to respond to your many letters by providing more information, as well as updates about my personal plans to help the children, on our production company’s website.

Warm regards, Kate”

For more information on how you can help visit The campaign for Bulgaria’s abandoned children

The Viktoria is a medium sized, family run, two star hotel one row back from the sea. It offers basic, reasonably priced, clean rooms and apartments. It has large double rooms, several studio and two bed apartments and one three bed apartment, the hotel also boasts a jacuzzi which I believe is available to guests in the summer season.

The double rooms are large and clean, with balconies, fridge, air-con, tv and phone and, while we were there, Hristo the owner was installing an internet system that runs through the electricity cable enabling you to plug your lap top into a socket in the room to get on line. There may be a charge for this service though so check before you surf.

Prices for the double rooms start at around 80 lev (40 euro) in season including a simple, buffet breakfast and come down considerably in the winter months where you will be served a basic but adequate breakfast which varies from day to day.

The hotel has been known to lock it’s doors late at night in the winter if there are few guests staying so if you are planning a night on the town you might be advised to inform reception before you leave.

The family are quite accommodating and showed no objection to one of the guests bringing his dog, although this might be a different matter in the summer when the hotel is full. The hotel does get very busy in the high season so it is advisable to book in advance.

Contact details:
Family hotel Viktoria, 1 Primorska str, Balchik 9600, Balchik, Tel: +359 579 75593; e-mail: victoriabalchik@yahoo.com
Web site: www.victoriabalchik.hit.bg

There is something to be said for being an out-of-season tourist. There are the occasional disadvantages, especially in places like Tunisia where you are the only target for persistent souvenir sellers, but most of the time it can be a wonderful experience.

Quite often you get considerably reduced rates at hotels which you normally couldn’t afford and where you don’t need to book in advance because you are possibly the only guests, you have the tourist attractions all to yourself and can wander around at your leisure in an often more comfortable climate and you also have the undivided attention of the locals who are usually friendlier than in the height of season and are willing to sit and chat about their lives and country.

This is what we found when we visited the beautiful mountain town of Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria and lunched at the oldest mehana in town.

We were making our way down some precipitous steps at the side of the building which over looks the Yantra valley when the owner appeared out of a gate with a largish chunk of wood in her arms.
She was obviously pleased to see tourists in November and greeted us with cries of “Welcome, Welcome, please come, come” and scuttled back up the steps beckoning us to follow. We presumed she was the owner of a souvenir shop and as we were more interested in filling our stomaches than our suitcases we kept climbing down the steep steps. She carried on calling her cries of welcome and not wanting to appear rude we decided to take a look at what she had to offer, hoping to have a quick look around and make our escape.

She led us, not into a souvenir shop like we imagined, but a wonderful rustic taverna with a log fire in the corner which she fed with the piece of wood she had been carrying.
It was a cosy room dotted around with old pieces of Bulgarian life and a huge painting of what may have been a scene in the taverna many years ago (obviously by a famous painter as she said his name with pride but which unfortunately I didn’t quite hear).
She gestured to a table by the fire and as we settled in the warmth she hurried off to get menus.

As we perused what was on offer she suggested a dish of pork and sauerkraut, which she informed us wasn’t on the menu, and homemade pumpkin pie to follow. We took her up on her offer of the stew but declined the pie and within a few minutes two bowls of food were on the table in front of us.
The stew was luke warm, which seems to be quite common in Bulgaria, but tasted so good that we couldn’t resist but try the pie as well. It was a delicious mixture of filo pasty, pumpkin, walnuts and cinnamon not too dissimilar to a tart tatin.

As we were the only people in the tavera she took great delight in chatting away to us and although her English was pretty limited (and our Bulgarian non-existent) she had a dictionary in hand to help with words that she didn’t know.
She told us that she was 62, worked the place on her own, that she was waitress, cook and cleaner and that someone named Chico – maybe her husband or son – made the Rakia that she had offered us with our meal and which we had declined – well it was only one pm in the afternoon and the thought of negotiating the steps out side the building slightly worse for wear didn’t bear thinking about.

She loved music especially Elton John and Boy George and made a limp wristed gesture that is obviously universal as she jiggled around the room laughing.
She took great pleasure in informing us that she had once served Edith Piaf although she didn’t say if she had dined on pork and sauerkraut and pumpkin pie. You don’t know what you might have missed Edith and, if still alive today, might have sung a different song “one, one regret – I only have one regret”!

After I’d explained to her that I was a cook too she led me to the kitchen where she explained to me how to make the pumpkin pie, bringing down the ingredients off the shelves for me to recognise and asking the names in English.

It was a lovely experience and a memorable meal which certainly could not have happened in the summer where she would have been rushed off her feet serving the hordes of tourist who want to eat in the oldest tavera in town.

The Starata Mehana can be found at Stefan Stambolov opposite the old post office in the old part of town (look out for a viewing platform of the valley between two Etched walls of buildings. The tavana is down the steps at the side of the platform). Enjoy!

I would not say that this hotel is bad value for money as rooms in general are not particularly cheap in the city centre but if you’re planning on staying more than a couple of nights I’m sure you will be able to find a better deal elsewhere.

Contact details:
Art Hotel, 59 Preslav str, Varna 9000, Tel: +359 52/657 609, Fax +359 52/657 609, e-mail: hotel_art@abv.bg
Web site: www.arthotelbg.com

Contact details:
Hotel Antik, 10 Ohrid str, Varna, Tel: +359 52/632 167, Fax: +359 52/632 168 e-mail: HOTEL_ANTIK@YAHOO.COM
Web site: http://galia-online.com/antik/