VARNA, BULGARIA (dpa) – After years of mounting problems, tourists are returning to Bulgaria in strength this summer.
Yet although German and other tour operators have concentrated heavy investment on the infrastructure, especially in hotels on the Black Sea coast, this southeast European country has many interesting sights beyond the beaches too.
Take this stormy day on the Black Sea. The noise of the crashing waves mixes with the barking of stray dogs as they play boisterously with children and adults alike. There is plenty of room on the broad, golden beaches near Varna.
Families who come on holiday here praise the excellent value for money that Bulgaria offers and tourists these days are now being provided with better standard.
Many a concrete tower block has been given a facelift and some new accommodation has been built. In the resort of Albena, near the town of Zlatni Pyassutsi (“Golden Sands”), there are now 40 hotels, mostly in the simple to medium categories.
Some are complexes where guests can bathe in thermal baths and use the health facilities all year round. The sports programme is a lot more challenging than it was in communist days and paragliding, horse-riding on the beach and helicopter trips are now standard fare.
But just a few kilometres from the hubbub of the beach is an oasis of calm which few Bulgarians have set foot in. For decades the Evksinograd estate was hermetically sealed from the outside world before being opened several months ago for foreign guests.
The 120-hectare seafront property has a beautiful collection of rare trees and plants, and the excellent vineyards here not only produce wine but are also widely known for their brandies.
The 19th- century castle, which until the early 1990s was only seen from the inside by high guests of state, has also recently been opened to tourists able and willing to afford the extraordinary experience.
Further south along the coast is Nesebur, one of Europe’s oldest settlements. It boasts richly-decorated narrow medieval houses, with sheltered courtyard gardens and cobbled streets, as well as 40 churches. It is like one large, protected museum and is perfect for exploratory walks.
Leaving the sea and heading into the interior, the Balkan Mountains cross Bulgaria from west to east. Veliko Tarnovo, a delightful medieval town and the former capital, lies in the range.
Its houses cling to the cliff face like birds’ nests below an ancient fortress, all desperately in need of a facelift. But Bulgaria, one of Europe’s poorest countries, has few resources available to look after its cultural masterpieces.
To the south, marking the border to Greece, are the Rhodope Mountains, famed far and wide as the source of many myths and legends. The journey to Trigrad – a village seemingly at the end of the world – runs through a long gorge, past imposing cliff walls and deeply fissured stone formations. On the way, a visit to the “Devil’s Throat”, by far the range’s best known cave, makes for a fascinating detour.
“Dress up warmly,” advises the guide. All year round the cave’s temperature stays at ten degrees Celsius: a bit chilly for the tourists who clamber into the depths to Europe’s largest underground waterfall. “Welcome to Hades,” quips the cave guide.
“According to ancient description, our cave must be the setting for Orpheus in the Underworld.” There are more than 2,000 natural caves scattered throughout the Rhodope Mountains. The whole of Bulgaria has about 4,600.
The Rhodopes are home to many a mystery too. It still hasn’t been explained why its inhabitants live as long as they do, for instance. There are supposed to be several hundred of them aged 110 and more.
The mountains are also the home of the “gaida”, a sort of bagpipe and the traditional music it plays is a firm part of Bulgarian national culture. Tourists can count themselves lucky if they come across the bagpipe being played at village events. Its noise races through body and soul leaving the hearer quite breathless.
The road from the Rhodopes to the capital Sofia leads past verdant fields of tobacco plants. The centre of the tobacco-processing industry is Blagoevgrad, whose old town is definitely worth a detour.
On Sunday mornings, the black-and-white Sveta Bogoroditsa Church is also interesting: as Orthodox believers ply its carved altar bathed in the warm light of candles in a mass typical for the region.
Several kilometres from Blagoevgrad is a narrow valley, home to the famous Rila monastery. The monumental construction is a UNESCO world heritage site and appears like an impenetrable fortress. The interior is richly decorated with ornaments and frescoes.
Although it is only 120 kilometres from the capital, the drive there is an exercise in patience as horse-drawn carts clog the road. When sheep are herded over the road, there is nothing to but wait.
Sooner or later, though, a vast sea of concrete apartment blocks in the distance signal the nearing capital.
Sofia is still trying to find its feet among the capitals of Europe. The centre has certainly benefitted from the “Beautiful Sofia” programme which has seen the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral renovated and the sparse underground railway network expanded by a couple of new stops.
Strollers now fill the streets, so much so that visitors are quickly lost in the crowd. With street signs all in Cyrillic letters at present, tourists who have some knowledge of the Bulgarian alphabet are at a distinct advantage.
