Excursions from Sunny Beach
Unlike Turkey or Egypt, excursions are quite expensive and there is no such difference in price between the offers of operators and the price of street vendors, the latter are a little cheaper, on average by 5 euros. They are absolutely not interested in selling, they are not even bargaining, here is the price - take it, no, no. We took an excursion to Istanbul from one for 124 leva, and a pirate party cost 59 from him. From his neighbor it cost 55, we offered him - let's take 2 from you if you drop to 55. I didn’t give in, I had to take it at different points .
Pirate party. (55 leva)
Rare crap. Drinks are included, yeah, for the trip you can drink one glass of something, everything else is for money. Animation - in the best traditions of cheap Egyptian hotels, in the style of "entertain yourself. " They pull out a couple of tourists and organize stupid competitions, such as who, with a bottle sandwiched between their legs, will fill a glass faster. The same dumb and childish animation. But most of all finished off swimming in the sea. We stopped for 15 minutes, swimming is mandatory in life jackets, no further than 5 meters from the ship. In general, not a walk on the ship, but some kind of mockery, I highly do not recommend it.
Bulgarian village. (38 leva)
Something very similar to Turkish Nights. They bring it to a special restaurant, big enough. At the entrance of a couple of shops, they treat you with bread and salt and brandy. Then they sit at the table and serve a very modest dinner. Unfortunately, not only wine, but also brandy is unlimited (you can approach the entrance, there is a tray with this drink). All this led to the fact that I remember further events very vaguely, or rather I don’t remember at all (and I simply can’t recommend this excursion or not)
Nersebar. (2.6 leva)
They sell excursions to Old Nersebar for 20 levs, but why pay 20 levs when you can go there yourself by bus? The issue price is 2.6 leva round trip. Take bus number 1, it has the final one there, don't miss it. Well, I liked the old town. Very quiet, peaceful place, many beautiful old houses, souvenir shops and a whole bunch of restaurants. We walked with pleasure, I recommend it.
Istanbul (124 leva)
We took a 2-day excursion with a departure at 6 am. There are also night ones, but after a night trip on the bus, nothing will be interstnogo. And so the road was not at all tiring. 2 hours to the border, we walked there for 40 minutes while we passed it. then 2 hours on the bus and again stop for half an hour at a gas station. There is a toilet, a bite to eat at shamelessly inflated prices and again on the road. Istanbul starts in an hour and a half, another hour drive around the city and a stop at a restaurant for lunch and a city tour with a mandatory stop at the "factory" of fur coats))).
Istanbul is very impressive! There were stereotypes in my head about a typical eastern city with dirty narrow streets, etc. Nothing like it! You drive in like some kind of German Stuttgart. Everything is unusually clean, tidy, a lot of construction sites, high-rise buildings and everywhere you look, everywhere the city, city, city. . .
Sightseeing tour, which is included in the price of the trip, includes a visit to the square on which there was once a hippodrome and a visit to the Blue Mosque. There was practically nothing left of the hippodrome, it was 3 meters below the current level. The Blue Mosque was not impressed, the mosque is like a mosque. The guide told us that this mosque was built by one architect, that one by another, but in my opinion, all these mosques look the same and do not differ from each other.
Opposite the Blue Mosque is St. Sophia's Cathedral, so it's impressive! Entrance inside is paid, 8 euros, but there is nothing inside (It worked as a mosque for a long time, the walls and the dome are painted over with Muslim flowers, only 3 dilapidated frescoes have survived from ancient times. I do not recommend buying an entrance ticket, it is better to spend this hour looking outside. < br />
In the evening, for an additional fee, they offer another city tour. They pick you up from the hotel and bring you to the main street, give you an hour of time to walk, and then take you to the Asian part of the city, to a hill that overlooks the city, both parts of it. But in the evening you can only see the lights of the city and that's it. This place, of course, is better to visit during the daytime.
The next day, another paid excursion is planned - a boat trip along the Bosphorus (20 euros). You can take tickets yourself, it will be 2 times cheaper, but without a guide. After the end of the walk, they are brought to the Egyptian market and given a couple of hours to plunder it. Although there is actually nothing to rob. They sell from products, mainly spices and sweets, from things very cheap and equally low-quality consumer goods. We only bought Mehmed Effendi coffee, 5 lira for 112 grams. They sell on the right side of the market, you can see it from afar, there is always a queue there.
After the market, they bring to the hotel and give a couple of hours of free time to walk and have lunch. At 4 o'clock departure to Bulgaria and at 10 pm we were already in Sunny Beach.
