Болгария, Созополь, шесть лет спустя... Bulgaria, Sozopol, six years later...

Our belated decision to have a rest this summer at the sea, arose in July 2008... When all normal people had long planned their vacation in winter or spring, we, as always, spontaneously lit up with a desire, to spite all problems, still visit at least a week at sea. There are always enough problems, like every normal person, we will not delve into them. But to relax with the family, my wife and I consider it a sacred thing. I didn’t have to think for a long time where I didn’t have to go, and my wife and I almost unanimously said - Bulgaria ? ! Eighteen-year-old son was not against...
From the school bench we are children of the 50-70s, we know that Bulgaria is, first of all, friends. Nowadays, this is forgotten and, unfortunately, is not relevant. Not relevant, because time and events separated us a little. Yes, and every nation, both before and after the collapse of the "social camp" had a lot of their own worries. But all the same, for the people of the former Soviet Union, Bulgaria is still a country, as they say. Well, as before with the "scoop", there were "ours" - the countries of the socialist community, and "strangers" - capitalists and bourgeois. Until now, at the Olympics and all kinds of world championships, we are rooting for Cubans, Bulgarians, Slovaks, Czechs, Poles, Hungarians and other "comrades"... Well, of course, this is after when nothing shines, our, domestic athletes. Now, such a barrier as the European Union and NATO does not bother ordinary people, it only worries concerned politicians. Political information is over, let's return to the story about the rest.
All my life, my family and I, every summer, rested in the Crimea. But year after year of stay, I'm not talking about rest, it became a torment in the once beautiful corner of our country. Those who have recently been to the Crimea will agree with me. Let's not savor all the "charms" of the Crimean "rest", I'll tell you about Bulgaria.

In 2002 we already visited Bulgaria, and this was our first trip abroad. We fell in love with the city of Sozopol at first sight... This Bulgarian city, in a travel agency, we also chose spontaneously, like a hotel. Hotel "Zolotaya Rybka" seemed to us a chic hotel (well, we were not spoiled by the service). Orthodox churches, shops and street names with inscriptions in Cyrillic, friendly and benevolent people. Delicious Bulgarian cuisine, plus normal prices, we liked. All this immediately helps the Slavic tourist soul to adapt to this beautiful country. And in general, a clean beach, and a gentle sea, what else did we need?
The only thing I didn't like on the way to rest was the long bus ride. The trip took almost 30 hours. A group of children traveling on the second floor added to the worries of everyone, because of the stupid parents who managed to put a bunch of chocolate, cookies and sweet soda in the "dry rations" for the children. After the first snack, the children, blue from nausea, began to be taken out of the bus one by one. The number of stops increased, taking a lot of time.
Therefore, this year, 2008, we decided to get to Bulgaria by air. How afraid we are of flying by plane, but the temptation to fly from Kyiv to Burgas in less than two hours has overcome fear. At the Boryspil airport, for some reason, the plane "Donbassavia" (or "Donbassavialiniya" well, it doesn't matter... ) was waiting for us. Our seats were located directly above the landing gear of the aircraft. And with these chassis, there was clearly something wrong. During takeoff and landing, they groaned and grunted so much that it was uncomfortable. But, thank God, everything went well. The pilot earned his portion of applause honestly, for a confident takeoff in Boryspil, and for his soft landing at Burgas airport, for which many thanks to him...
One of the minuses, immediately after we got into the building of Burgas airport, Bulgarian customs officials handed out empty questionnaires to everyone. The requirement to fill out the questionnaire was not difficult. It was necessary to indicate such formalities as first and last name, country and city of residence, where we are going to rest, etc. The only problem was how to fill out the questionnaire. On the plane, in hand luggage, we were afraid to take ballpoint pens, because it is a piercing object. So, probably, many people thought, that's why there were funny queues for pens, which people borrowed from each other. Taking without problems, our suitcases and bags. Further, at the exit of the airport, a pretty Bulgarian girl was waiting for us, and part-time representative of the Russian tour operator AlmaTour. With a very sweet smile, she asked us to wait on the sidelines. The driver who was supposed to take us to the Parnas Hotel tried to explain in good Russian to me and my wife that he should not take us. I don’t understand, did he want money or was he just complaining about his life? Later, on the floor of the road, he politely fused us to another bus driver. But we were not surprised at anything, and we were not upset. We decided not to conflict and not to be indignant at what was happening, we just really wanted, in a very short time, to relax and unwind as much as possible. In Kyiv, we still have the opportunity to compensate for both conflicts and misunderstandings on gray days.

On the way from Burgas to Sozopol, I concluded that there were a lot of "Soviet" left in Bulgaria. We, unfortunately, were not in Sofia to compare with our capital. But the provincial cities of Bulgaria are still similar to our small towns, only there is less garbage.
The minibus took us to the glorious city of Sozopol without any problems. A friendly woman named Dimi, a representative of the AlmaTour travel agency, helped us get settled in the Parnas Hotel. By the way, we have no claims against the AlmaTour tour operator. And Dimitra Videva, just great.
About the hotel "Parnassus"... We received all the information about this hotel from the Internet. There are a lot of reviews on all kinds of Russian and Ukrainian sites and forums. For some reason, there are much fewer positive reviews on the forums. Or positive reviews are clearly “custom-made”. But our life experience suggested that information should be filtered and sifted out.
Hotel Parnassus… It is located almost on the border of the old and new city. For people as unpretentious as we are, the hotel is perfect. There are many more pluses than minuses. The room was cleaned regularly. Towels and linen changed every day. The staff is moderately friendly and welcoming. Bulgarians are hospitable people, but proud. You've come to rest, and it's good. No one will suck up to you because you are visiting. People spoiled by chic comfort and accustomed to everyone creeping in front of them will feel out of place in this hotel.
The only thing that created some inconvenience for us was a shower room combined with a toilet, but in Bulgaria this is customary. And I really got a neighboring restaurant, under the windows of Parnassus . . Music played there all night, and tipsy tourists neighed. But with the air conditioner on and the windows closed, this problem disappeared...
At a travel agency in Kyiv, we paid for a triple one-room suite. But upon arrival, the hotel employee took us to a two-room, four-bed room. A trifle, but nice. Still, we had more space.

Compared to 2002, Sozopol has changed a lot. A huge number of cars parked on top of each other. Numerous buildings spoiled the beauty of the city. There are many more vacationers, and, unfortunately, more garbage. There are a lot of cigarette butts in the sand on the beach, which reminded us of Crimea. Urns are everywhere, you just have to reach out, but no… Staying on the beach in the new part of the city spoiled the mood a little. As for the old part of the city, there, thank God, everything was the same. Clean little streets, old exotic houses, souvenir shops, coastal restaurants and cafes, all this was in perfect harmony and pleasing to the eye. But, unfortunately, a large number of cars got here. My family and I liked to spend more time in the old part of Sozopol. It was quiet and calm here, just what we needed and needed after everyday life in crowded Kyiv.
Separately, it is necessary to tell about our food. Breakfast was included in the price of the hotel. I just had to force myself to get up before 10 am in the morning and go down to the hotel restaurant. The waiters brought a menu of 3 breakfast options to choose from. The first was dietary: fruit, cottage cheese, jam, jam, butter, bun. The second option: pancakes, cheese, croutons, sausage, greens. The third option: scrambled eggs, sausages, sausage, croutons, etc. Drinks - milk, coffee and juice (I must say not very juice, but they made good coffee). During the week of stay at the hotel, the menu changed every day. We personally ate, everything was quite tasty and nutritious. I want to separately praise the dairy products of Bulgaria. Yoghurts, kefirs and all other dairy products are very tasty and natural. Bulgarian sourdough is famous all over the world. We often bought ourselves a Danone (or Denone) fruit, berry and milk drink “For Drinking”, very tasty. You won't find anything like this at home.
At lunch, after swimming in the sea, we chose a restaurant for ourselves. The restaurant in Parnas is not bad, but we wanted variety, and we got it. We really liked the restaurant "U Zoya", which is located near the pier. After we made an order, we were immediately brought drinks and croutons, which were served with a very tasty white sauce. What this sauce consists of, we could not make out, and it was inconvenient to ask. While our dishes were being prepared, we ate these croutons with great pleasure, stimulating our appetite even more. All other dishes that we ate there in the future were very tasty, especially meat. The only negative, when we ordered mashed potatoes, there were so many greens in it, such as parsley or dill.
El Greco is also a good restaurant. It is located on the embankment, on the rocks, in the old part of the city. At lunchtime, you could sit there quietly, and in the evening, as in all good establishments, there were a lot of people. If someone wants to try the exotic national dishes of Bulgaria, then there is the Melnitsa restaurant. They serve a variety of Bulgarian dishes. Waiters in national costumes, live music, Bulgarian songs, originally decorated room will help you feel the whole national flavor of Bulgaria. But be careful when choosing food. I ordered myself a fried fish (it seems like an igloo) with vegetables, and they brought me a still very hot mixture on a stand in an earthenware dish. The dish was still sizzling and seething. With hunger, I burned my tongue a little, and spoiled my appetite. And the woman next door was brought a cauldron in which the dish burned with a blue flame, and the client of the restaurant clearly did not know what to do with it.

On average, one trip to a restaurant, for three, cost us 20-40 lev. Not knowing how much to leave the waiters for tea, we left 1-3 leva. At the same time, the waiters did not show much joy, but they did not frown either. They just treated us the same as when we arrived at the restaurant. Smiling slightly, subtly. The smile was more sincere if we tried to speak to the waiters in Bulgarian. If you need to be more economical, you can order soups in restaurants, they are tasty, nutritious and cheap...
I would also like to note that some Bulgarians are not very friendly towards Russian-speaking tourists. For example, a seller who fries pancakes in the old town. A man with a beard, about thirty years old, on my wife's order that she wants a pancake without anything (without filling), reacted a little inadequately. He immediately sarcastically, in good Russian, asked if she was a Muscovite? “Because Muscovites always order “without nothing, ” he explained... With a displeased expression on his face, he cooked another pancake, while trying to joke something about the women's diet. Looks like he once joked that now he doesn’t like Muscovites... We ordered a pancake with strawberry jam for our son, and the culinary joker calmed down. Well, in short, it was the only unpleasant moment during the entire stay in Sozopol. And pancakes all the same, were nothing, tasty.
The journey home was not without adventure. As in all hotels, on the day of departure, we must vacate the room at 12-00 noon. We left the packed things at the reception, and we ourselves went to say goodbye to the city. Throw a coin into the sea, have a snack on the path and take a walk in the old part of the city. The plane of Aerosvit company was supposed to fly off from Burgas at 17-50, so there was plenty of time. We had already moved quite a distance from the hotel, when my wife received a call on her mobile from Kyiv, from the Wiederstrahl travel company (well done, they worked quickly). We were told that Bulgarians were looking for us all over Sozopol, and that our plane was leaving at 13 something? . . Well, of course, we rushed to the hotel with all our might, managing to “praise” Ukrainian airlines along the way. In "Parnassus" Dimi was already waiting for us, who, poor, ran around half the city in search of our family. Having put us in our Dacha car, we continued the race to the city of Burgas. It should be noted the high-class driving, this amazing woman, at high speed she managed to joke, drink yogurt, call on a cell phone and bypass all the cars. And she did it correctly, without violating traffic rules. Fortunately for us, Dimi managed to deliver us to the airport on time, for which we are very grateful to her. Goodbye, we kissed. The wife called Dimi, Schumacher...
Dimitra, if you are reading this review, I would like to wish good health, happiness to you and your family. . . If only there were more good, sympathetic people like you.

Bulgaria, Sozopol, Dimi we love you!! ! And all the good things that are connected with you, we will never forget....
From myself, as a football fan, I will say - Hristo Stoichkov, a great football player...
Konstantin