Crossing the Bulgarian boarder went fairly smoothly,
after they checked our passports and paperwork for Dusty, including looking
inside the van to check we weren’t smuggling anyone else in! The first thing
that grabbed our attention was the Cyrillic writing on all the road signs,
thankfully with some translations below. We drove on to the Black Sea to a
campground called Laguna, in the seaside town Varna. We didn’t realise until we
walked into town via the beach (including the nudist section-filled with naked
middle aged men) that we were actually staying beside Golden Sands resort, one
of the two top spots at the Black sea for a holiday. Compared to Romania’s
beaches, Golden Sands was awesome, as it was filled with people, was cleaner
and had a nice vibe. We were really stoked to also get a seaside view from the
campground, so decided to stay for two nights to soak up some rays.
That evening we enjoyed Georgian cuisine, purely
because it was a type we had never tried before. Echoing our trip to Russia,
dill was the spice of choice throughout our meal of stuffed aubergine, cheesy
bread like a pizza, chicken in walnut sauce and a pork, tomato and gherkin
casserole. Although tasty it was heavily salted which was a bit of a shame. We
had a great waiter who thought we were Australian, which, given we were in
Bulgaria we were quite impressed with. Turned out he has family in Adelaide and
had visited Australia before (which made ordering that much easier with our
funny accents!).
The next day we spent lying on the beach working on
our tans, before doing a spot of shopping. I managed to pick up some woollen
slippers (they will be awesome for at the end of our trip when winter strikes)
and a funky clay teapot before enjoying a rubbish meal out at a tourist
restaurant, honestly the waiter did not even try to talk to us. A real shame
and we left without tipping.
Saying a fond farewell to an awesome campsite we drove
on to Sozopol and checked into another campsite on the beach. Although this
time it was very different. Granted it was a cheap campsite at 10 pounds/night.
But I was mortified at the state of the bathrooms; squatters for toilets which
were surrounded in water from being hosed out and the walls were so mouldy and
derelict, honestly I would not have wished it on my worst enemy. I was grateful for our portaloo! We
made the most of a rough campsite lounging on the beach before catching up on
emails and skyping family back home.
