Laguna Beach Hotel Albena

... again I upped poles and polyester and overloaded the creaking cro-moly-mileage meanderer to further my trip southwards toward Turkey.<br><br>Soon after leaving the camp I encountered only my second and third long-distance-travelling cyclists. Dread locked, on tiny bikes with huge rucksacks attached painfully to their backs, Thorsten and Elise had been hitch-hiking around Europe since July. They had tired of the cars, motorways and petrol stations and changed their mode of ...

... last 5 years. Varna has the largest shopping centre in Bulgaria. Varna's population has doubled in the last decade. Bulgaria exports clothes, shoes, cosmetics, medicine, and petroleum products. Tourism and wine producing and bottling is also very important', as is agriculture as the soil is very fertile. They grow corn, wheat, barley, oats, beet and veges. There is a major chemical industry not far from Varna (Debni?) with a cement producing ...

I met Albena last Christmas, she is married to Rick Harper a Washington National Guard Soldier and contractor at Fort Lewis. They had had moved from Virgina, and Albena was not yet working and had not met many people.<br><br>She grew up in the beautiful coastal city of Varna Bulgaria, and all her family was still ...

A very nice place and quiet resort, is ideal target for family with kids, food and drinks very cheap and the people are friendly. About the security reasons I saw all the time the officers from Security companies -armed- and Police patrols on the street, here you need just to choose the proper location and enjoy the time.<br>

... Black Sea coast gathers on the beach on the night of June 30 to party all night and watch the sunrise on the July Morning. We joined in the festivities, but didn't wait for the sun. It was fun to be in a town where everyone was so excited about a somewhat random tradition. <br><br>So we won't be staying for 3 weeks, or 3 months, as some of our fellow travelers have, but it has been great here, and we feel refreshed and ready to take on Turkey for the last few weeks of our trip.

... ourselves good friends. <br><br>The Flag hostel got better as well, granted no amount of free vodka funneling in the morning or the free glass of beer in the evening really made it for us. Dave the owner meant well and did all his best to get people to mix together. A great hostel for the solo traveler as the whole hostel goes out as a group. We found this out on our first night when Dave ...

... to stay for a while and so rented our umbrella ($6A) and enjoyed a couple of hours swimming and relaxing by the Black Sea. The whole area is the Surfers Paradise of Bulgaria with massive high rise luxury resorts, carnival rides, allocated beach areas, parasailing and masses of cafe&#8217;s, bars and restaurants. Later we walked back to the hotel and had a swim in the pool before ordering a pizza to have on our balcony.

... to various locations and countries that need an extra bit of security. Here in the foto one can be seen working at the Botanical Gardens in Balckik, Bulgaria. \his job is to stop the squirrels from pinching all the nuts off the oak trees. He looks very happy about it.

... Picked up Jovik, Damyan's best friend and off we went. Past many hotel resorts that have been built along the Black Sea coast. Finally got to the gardens and started our walk. Not too many annuals were in flower as it was the wrong time of year, but the trees and old winding paths that led us to the beach and then the Queen's Summer Palace were very impressive. Will let the fotos explain the rest. Had a coffee in a quaint ...

Finally got to Varna and caught up with Damyan, though was tiuch n go as my mobile battery was just about flat and \damyan did not yet know where the bus would drop me at. Finally we meet up, and we head back to his place, say hello to his parents, and wife and then we head out for dinner at an \italian pizza parlour. After dinner had an early night as \i was completelly exhausted and was looking forward to a good night's sleep.