Varna, Bulgaria - Where Germans Go To Die
Trip Start
Apr 27, 2006
1
9
110
Trip End
Apr 01, 2008
Varna,
Bulgaria
Saturday, May 20, 2006
That was my introduction to Bulgaria. It was only my second train trip so far, having flown from Amsterdam to Bratislava, and from Kosice to Budapest. Eight hours with a drunk (he got on the train at 10:00 a.m. with a six-pack and described how this particular Romanian beer was good in the morning, and bought another six at the border crossing), daft German who repeated himself ad infinitum, spoke to a stuffed animal that looked like a cross between and otter and a marmot, and desperately wanted to show me around town
Beach clubs
. I agreed (but later called and cancelled) because he was of great use at the train station and dealing with the border because he spoke some Bulgarian. Plus, I giggled inside every time he said "This is Varna" because it make think of the line from Star Trek - "This is tranya. I hope you relish it as much as I."Apparetnly, a lot of Germans do relish Varna. I saw the figures for visitors last year, and, as you would expect, there were a lot from neighboring countries like Romania and Greece and Serbia, but something like 750,000 Germans came to Bulgaria compared to 67,000 Americans. Accordingly, the second language here is German, not English, and Bulgarians would always ask if I spoke German when their English faltered. That said, they are predicting a 15-20% downturn in tourists this summer, and the high season has gone from starting in mid-May to early-June. Even so, they are building like crazy and there are many realtors catering to German, English and Irish tourists, but I was left wondering whether the Black Sea may have a somewhat sketchy future. With Romania and Bulgaria set to join the EU in 2007, increasing per-capita incomes, and access to other vacations spots, they may stop coming here in force. The Germans and Brits may keep coming for the cheap beer (again, well less than a dollar for a pint) and food (I had soup, a pile o'grilled meat, brandy and 2 glasses of wine for $8), but I'm not sure there will be any locals left as they take the opportunity to go elsewhere
Beach scene
. Regardless, Varna was far from inundated with tourist yet, and, in fact, the bars/restaurants/clubs/discos down on the beach had not opened. The beach was pretty deserted, except for the odd old, fat, a mostly nekkid German. Further, the beach was nothing special, although the real resort areas with the spectacular hotels and beaches are 10+ kilometers north or south of the town. And, the water is too cold really go in (I went to my ankles) until July. That, combined with being here from Monday through Thursday, made for a pretty slow visit. Plus, I spent Thursday night in a quiet pub on and off the cell phone with potential summer lessors of my loft (and I got one finally!). In between phone calls, though, I learned how to make an origami swan from Sean - the only other patron in the pub - a Brit from Nottingham who had moved his family to a 24-acre farm the Orkney Islands in Scotland in his own midlife crisis. I will take mine, thank you.
I can see that the town has its charms when it is hopping. There are several pedestrian-only streets lined with markets, cafes and shops, and the seaside part above the beach was nice. There were, however, the unavoidable apartment-cum-housing projects to mar any real picturesque scene. And, Bulgaria retains more characteristics of the former Eastern Bloc than the other countries I have been to so far (although I suspect Serbia will be similar), such as keeping your passport at the front desk and working on an almost cash-only basis
Billie and Sean
. Also, I saw more wild cats and dogs here than in Bucharest. They were everywehere, but harmless. People must feed them, but they still made a racket wailing at each other at night.Despite being off-season, I did have a couple of memorable moments. On Tuesday, I found "The Martini Bar," a place with more martini art than I have. The owners were working the bar and genuinely excited about having created a pretty modern, trendy martini bar in Varna. I never made it back, but I took several pictures, including one ot the E. Clampus Vitus historical marker commerorating the creation of the martini (or martinez) in Martinez, California. No one is quite true whether that is really the birthplace of the drink, but good folklore don't need no stinkin' badges.
On Wednesday night, I went to a traditional Bulgarian restaurant to watch Jimmy Kimmel sing torch songs. I was having a problem ordering my food until a nearby patron helpfully interjected. After some back and forth with the waitress, I was told that I couldn't order the soup I wanted with a fish entree because the soup had yoghurt in it (a very popluar thing here, such that the bacterium is named acidophilus bulgarius). I assumed it must be a religious thing like no meat with milk if you are kosher, but I was told that the two don't digest well together. I don't know whether that is true because the waitress simply would not let me order the two together. (I did have that soup, called Tarator, later and it was an excellent cold soup with yoghurt and celery)
Cyrillic is Funny
. I then went to the standard English pub to watch the second half of the Champions league final (a big thing to soccer fans I'm told), which led to meeting a bunch of expat brits and them dragging me along to "the Corner Bar." That wasn't the name of the bar; that's just what they called it. In the end, nothing terribly exciting happened, other than meeting "Billy," the bartender at the sleepy pub where I spent Thursday night on and off the phone to the U.S.Lastly, I have a few random thoughts that didn't fit anywhere above: (1) they have ads on TV for vibrators here - like "the Rabbit" but with a hedgehog instead; (2) the clubs are packed with hot women, but you don't see them on the street so much, unlike Russia, where you can't swing a fat Babushka without hitting an Anna Kournikova; and (3) there were almost always a couple of women hanging out in my hotel lobby ($30, brand new building, double bed, internet, balcony overlooking shitty apartment buildings, real shower, breakfast, and an elevator!) shooting the shit with the girls who manned (girled?) the desk. I don't know if they were friends or hookers. I never saw another quest during my entire stay, so it seems that it would have been a poor lobby to work, but "this is Bulgaria" so who knows?
