Sept. 6….Same country, different home exchange

The morning of the 6th, Pam and Miles dropped us off at our home exchange in Sveti Vlas, a smaller and much quieter village to the north of Sunny Beach . The six weeks we had been together, along with Rod and Priscilla for the first month, had sped by so quickly and it was hard to believe we had already been gone close to two months and had visited six countries. We, sadly, said our goodbyes and wished them a safe and, hopefully, non-eventful drive to Sofia and a safe flight home to Minnesota. Our home exchange had not been cleaned yet, from the people who had stayed there before us, so we left our luggage on the patio and walked up to the little village to find a restaurant for breakfast.

A settlement was founded at the present place of Sveti Vlas in the 2nd century AD by Thracians and Greeks and, at that time, was called Larissa. It acquired the name Sveti Vlas in the 14th century but didn't become the official name until after 1886. Until 1920 the population was predominantly Greek but after 1920, as a result of the exchange of population between Greece and Bulgaria, most of the local Greeks emigrated to Western Thrace and hundreds of Bulgarian families emigrated from Greece back to Sveti Vlas .   The settlement became a climatic sea resort in 1963 and an official town on February 2, 2006. It is the only place on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast where the beaches are facing directly south.

After a nice breakfast, we stopped at the local tourist information center to inquire about buying bus tickets to Istanbul, where we would be going next, and to see what local tours they offered. There was a "Bulgarian Nights" excursion, in a village about 30 minutes away, that provided dinner and a show, recreating some of the ancient Bulgarian customs and dances, that sounded interesting so we booked it for the following evening.

By then, our condo was ready so we walked back over and got settled in. The condo was located on the ground floor right next to a huge swimming pool and, directly beyond that, the beach. It was a very nice one bedroom with a little patio and a small but functional kitchen. There was no internet in the unit but, it was possible, from the patio, to, sporadically, pick up the wireless network from the restaurant next door .

After relaxing for a bit, we walked the six or so blocks up to the main center of town. We perused the shops that lined the streets, looking for a Bulgarian tee shirt for Bill, but he couldn’t find one to his liking. He is very picky about his tee shirts and will rarely buy one from a foreign country that has any English written on it. We also checked out the menus of the restaurants and found the prices to be pretty reasonable. There was still a strong Greek influence in Sveti Vlas, evidenced by the many Greek restaurants in the village. We went back to the condo, stopping at a small grocery store to buy supplies for breakfast, went for a swim, cleaned up, then went back to the village and had a fantastic meal at one of those Greek restaurants. We shared a huge Greek salad and a huge plate of grilled red-mullet fish, called, Barbounia, that was the best fish I think I’ve ever tasted. The tzatziki was also the best ever and, as a little surprise, they brought us each a plate of fabulous Greek yogurt topped with fresh black berries for desert, free of charge .

Stuffed to the gills, we went back to the condo, did a little blogging then walked down to the “Marina Dinevi”, the Yacht port that Sveti Vlas is famous for, with a capacity for 300 yachts. Hrizetema, the owner of our condo who lived in the UK with her boyfriend, had suggested that we take a romantic stroll at night to see the lights of the Marina as well as the lights of Sunny Beach, to the south. She also told us to keep an eye out for the many luxurious, very high end cars that are parked there as well as the very large and expensive yachts. The boardwalk was lined with fancy shops and restaurants and we did, indeed, spot several exotic looking cars and wondered who the owners were of the huge yachts that were moored in the marina. We got back to the condo pretty late and, tired from all the walking we tumbled into bed in hopes of getting a good night’s sleep