Having spent a few days catching up with friends and staying at our apartment at Sunset Kosharitsa, as well as spending time exploring further inland from Sunny Beach, we headed south to Sozopol.
En-route we stopped for a quick look around Atia, just inland from the coast and opposite the naval military base and then went for lunch at Chernomorets, a lovely little resort town with a nice beach, which is currently being extended with a breakwater being built.
We spent the first couple of days viewing property with various agents. We saw some fantastic apartments for sale, both new and old but Sozopol is much more expensive than around Sunny Beach and while we were sorely tempted, nothing ticked enough boxes for us.
We also managed to get caught up in going on a tour of “Green Life”, a monstrous development just outside Sozopol. It is basically a town in itself, thousands of apartments, houses being built, a hotel, restaurants, pools, bars, supermarkets……
After 2 hours of trudging around in the heat, viewing apartments we were not remotely interested in, and with very sore feet, we managed to make our escape!
The following day we decided to go and explore some of the more inland villages we had heard about and see some of the other smaller resorts further south.
We drove down through the woods and the reserve of the Ropotamo, our first stop being Primorsko. We like it here, it has a relaxed atmosphere and still feels like a holiday resort but without being overly busy and too tacky.
We then decided to take the road inland to the villages of Yasna Polyana and Novo Panicherevo. Originally we were just going turn around and drive back to the main coastal road, but after consulting the sat nav and map, we thought we would continue on to meet the E87 that runs down to Turkey and then take the mountain road back across to the coast.
Not a good idea! The road across the mountains was terrible, massive pot holes and barely more than a dirt track at times. And while it was pretty enough, there was not a vast amount to see.
But we did manage to get stopped 3 times by border control police! The first lot wanted to see our passports and then seemed rather bemused when I said we were on our way back to Sozopol, presumably thinking ”stupid English that have got lost”.
The second lot were very friendly and told us the road we needed to take through the village and the third lot did not even bother saying anything when we rolled down the window and greeted them with a very English “hello”!
En-route we made a quick stop at the village of Balgari, famed for fire walking. It was a very quiet little place but the centre did have a small display explaining the folklore behind the tradition.
The road then continued to Tsarevo, where we stopped for lunch. Its a strange place, a small sea-side resort that always seems half asleep, with no one really around.
Heading back up the coast we detoured inland again to explore the villages of Velika and Fazanovo (it may only be a few kilometres inland but felt like a long way!!!), before doing a quick drive around Lozenets.
Again its a peculiar little place, many restaurants were not open and did not look like they would ever be and there is little there really.
Then as time was getting on, we headed back up the main road to Sozopol, without getting the chance to explore Kiten. Maybe next time………
