An uphill getaway by the Black Sea, in the company of… cats

Gergana TR
Sep 8, 2018 · 5 min read
Balchik, Bulgaria

Yesterday me and my boyfriend came back from one of the fabulous sun-drowned little towns by the Bulgarian sea coast, here in Eastern Europe. Now, you probably expect me to write specifically about food but this time I’ll be going over the whole experience I had while on vacation, not just the eating spots.

So…years ago when I was like 12 maybe, I ran into a magazine article, which was making a comparison between spending a lovely summer vacation in California and in…Balchik. So when my father suggested that we should visit there I was like…Sure…why not? I’ve never been there and I want to see what is so special about it. I booked a nice hotel room and a week later me and my guy took off for our new romantic getaway.

Our host agreed to pick us up upon arrival considering his place was uphill and we started picturing the afternoon siesta that we deserved after a 5 hour bus ride. Unfortunately, we discovered that the Wi-Fi signal up there wasn’t too strong and this to my guy is simply essential because he basically makes his money on his laptop. Other than that the room was clean and had a great patio, with a breathtaking view of the town and the sea. We rested there for a couple of hours and then decided to explore around and grab a bite to eat somewhere. We went to a pretty cheap “cookie cutter” restaurant as my boyfriend called it, named “Deva” and were both a little bit disappointed. Whatever I wanted on the menu could not be served and that included carrot cream soup and a salad, which was supposed to contain beetroot. When I asked if the beetroot could be replaced by cucumbers… alas…no luck. My guy ordered a mushroom cream soup from their menu but that wasn’t offered either. Anyways, the food was ok for its price but what I really loved there were… the cats! They were all over the place but wouldn’t let people pet them.

Cute, fluffy felines were begging for food everywhere

We spent half of the next day probably at the most spectacular place in the entire area- Romanian queen Marie’s astonishing botanic garden and palace, and of course took many cool pictures there- both separately and as a couple. Those were really worth seeing and if you ever find yourself wondering about what to do in Balchik for a day I warmly recommend going there! Afterwards we went to a restaurant on the beach, which surprisingly wasn’t that bad. It was called “Corona” and both food and service were relatively decent, albeit not that cheap.

Queen Marie’s astounding residence

Next we decided to go to Albena, which is a famous Bulgarian resort nearby and we had a lovely day there at the beach. We shared a pizza at some point in the afternoon and headed back to Balchik and our room uphill. There is not much to do in town so we were mainly basking in the sun and swimming in the tea-like water. My guy even managed to negotiate 2 seats and a sun umbrella for less than they actually cost but for this to happen he had to be a little flirty with the woman providing them. Perhaps it wouldn’t have worked if I had asked her instead... We also went to another “cookie-cutter” restaurant called “Morsko oko” (“Sea eye”) and personally I didn’t consider the food that awful but a few hours later I felt sick and didn’t want to eat for the rest of the day. We didn’t visit such type of eating place anymore.

The restaurant that we really enjoyed was “Panorama” where we had a huge dish of roasted sea food and vegetables…now THAT was something and didn’t even make me sick! It was a pretty good place but it lacked cats for some reason. Hmmm…I can’t say the same about the one next to it though- “Kavaci”. There were plenty of kitties around but the service was not good. My boyfriend ordered a salad with avocado, which to our dismay didn’t contain any and the waitress even had no idea why…

Overall, it wasn’t such a bad experience. There were some downsides to it but I can say wholeheartedly that I was happy the entire time because…I’m just lucky enough to be with someone who will read to me on the beach, on the bus and before bed and sometimes will even make funny voices while doing so; someone who is aware of that I can hardly ever tell a good joke but won’t admit it; someone who will be willing to watch a Disney movie with me even though these are not his favorite; someone who will give me Vitamin C now and then “just because”; someone who will help me bathe my dog although she’s a little disaster; someone who will tease me gently when I’m silly and mostly will let me have the last piece of sushi; someone who will sometimes let me read his articles before anybody else because he values my opinion; someone who will take me out on a picnic to watch the sea waves and the stars, or will agree to go see a meteor shower with me on a windy, rainy night; someone who will take my hand and hold it in his pocket when it’s cold outside; someone who will kiss my forehead when we part for the day or before I fall asleep in his arms … The man I love. And wherever I am with him, I feel like I’m floating on cloud nine.

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Welcome to my blog: Here I’m gonna publish everything that my heart desires- from restaurant reviews to poems. I have a cute lovely pom and love to read. Enjoy!

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