Burgas…Rain at the Beach and Other Cool Stuff!
(Note: This is a republication of a blog I did for my 2018/2019 trip through Europe so some of the information may not be 100% accurate any longer.)
So with Stara Zagora in that proverbial rearview window, it’s time for sun and fun at the beach right? Well, sorta but we will get to that later in the meantime let’s talk a little about the beautiful seaside town of Burgas.
This coastal town lies on the Black Sea and is a favorite summer tourist destination for many Europeans and for good reason. Burgas is a history-rich, modern town with a beach that is spectacular (even in the rain, don’t worry we will get to that).
Burgas quickly became my second favorite city in Bulgaria because of all the reasons I mentioned and so much more. With its random artwork strewn throughout its seaside garden and its city streets, it rapidly showed me that it was so much more than I had researched and I was excited to get started exploring it. So let’s talk about where I stayed and what I got up to.
Accommodations… Hostel Chi
After a long train trip (only because the train was several hours late) I finally found myself wandering around the train station of Burgas. Now once again I was extremely tired and the how to find the hostel section of my confirmation email was less than clear so I did a no-no, I hailed a taxi. So when it literally took me 10 minutes to get there in the taxi (probably should have taken 5 minutes but the taxi “had no idea” where the street was) I got to my hostel.
Lesson learned I quickly downloaded maps.me and since then have not been scammed. ( I highly suggest this app it has saved me on more than one occasion and is super easy to use.) Once I arrived it became a much better experience. Hostel Chi has a very hippy-ish vibe as you would guess from the name. I was there while it was still under some construction but the location was great and it came with free breakfast and a great price.
Truthfully the only downside of this hostel and I am sure most of the hostels in the city were the aggressive-sounding nightly seagull gangs. I can not suggest earplugs enough! These seagulls literally sound like there was a nightly gang war and not the west side story, finger-snapping kind (more like “The Warriors” if you catch my drift). All in all, though I had a great time staying in this very cool hostel.
Things to do…
Burgas has so many things you can do and see. This beautiful coastal town has everything from a fantastic beach to amazing museums to tons of arts and cultural events you can take part in. Even with the extended stay, I was unable to see anything past the city center and definitely due to budget restrictions was unable to do any day trips.
So in this next section, we will talk about what I got up to but I will also give you a few ideas on some other stuff you can do as well. For me most of this trip is truly all about things I have always wanted to see as well as learning about histories and cultures that are new to me.
Burgas did that for me in spades. Learning about the culture of Bulgaria is something that I have been doing as I moved across the landscape but Burgas’ museums were absolutely some of the best in Bulgaria (granted I didn’t do any in Sofia or Plovdiv so maybe I missed out!). Here is what I did get to while in Burgas…
Seaside Garden and Beach…
What a great idea! A beautifully landscaped park next to a sandy oasis of sun. This by far is one of my favorite things about Burgas. You can walk along the beach or above it with spectacular vistas like the one above. The beach itself is clean and lined with little cafes, bars, and restaurants as well as little places to pick up trinkets.
A great place to spend the day. After laying out getting your tan on you can cool off with a gelato and a stroll through the brilliantly green park just a quick walk up the hill. The park has easily navigated paths and sporadic pieces of art to inspire you.
The park itself also has a few restaurants and vendors selling street food and trinkets too. These two locations can easily take up a full day of quiet relaxation or you can head out in the evening and enjoy the nightlife there as well.
Roaming the streets…
One of the coolest things about Burgas is the amazing architecture that can be found as you roam through the streets. I highly recommend taking a day and doing just that I promise you will not be sorry. By roaming the streets I found little kernels of awesomeness I would have never have found otherwise.
Museums…
You know I am a nerd and so I highly suggest doing a museum day. The history of both the city and the country is little known to many outside this region of Europe. So it is a great way to learn about the culture by knowing how the heck they got to the point they are at.
Best way to do that…hands down…a museum day! Burgas makes it really affordable too, with their explorer ticket. For the price of two individual museums, you can see 4 and get the full experience of historical overload. On this ticket, you can visit the Archaeological Museum, the ethnographic museum, the natural history museum, and the Burgas museum.
All four of the museums I went to were informative and for the most part, were all in English which made it that much more enjoyable. (I know silly, but Bulgarian was hard to learn especially since they use the Cyrillic alphabet!).
So Burgas was another pleasant surprise on my adventure through Bulgaria. Make sure that if you find yourself in this region you take a little time to check out the waters of this seaside town. And now where to…next up… Varna and our last stop in Bulgaria, but until then safe journeys…
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