Sunday, April 8
Today is Orthodox Easter Sunday. Happy Easter Everyone! Last night we decided that Sunday was going to be a down day. We planned to just hang out in the apartment but the weather was so fine that we just couldn’t help ourselves. We headed out towards the Maritime Park and walked along the seacoast for a while. Lunch was going to be an adventure.
One of the seaside restaurants near the apartment is always mobbed. Around here that means two things: the food is great AND it’s cheap. Each time we passed by it seemed as if every table had at least one plate of something that looked like clam strips. When we looked closer we saw the plates contained small fried fish. We tried to figure out what they were but the menu was only in Bulgarian. What did we do? We took a picture of the menu and translated it into English. Armed with our cheat sheet we ordered fried calamari, tarator soup and tsatsa.
Tsatsa are a local delicacy. They are lightly breaded and deep fried sprats – a small fish that are abundant in the Black Sea. The fish are in the same family as sardines. You eat them whole. Yes, that includes the head, the tail and all the bones. They taste slightly salty and a little fishy. They are delicious. A single serving contains several dozen fish. We shared all three dishes.
(Tsatsa, Tarator Soup and Calamari)
Total cost for the three dishes, a bottle of water and a bottle of coke: $9.68.
Distance walked: 6.0 miles
Monday, April 9
Today we checked out the Mall Galleria Burgas. It’s the first modern mall in the city and the first mall in the country that has been certified “green”. The first thing we did was get our phone accounts recharged. Surprisingly it hadn’t been a problem to be without phone service for several days.
After walking around the entire complex we ventured into Ikea hoping to score some free meatballs. When that didn’t work out we headed over to the food court for lunch.
On the way home we stopped by a few liquor stores in search of the quasi-almond aperitif we’d had in Nessebar. No one seemed to carry it. One shop suggested a walnut based liquor as an alternative but at 25 leva it was more than we wanted to spend. We finally found a bottle in a little shop near the apartment. It was on one of the lower shelves in an out-of-the-way corner and was covered in dust. It’s probably not a big seller. It cost $4.79.
As soon as we got home we uncorked it. There was a very strong smell of almond. We tasted it. Almond. It was definitely the same liquor we’d had before but it had a different flavor. We were stumped. We left our glasses on the table and started getting ready for dinner. When we tasted it again it had morphed into the flavor that we’d remembered. Like many wines that need to be decanted this liquor needed to be exposed to the air. That was a first for us. We killed about a third of the bottle before settling in to a night of TV and Words with Friends.
Distance walked: 10.7 miles
Tuesday, April 10
After our usual coffee at Butler’s we decided to visit the Archeological Museum. We bought a combo ticket that allowed us to visit two museums for the price of one.
The Archeological museum was very informative. It had a running narrative about the Eastern Balkans starting from the Copper Age extending through the Middle Ages. Of course there were many artifacts to go along with the stories. The highlight was the collection of coins that were minted in the area over the many centuries. Many were in amazingly good condition.
Lunch was by the sea coast at another restaurant that we’d been eyeing for several days. We ordered a greek salad, Black Sea clams and Black Sea shark. The clams were served along with sautéed vegetables in a tomato broth and the shark was fried. I don’t think we’ll ever tire of fresh seafood.
(Greek Salad, Black Sea Clams and Shark. Note: We Ate Half Before We Remembered to Take a Photo.)
After lunch we headed over to the Ethnographic Museum. Along the way we stopped at The Cathedral St Kiril & Metodii – it’s the largest and oldest church in Burgas. It was built between 1895 and 1907 and the frescos were done by the same artist who’d painted the frescos in the Alexander Nevski Cathedral in Sofia.
The Ethnographic Museum contained many displays about clothing from rural areas from the 19th and early 20th centuries. The downstairs had an extensive collection of wedding attire. The upstairs showcased handmade garments used for holidays and other special occasions. There were several looms with examples of how the clothing was made. It was very interesting.
(Traditional Wedding Dress)
(Christmas Caroler’s Costume)
We stopped at a grocery store on the way home and bought a bottle of Kamenitsa beer. It’s a Bulgarian beer that’s brewed in Plovdiv. We’ve been meaning to try it for some time. It’s very popular. We each had a sip before pouring it down the drain. To be fair it should be noted – we have always disliked beer!
Distance walked: 6.9 miles