6th Country: Bulgaria!

We are in BULGARIA!! We have docked in Varna, the sea capital of the Black Sea Coast. And… I have a cold. I tried so hard to not get sick… and I am. It’s a bummer because Bulgaria is AMAZING. Mom – you would love it here! It is beach central…like paradise. This is not what I was expecting…but I am pleasantly surprised. Definitely one of my favorite ports thus far. It is a smaller city, with less than ½ million residents. It’s weird to think that just about 20 years ago they were under a communist / socialist government. A lot has changed… as they are now a democratic member of the European Union. Their currency is currently the Leva, although they will eventually switch over the to Euro. A lot of the younger people seem to speak a good amount of English, which has been helpful because I cannot decipher their alphabet whatsoever! It is much closer to the Russian alphabet than to ours…

We had to tender off of the ship, since our ship was not able to dock until 8 p.m. the first day. Tendering was more interesting this time… but still a hassle. It took about 30 minutes to get from the ship to the dock by way of our lifeboat – but the seas were incredible choppy for some reason. They actually ended up having to end the tendering process earlier in the afternoon because of the rough seas. Becca was on one of the bad tenders and got seasick, and it took Shannon’s tender an hour and a half to reach the ship.

To start off our time in this country, Anthony and I went on an FDP trip to the Ship Hydrodynamics Center for our European Union class. We first sat through a Powerpoint presentation about some of their major projects and then toured the facility. It was pretty boring – but it wasn’t too long. The whole trip took about 2 ½ hours. Now… I just have to figure out how to write a 3-page paper on it. Should be fun. Not.

After our SAS trip – Anthony and I scoped out Varna. We first took a bus to the Dolphinarium, where they have a few dolphin shows a day, like Sea World! But we missed the show. So, we got some yummy ice cream (Anthony ate 2 cones – then felt sick after), then continued on exploring. We ended up walking through this huge park type thing which is miles long. Lots of vendors are set up, and there are some rides, bars, restaurants, and mini-golf. There is also a planetarium, zoo, aquarium… all along the beach in what is known as the Sea Gardens. It was cool.

Our ship is in a pretty nice location…as a huge beach is like a 5-minute walk from our ship. Pretty sweet. And the area is also very classy and clean. Poles on the walkway are decorated with lighted anchors that light up at night. Ferrari’s and Porsches are driving around – which is weird because Bulgaria is one of the poorest countries of the EU and that we are visiting. And on the beach near our ship – there is an international beach volleyball tournament going on. I watched a 2 on 2 match between the Czech Republic and Brazil … it was pretty intense.

Our first night out, we all decided to go BOWLING…in BOWLGARIA! Haha. Sorry. Anyhow… it was such a great time. It was called Galaxy Bowling and I wish our bowling alleys in the states were like this one! It was super upscale – but still really cheap! I love the exchange rate … and how low priced everything is! Currently, for every US dollar we get 1.4 Leva. And, the highest price drink is like 5 Leva – for frozen drinks or top cocktails, like Long Islands or Mojitos! Huge beers are like 1 Leva! We were all super excited and had a good time. And the bowling game only cost 5 Leva as well – All in all I spent 25 Leva and it was a blast. And, we made a late night stop at the Golden Arches. That’s right…Mickey D’s. And guess what? I had my first McDonald’s cheeseburger in Bulgaria! It was oh so yummy.

On our second day we all went to Golden Sands, a resort town about a 20-minute taxi ride away. I am so glad we went because it is AMAZING! It reminds me of Vegas, Mexico, a happening beach, and an amusement park all in one. I wish I could explain it. It is water sport central – jetskiing, parasailing, banana boating, tubing…just everything. I want to go Parasailing! And they have massages all over the beach. I would love one of those as well… we will have to see! They even have a miniature Eiffel Tower with a restaurant on it. Upon arrival we immediately laid out and went swimming in the Black Sea. The water was so nice and refreshing. I could have spent so much time in there! People were floating around in floats, sliding off of slides…everything. I wanted a float! In addition to the Sea, there are pools everywhere! Like really nice, crystal blue pools surrounded by Beach hut bars everywhere offering delicious cocktails – like frozen strawberry daiquiris and pina coladas! Anthony, Lauren, Eric, Ben and I all went to a happy hour at a poolside bar – we were like “where are we right now?!” It was just that nice. It felt like we were on spring break! And can you believe that none of us had our camera?! Not good – we missed out on some optimal photo opportunities! We were all kicking ourselves for not bringing one. And even though some of us wanted to stay in Golden Sands for the evening, we headed back towards the ship and went out for a little while the same place we were the first night. I had fun.

I miss and love everyone! Until next time…
XOXO
-Erika