Hi bayliner2052,

There are local ciders ('Сайдер' in Bulgarian) but I haven't tried them, so can't comment on their quality - they are also called 'Ябълково вино' (yabalkovo vino=apple wine).

A litre bottle of 'Jack' is going to cost your husband around 39.99 Leva (£18.49 at today's local exchange rate).

Baldur

Things to do in Bulgaria:

Rent a car and go on excursion!

A one-day-trip:

In the region of the First Bulgarian Empire



We rented a car and headed from Sunny Beach through Tankovo, Goritsa and Ruen to Dobromir. We saw "Chudnite kamani" - the "wonderful rock's". We continued through Komunari and Ivanski to Shoumen. We were impressed with the great many small villages. While in Shoumen, we went to see the monument "Founders of the Bulgarian State".

Khan Asparuh and seven Slav tribes laid the foundations of the Bulgarian state here in the year of 681. The monument is built in 1981 on the occasion of the 1300 anniversary of the event. Visitors could see the figures of the founders of the Bulgarian state that were bigger than the regular human size, as well as other characters of historic importance, and a colorful mosaic representing the country's history.

Impressions from the passing the Balkan Mountains from South to North:








There's someone living here for real




The wonderful rocks

The monument "Founders of the Bulgarian State":


Guide-board to the monument


The lion head of the monument


Scientia potential est: We had to climb a few hundred stairs to see the following:








View from the monument to the town of Shoumen and the place of the first Bulgarian state.

Preslav:

The first Bulgarian state that existed from 681 to 1018. The first capital was Pliska. The capital was moved to Preslav in 893. The town's ruins are preserved. They are not real. They are built on the groundwork of the ancient buildings so that visitors can get an idea where the constructions used to be.










One of us in front of one of the many wells in the country from which one can drink amazingly clean cold water. Unfortunately, this well did not belong to the three per cent of the wells which gave Rakiya instead of water.

After that we stopped at Vrabnitsa where one of us called an acquaintance in. I had to park at a place with some suspicious characters moving around. I hated it but, thanks god, nothing happened. For security reasons, we didn't take pictures there. Before crossing the Balkan Mountains to the South through Vrabnitsa passage, we dropped by at a small hotel with a restaurant.

Then we headed back. The road through the passage was 1.000 meters in altitude. It was very narrow and bad. If a truck had also appeared in front of us, it was going to get real interesting. However, we got lucky.

After we crossed the Balkan Mountains on the way to Sunny Beach, we passed through Sungurlare, Karnobat, Aitos, Kableshkovo and Aheloy.

It was a wonderful journey.

Thanks BulgarienFan....very interesting. I have visited some of those villages myself.

Hi HMJ,

which of those villages did you visit?

My family and I have just returned from Sunny Beach (our 6th year in a row) and if anyone is looking for something new for the kids, Balkan Holidays now offer a new football school for children! I think it was called Soccer in the Sun.

My 11 year old son signed up for the 4 day course and loved every minute of it!

It ran for 2 hours each day and was very professionally run by 2 F.A. qualified coaches and was only around 20-25Lev a day.

I would definately recommend it!

Hi, We are off to a villa just outside Balchik on July 24th,our first trip to Bulgaria. We are looking for a lazy holiday as my mum in law is in her 60s and can't rush about the way she used to, but we would like at least 3 really quality days out to see some of the real Bulgaria. Some of the photos posted by Bulgarianfan had me drooling!! We have hired car for the whole holiday. Any suggestions of must see places to go from Balchik would be greatly appreciated! Also are there any organised trips worth going on just to have a day off from driving?

Thanks
Michelle

Hi,

in Balchick there is the castle of the former queen of Romania and the botanic garden. Near Balchick is Cape Kaliakra, "a must". I don't know the organised trips from Balcick; if you go with your hired car I would recommend Arbanassi and Veliko Tarnovo or Shipka (there ist the church) and the shipka-passage.

Regards
Manfred

Thanks Bulgarienfan. you have really helped as I can see from your previous posts that the type of places you consider worth seeing, my family would love to see!

family wise, i cannot recommend any higher the waterpark - Aqua Paradise, nessebar.

I have been in all the parks in america and i am not a big fan of them, but this was probably the best waterpark i have ever been to.

There is a free bus pickup and drop off service all the length of sunny beach, and since its not in the centre (like the other one) it's quieter. We never had to queue for a ride once.

It was the cleanest park i have ever been in, the pirate show is (a little club 18-30's) but my 2 kids(8 and2) loved it, and the late afternoon dancing show was excellent. and this year there were 8 new rides.

Little touches made this park stand out for me, when you go in you get a watch each and you can load money onto the watch. This watch is then swiped next to all the places where you spend cash and the amount is debited from the watch. This means once loaded up with cash you can lock away everything in a locker for 5 lev.

I put a 100 lev on it and at the end of the day i went back and was owed 56 lev and we are a family of four.

they have a website... aquaparadise-bg.com for more info, but i cannot recommend this park highly enough.

when I went 2 years ago we found it very hard to find any trips or excursions to go to as we didnt have a rep, but in the end we found a small excursion office, (which i have now been made aware there is plenty of them around) and we paid a small amount to go for the full day and explore some caves and included in this we got our own tour guide, who was v.nice I might add and an off road jeep. Having walked up a small mountain and explored these caves we were then taken to a local plantation where we were treated to some delicious local delicacies!! we were then taking off roading in the jeep which was an absoloute scream and then taken to tour an old bulgarian style village. This trip is not to be missed it was greatly enjoyable and entertaining and provided some hard earned relief from the same old boring strip of sunny beaches bars resturants and hotels!!

OOOH and girlies whatever you do please do not miss out on those delicious strippers which star in a top class entertainment show most def not one to be missed they advertise all along the sunny beach strip!

Hi all.read somewhere on here that there is a boat trip that involves fishing.I know my sons would love that. Any details would be great as I've got forum blindness I've looked that much. Thanks.

shawibags wrote:

.....read somewhere on here that there is a boat trip that involves fishing.I know my sons would love that.

You'll find that fishing trips are advertised in most of the resorts.

One that advertises on the 'net is the Lazy Day Cruise - http://www.go-bulgaria.com/summer/index.html. Can't comment personally, as I've never been on it.

<Edit> Looking at the website, it appears to have changed since I last checked, looks as though it has moved into a more 'upmarket' offering than used to be the case.

shawibags wrote:

Hi all.read somewhere on here that there is a boat trip that involves fishing.I know my sons would love that. Any details would be great as I've got forum blindness I've looked that much. Thanks.

Hi, try Google Global Tours Varna, you will find details of fishing trips on their website. It states fishing equipment provided and includes a seafood lunch on board. Hope this helps.

BCake wrote:

Hi, try Google Global Tours Varna, you will find details of fishing trips on their website. It states fishing equipment provided and includes a seafood lunch on board. Hope this helps.

From memory, like yourself, shawibags is staying in Sveti Vlas so the trips offered by Global Tours are probably not going to be very convenient - there are almost certain to be similar trips advertised locally, in the Sveti Vlas/Sunny Beach/Nesebar area.

Hello!
If you go to Bulgaria (to Sofia), then you can just walk around alot. There are many things to see.
But what you have to do there is TO EAT!! I am a big fan of Bulgarian food!!! It is delicious .. You should try all the specialities they have and let me know if you are going to enjoy it as much as i do

Hi has anyone information on horse riding in the sunny beach area?

thanks

As anyone got anymore recommendations for families to do, 2 adults a 9 and 3 year old boys, going on the 19th july...... Sunny Beach...
Help would be appreciated...

Hi there,

I recommend you to see the town of Veliko Turnovo and the area. There are many monasteries. As well to visit some place in Rodopy Montain, as well as Bansko ski resort.