Quite a big rise in the bus fare. Let us know if the malls are any busier than last year, although last August people did seem to be wandering around them to try and stay cool, but not actually buying anything.

Nels

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Baldur wrote:

I've just arrived back from a wander around Sveti Konstantin.

Things were very quiet in the resort, very few visible tourists either around the hotel pools that I passed or in the bars/restaurants; although the beach between the former location of the [/u]Chernomorets[u] and the Sirius was quite full of sun worshippers.

Baldur

Hi Baldur,I'm sure you are having a great time.

Our friends used to run the Chernomorets just before it got demolished they then rented the Zaliva just up the front a bit near the thermal baths, they decided against taking it this year as the rent for the beach alone was nearly 50,000 leva & reports of a poor season. Vasco & brother Pato are working in the jobs they have in the winter & Nataly is back workng as a bartender in GS in the Astoria pool bar & she reports that the resort is very quiet.

Stephen

Hi Nels & Stephen,

Friends & I walked around Mall Varna - quite a lot of people there but mainly taking advantage of the free air conditioning, rather than purchasing anything (unsurprisingly at some of the prices!). I suspect that most would have been walking around the Sea Gardens on their normal Sunday razhodka (stroll) but preferred the cooler atmosphere of the mall.

Baldur

@DOA

Hi Stephen,

Nataly is back workng as a bartender in GS in the Astoria pool bar & she reports that the resort is very quiet.

Today's report in Novinite regarding the sale by auction of the Astoria for default on a loan shows just how bad things have been in the resorts over the season.

Baldur

We stayed at the Astoria Beach when it was the Morska Zvezda around about 1999. Not one of the better hotels and was owned by the company that owned the Hotel Astoria a short distance away, hence the later name change.

I really wonder for how long Bulgaria will continue to have a viable tourist industry for UK clients, and the lack of flights to Varna is doing in the Golden Sands area for sure, then there's the all inclusive take over of Albena.

For years just about every young Bulgarian I've met has been studying economics or has an economics degree, which is probably where the problem lies.

They really don't have a clue sometimes.

Peter

I know many families who love Golden Sands (as I do) but are put off because of the lack of flights from Scotland into Varna.

Like you Peter I can remember the Morska Zvezda before it changed its name. I wonder when it was actually built. When we stayed in the Zlatna Kotva (maybe 1992/3) we used to stroll along the front to the far end (Glarus) and remembering most days passing the Morska Zvezda. I seem to remember scaffolding and building work going on when we passed and wonder if it was around then it was built or maybe it was just renovation work of some sort.

It is a great pity that a resort that has so much to offer and was so popular a few years ago now seems to be struggling. We stayed a few times in the Sirena Hotel but notice that it has now become flats and also the Zlatna Kotva, where we stayed on our very first visit, has now become flats too.

We stayed at the Zlatna Kotva with JMC, and it was a great hotel. However Balkan didn't do it and JMC dropped it so we couldn't get back, without booking direct with separate air travel which is messy, and lacks the protection of the Package Holiday Regs.

Golden Sands has an lot to offer, but from the UK perspective just about the whole of the Varna area has been killed off as a destination, and they have reverted to their original German (East) market, plus Scandinavians, Russians, Belgians, Dutch, and Romanians.

What a pity.

Peter