Stara Zagora, Bulgaria

We spent three nights in Stara Zagora. It's a workaday city with a university, so there are a lot of younger people around downtown.

View of Stara Zagora

Obligatory socialist monument

Pedestrian street

Roman ruins

Market hall

Plenty of pecks of peppers!

Orthodox church

Evening relaxation

Abandoned mosque

Residential neighbourhood

Sozopol, Bulgaria

Sozopol has a lot of similarities to Nesebar, the last town we stayed at. It's located on a peninsula on the Black Sea, it has the traditional Bulgarian Revival wooden houses, and there are beaches nearby. But I think we enjoyed our stay in Sozopol even more then Nesebar. It was less busy and we had three nights here, so there was time to poke around town and to relax and watch the world go by.

View of the old town

Dinner with a sea view

You can see the ladies with tables set up on the street, selling their jams and canned vegetables

Our room

Nesebar, Bulgaria

We're in Nesebar for two nights. It's a very picturesque touristy town located on a peninsula on the Black Sea. Narrow streets, ancient churches (and church ruins), and a lot of houses built in the Bulgarian Revival Style with their cantilevered wooden second storeys.

View of the causeway to old Nesebar

Our very comfortable room

Day trip to Balchik Palace

Today we caught a bus to the nearby town of Balchik to see a palace built from 1926 to 1937 for Queen Marie of Romania. At that time, this part of Bulgaria was controlled by Romania and the palace was intended to be the Queen's summer retreat. The palace grounds include a number of villas and botanical gardens.

The town of Balchik

The palace was appropriately 2 km from town along the seafront promenade

The palace

Interior

Botanical gardens