Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Несебър (Nessebar)

Like so many other popular tourist sites, Несебър (Nessebar) is like a beautiful girl who wears too much makeup. She’s still lovely and captivating, but she’s too overdone to be genuine and much of the originality and uniqueness that define her beauty is lost behind the facade. A victim of her own popularity and narcissism, you can’t help but wonder what she would be like if she wasn’t so adored by others and so in love with herself.

There is plenty of information about Nessebar online and in print. I won’t regurgitate that here. What I will say is, despite all of Nessebar's flaws, I was nothing but happy the entire time I was meandering around its cobblestone streets. In short, it was a great day to be alive and a great day to be in Bulgaria.

A short causeway links Nessebar to the mainland. On one side of the causeway is an old windmill. On the other side is a monument. At the base of the causeway are the remains of old ramparts. A little further on is a small marina full of fishing boats and a few sail boats. The photos speak for themselves.








Nessebar is famous, among other things, for its many historic churches. Some have been restored; others not so much.








The town also features numerous National Revival era homes.






Restored homes, and copycat architecture, now house cafes and shops.



Nessebar is an old fishing village, and some folks still make a living as fishermen.


The cleaned and gutted fish end up at the market.



The guts end up as food for the ubiquitous Yellow-legged Gulls.


Those which weren't fighting over fish guts seemed to be mocking me.


Mute Swans were common along the jetties.


And large flocks occasionally flew by.


Fortunately, I wasn't standing in this Great Cormorant's line of fire.

2 comments:

  1. Nesebar is my very favorite seaside resort on the Black sea. Some of the buildings may appear unrestored but in reality they are remnants/excavations/ruins from ears B.C. As such they are national and world heritage sites while they are subjected to conservation efforts they will not be fully restored because that would violate their authenticity (i.e. using contemporary supplies to rebuild them, etc.)

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  2. BULGARIA HAS A LOT TO OFFER, VERY PRETTY, BLACK SEA LOVELY AND ST VLAS

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