Starting my Eastern Europe trip in Bulgaria
Bulgaria is the poorest country in the EU and for many Germans today a popular destination if they want to spend little money and want a luxurious beach holiday. The golden beach and the sunny beach in summer are almost bursting with the number of all the German and other tourists. For my parents Bulgaria was practically the maximum, because they were not allowed to travel much further than Bulgaria. So my mother didn't really understand why I chose the post-socialist Balkan country Bulgaria of all places as my destination.
The Balkans as a melting pot of many different cultures has always fascinated me since I did a 3-month internship in Serbia in 2012. However, I was not drawn to the tourist-infested beaches, especially now during the high season at the beginning of August.
Amazing atmosphere in the huge city park
In Bulgaria I arrived in Burgas, a medium-sized city on the Black Sea. And yes I have to admit, my parents were right, the Bulgarian beaches on the Black Sea are not exactly teeming with beauty. Nevertheless Burgas impressed me, the city is more modern than I thought and I liked the atmosphere just as much. The city draws its aesthetics from the beautiful long park that stretches for miles above the beach. Especially in summer, Bulgarians spend a lot of time there, walking, eating ice cream or watching one of the many small artistic performances that take place in this park called Sea Garden.
I continued to explore the city and bathed in the black sea for the first time. The beaches in Burgas were almost empty. Probably also because they seem to be so close to the harbour and therefore not so beautiful.
An open air metal festival
Coincidentally, just on the weekend when I was there, there was an organized metal event in the big open-air theatre. And the best thing: the entrance was free! Normally Bulgaria is not often blessed with metal events, if so then mostly only in the capital Sofia. And to top my luck, I was able to meet my buddy Stanimir for the first time, with whom I became friends through an online music platform. Actually he lives in another city, but because of this festival he also visited Burgas.
At the Sea of Black festival, the old school Death Metal band Master performed among others, as well as some other local bands. Even before the show I met Stanimir and his buddies.
Nationalistic tendencies in the balkan region
Especially his buddy Ivo gave me a warm welcome and told me proudly that Bulgaria had fought on the German side during the two world wars. His T-shirt made reference to the Heineken beer brand and showed the number 88 - an allusion to the radical right-wing slogan "Heil Hitler". I was quite surprised to see such a shirt here in Bulgaria. In Germany such a shirt would be forbidden.
However, probably no other region in the world shows such a strong nationalistic tendency as the Balkan region. It has been shaped by a multitude of invasions from East and West. Among the many ethnic groups living in this small area, many of them are striving for independence. The large number of wars in recent years tended to reinforce this sense of national identity and the separation from the others.
A great concert
The venue for the concert was somewhat unusual, because, as is usual in a theatre, there were seats there. This is rather inappropriate for the dynamics of a metal concert, but at least just before the stage there was a small narrow passage where you could mosh or headbang a bit. Once in a while some Bulgarians ran onto the stage and stumbled over the cables so that the singer's microphone was no longer audible. Anyway, definitely a successful concert, which ended around midnight. Afterwards we sat down for a while at the nearby beach.
Inspiring characters in my hostel
I returned to my hostel which was just reopened a few months before. An excellent hostel where I met many interesting or even inspiring characters. Like for example two seniors from Poland and Italy who have been travelling around the world alone for years. Both are vegans, were Buddhist monks in Thailand, were robbed in Bolivia and call Asia their home. Listening to their stories was incredibly exciting.
The next days 2 days I visited the two historical cities of Sozopol & Nessebar which is written about in another article before I came back to Burgas for another 3 days until I finally moved on to Varna.
