The Black Sea Coast and Shumen

Madara Horseman near Shumen

Our drive down and up the Black Sea coast was relatively uneventful given the past few days. South towards the Turkish border are some remnants of old soviet industrial institutions that lie abandoned now on the seashore.


North the road gets much better though still two lane almost to Burgas. There are a smattering of seaside resorts some leftover soviet construction ones, others recent additions. There is no road construction going on though in the country and it seriously needs it.

One of many 9th century churches in Nessabar 

Burgas itself is a large industrial centre and it is here that you start to notice more common European store names. We decide to continue north to Nessabar, a place that Diana had suggested we visit since it had a beautiful old town. It does, Nessabar while a tourist magnet for the famed Sunny Beach and the Old town is again tour bus heaven.


What struck us here is the architectural difference of the town. Stone walls for the main floor and wood clad walls for the upper floors. Also, the churches, built between the 4th century AD and 11 century AD all had a very similar design. And in the Orthodox religion apparently each ‘class’ had its own church, so that was why there were so many in such a small old town centre.


Along this stretch of coast we ran into 3 different vehicle accidents within a very short distance. All on narrow 2 lane road. Since there are very few other roads everybody just stops and gets out if traffic is blocked in both directions. With the motorcycle we wound our way thru the stopped traffic and made our way around the accidents and continued on. We definitely wouldn’t have got to our destination for the day had we stayed in line.

Sandra with Phillip and Yoanna

Now the Garmin map set for Bulgaria is basic major highways and very little side road detail. So we are headed for Shumen, the old home of a work colleague of Sandra’s from Suncor and her parents. We had been invited to stop there by Yoanna’s parents when they heard we were coming through Bulgaria, and then when our schedule changed it ended up that Yoanna and Phillip had just arrived from Calgary. It was such a fortunate opportunity.

Plaman and Diana at Plitska

You see Yoanna’s parents both had wanted to be archaeologists but went different paths during the Soviet occupied era. He became a military officer and she a teacher. But they never lost their interest in archaeology and Shumen is the centre of the original Bulgarian empire. Don’t take my word for it even the Soviets recognized it by building a monument in Shumen. It was created in 1981 by the Soviets and  has stark “Starwars’ type features to the monument and images but is very powerful. Obvious Yoanna’s parents are exceptionally proud of their hometown area. It is 1300 steps above the town, 1 for each year dating back from the dedication to the start of the Bulgarian state.

Statues are part of the Soviet legacy

1300 Steps Up 1 per year

The magnitude 

Like Star Wars figures of 9 th century Kings

Plitska was the first capital of Bulgaria during the Han Krum era dating back to the 5th century. This later moved to Veliki Preslav where King Simeon was recognized for bringing Christianity to Bulgaria driving out the Moors in the 10th century. These are all within 15 kms of Shumen. The ruins here are very interesting and have artefacts from them that we have not seen anywhere else.


In addition the Madara Horseman, which adorns their coinage, the lev (BGN) was found carved into an ancient cliffside just a few kms away. And the surrounding area to the horseman was an ancient cave dwelling area. The place is beautiful to see.


Again Bulgaria has been fought over ‘forever’ it seems and was annexed by Russia after WWII. 

sewage drainage

Water source piped in

We definitely benefited from Yoanna’s dad’s knowledge of the sites, he has such a passion for the area. And we really enjoyed the company of her family, who were celebrating the arrival of their first born grandchild/great grandchild. We are just so appreciative for being able to be guests of theirs. There is no way the sights would have meant as much to us without Yoanna’s dads explanations which Yoanna and Diana translated to English for us over a 2 day period. What an enriched experience! and great food. Thanks Diana and Yanka.


We also learned that the common man in Bulgaria doesn’t believe that belonging to the EU has made Bulgaria a stronger country. It has facilitated an exodus of people to other EU and north American countries but those that remain are witnessing a very difficult time. In contrast Romania is doing well after its revolution against its communist state. Roads are excellent, the economy is cooking.


Buildings that the soviet era had begun, now sit unfinished or unused in Bulgaria. The routine and order to the peoples lives the soviets brought has now been replaced by uncertainty about their economic future. There is the perception that the EU controls quotas for products in such a manner that it restricts economic development of a region like Bulgaria that has lower wages and many raw resources. They have only joined the EU since 2006 some 16 years after the fall of communism.   It doesn’t seem they accomplished much before the EU. We hope for this and future generations of proud Bulgarians that the EU does benefit them.


We did discuss the difficulty we encountered with the current Bulgarian government in getting tourist information like we did for other countries. Yoanna’s dad shared that same experience when his masters dissertation in Economics  based on a viable tourism industry in Bulgaria was accepted but without discussion suggesting they had no interest in the content. It is yet another area of great economic potential. The Balkan states during the soviet era used to be the summer playground for soviets due to its great weather and beaches, now the former soviet countries travel elsewhere and that economic void has not been filled with other visitors.

economic void has not been filled with other visitors.


But the best part was seeing Bulgaria through the eyes of a proud Bulgarian family.

Four Generations at Yanka's house

everyone at Breakfast, they don't do
breakfast in Bulgaria this was just
for us, so we'd leave LOL

Yanka's house in Pleslav

Old Bulgarian Border now a toll fee collection

7 Nuclear reactors in total
Bulgaria exports power

So we have said goodbye to Bulgaria by way of a GPS programming error (mine). I went off on the wrong road from Shumen and after beating ourselves up on a bad road wasn’t going to go back so we have now crossed over into Romania. The Cyrillic alphabet is my excuse.