In Nessebar we visited St. Stephens church and I learned that an Orthodox Church service lasts 2 hours and it's inappropriate to sit down! There are no chairs or pews but there are leaning posts for the elderly and sick. Men attend the first mass, women attend the second. The architects design low ceilings to instinctively bow when entering.
Our guide, Nasko, said that Nessebar used to be known as the city of 200 churches and now it's known as the city of 200 restaurants and pubs! Every family has a fishing boat, a car and a vineyard. Most people are engaged in tourism. 4-Star Hotels have 1000 rooms and charge €10-40 with breakfast and dinner. Germans and Russians come to visit the seaside (he said they get along) and also Romanians, Serbians and recently Turks (in 2007 both were accepted in the European Union.) Beaches are packed with "holiday-makers," as our guide says. They love the open air discos and unlimited mojitos!
Next we went Wine Tasting. Bulgarian Rule: they never drink wine before exactly noon. It's inappropriate to drink anything but tea or coffee before that! All Balkans drink wine...even Turks (who are usually Muslim.) Nasko says the difference between Russians and Bulgarians is that Bulgarians eat food with their drinks!
FRENCH rules of wine tasting:
1. Stir
2. Smell
3. Sip
4. Spit
The difference in Bulgaria is that on step 4, they always drink the wine!
Blagodaray = Bulgarian for "thank you"...for reading!
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| This depiction of a slide to hell in the St. Stephens church was supposed to scare people into faith |
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| Gypsies push jewelry relentlessly |
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| Cobblestone streets, flowers and an ocean view |
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| Scarves and carpets for sale everywhere |
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| Behind the scenes of winemaking |
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| Two wonderful new passenger friends, Tom and Norma |
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| Tasting LOTS of different wines! |
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| A beautiful folkloric show with happy Bulgarian teens |
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