Bulgaria's Bourgas - landmarks and sights

Bourgas - the District Museum of History

The city of Bourgas is the second largest city at the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. It lies 390 km east of Sofia, in the farthest western part of Bourgas Bay. Bourgas is a successor of a small Roman small named Deultum. During the Middle Ages a small fortress called Pirgos was erected.

The present day city of Bourgas offers wonderful landmarks and sights that tourists could enjoy. The District Museum of History houses an archaeological hall with a wide collection from the old colonies on the Black Sea coast. The museum was founded in 1925 and it also offers a number of ceramic vessels, coins and ancient jewellery, plates of Thracian horse-riders, tools, and miniature models of old settlements.

The Ethnographic Museum offers a nice collection of traditional koukeri masks, as well as typical of the region costumes and ritual accessories. The museum has video-hall where one can watch at ethnographic and historical films. The museum is arranged in an old house, which was declared a cultural monument.

The Museum of Nature and Science contains plenty of exhibits related to the geological characteristics of the earth and the Bourgas region. More than 1200 exhibits of insects and reptiles and more than 140 species of fishes have been exposed, too.

The Cathedral of St. St. Cyril and Methodius lies close to the marketplace. It is and interesting sight because of its beautiful wooden altar amazing frescos.

The Opera House, the Philharmonic hall and the Drama Theatre are housed in three different buildings and function all through the season. Along with the Puppet Theatre they outline the cultural atmosphere of the city with their nice performances and concerts.

The Bourgas' Art Gallery hosts halls that exhibit works of Bulgarian artists, icons by Revival icon-painters and foreign arts. It was established in 1945.

The Sea Garden is situated on a high shore, where visitors can enjoy nice flowerbeds, sculptures and trees. Within the park one can find a small zoo and the open-air theatre, which houses the International Folklore Festival that takes place each year.

The central beach of Bourgas is located below the Sea Garden. Its sand is in dark colour, due to the mixture of various alloys of magnetite. The city also has a northern beach.

On almost equal distance (about 25 km.) from Bourgas are situated two of the most impressive ancient settlements on the Bulgarian coast - Nessebar to the north and Sozopol to the south. The town of Nessebar is also included in the list of UNESCO world heritage sites. On walking distance from Nessebar is situated the largest Bulgarian Sea resort - Sunny Beach.

Roussalka resort - the small pearl of the northern coast

Roussalka Resort

The Bulgarian northern seaside resort of Roussalka has been established in 1968 in the popular Taukliman bay (The Birds' Bay). The area hosts a typical bird colony in a wonderful rocky area near the Black Sea. The Roussalka resort lies just 14 km east of the town of Kavarna, 59 km north-east of Bulgarian sea capital - Varna. The nearest settlement is the small village called St. Nikola, which is situated just one kilometer away from the resort. In the beginning Roussalka predominantly received French tourists while today a lot of Dutch, Russian, Belgian and Bulgarian holiday-makers visit the resort.

Roussalka offers accommodation in 522 separate small villas facing the sea. The complex is also equipped with enough recreation and sports equipment. According to the architectural decision, the resort is built on terraced terrain. The tourists have opportunities to enjoy practicing almost all kinds of water sports. In addition, the complex has biking alleys, gym, tennis-courts and SPA centres for water treatments and massage. There are restaurants, discotheques, snack-bars, and a bar with entertainment programme. Roussalka also offers small firth with curative mud, an open-air theatre, and yachting facilities, including a small yacht port.

There are also interesting places to visit around Roussalka resort. The most notable is the Kaliakra cape, which lies just several kilometers away. The village of Kamen Briag (Stone Shore) is also in the vicinity of Roussalka - there one can see interesting rock formations, and wonderful rocky bays with many caves and reefs. The impressing Yailata protected area is situated 1 km south of the Kamen Briag village. The are is a favourite place for students, hippies, trackers and tourists in search of privacy. Right next to Roussalka one can enjoy the amazing views of the Taukliman bay.

Several small bays close to Roussalka offer different beach conditions - sand, bigger stones, pebbles, and rocks. The divers can enjoy good opportunities for practising as the underwater world is amazing due to the peculiar rocks relief.

Kavarna Rock Fest 2011



Arch Enemy will perform on the
2011 Kavarna Rock Fest

 The Bulgarian seaside town of Kavarna hosts annual rock festival. It happens during the summer season so that tourists that spend their vacation in Kavarna or in the resorts nearby can also enjoy two or three evenings listening to their favorite rock and metal bands. The main orginizer of the venue is Kavarna municipality and the town's mayor - mr. Tzonko Tzonev.

The Kavarna Rock Festival 2011 is scheduled for three days - July 15th to 17th inclusive. Although the bands that will perform were announced a bit later (started coming up at the end of April), it worth to wait. The first confirmed crews were the Swedish melodic death metal band Arch Enemy and the Finnish power metal band Sonata Arctica. As supporting bands will act the less popular Dream Shade and Suicidal Angels.

On May 09 also confirmed the bands of Paradise Lost from England and Tiamat from Sweden. The promoters expect more acts to be announced soon.

For accommodation during the venue, the visitors can select from a list of hotels in Kavarna. There is also a camping site, where fans can sleep on tents and caravans, too. The nearby resorts also offer large choice of hotels and other accommodation opportunities.

We are going to inform you shortly about any changes (including announcements for new bands) related to Kavarna Rock Fest 2011 that may occur.

Nesebar and its ancient secrets



Old town of Nesebar

 The Black Sea resort town of Nessebar extends over a small peninsula, about 37km northeast of Bulgaria's southern sea capital - city of Bourgas. Nesebar's beach is believed to be one of the finest beaches along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast due to a large sandy strip of land between Nesebar and the village of Ravda to the north, covered with clean golden sand. Right next to Nesebar lies the largest and most famous Bulgarian seaside resort - Sunny Beach.

In addition to Nesebar's superb location and the oportunities for wonderful summer vacation that it offers, the town is more famous with its great history. The present-day Nesebar is the successor of a Thracian fishermen's settlement named Menabryia, which dates back to the 2nd century BC. Later Greeks named it Messembria (which was later transformed into Nesabar by the Slavonic people.

At present, Nesebar is one of the most popular Bulgarian sea resorts among foreign tourists for its ancient spirit and well-preserved remains. According to some legends, Nessebar had about 41 churches, the most impressive being the Old Bishop's Residence, which is located in the centre of the town.

In addition to the well-preserved churches, in Nesebar one can also see the remains of fortress walls, Roman and Greek street pavements, fortifications of different epochs, authentic medieval, administrative and other buildings.

If you get some free time during your Nesebar vacation, it worths to visit the neighbouring resort of Sunny Beach. In this top class summer resort one can enjoy wonderful sports facitilities and have an amazing night life.