Bulgaria - The first vacation of two girlfriends
Wɔatintim: 15.05.2016
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Last minute and only looking at the price, we went to Bulgaria one week after booking. My friend and I had just finished high school and just wanted to get out of Germany. Since we had a limited budget, we decided to go to Bulgaria without much thought. As unprepared as we were, you can probably imagine that the vacation was an absolute adventure for us. Especially since the trip also represented the first vacation on our own.
The first day was an absolute horror for the two of us! We ended up in a city full of party hotels, discos and strip clubs and got lost. We wandered through all the streets and had to fend off suggestive looks from the locals or their sales offers. In fact, you can say that we felt like prey. In the evening, we seriously considered flying back in the next few days. The picture surely reveals that we didn't. Nevertheless, the Golden Sands is not the best place for two girls in the off-season or at night.
All of this changed already the next day. By luck, or rather by my inability to use the coffee machine at breakfast, we got into a conversation with a nice old man who encouraged us and explained the best ways to the beach. From then on, we didn't have to walk through the terrible streets of the previous day anymore! During the day, we booked an excursion and got to know even more people at the hotel, with whom we even went partying in the evening. Since I have very little experience with parties so far, the evening was unforgettable for me. For partygoers, the Golden Sands is highly recommendable in the main season. I have never been to Ballermann, but many people have compared the Golden Sands to it and mostly the German language was spoken there too. (The locals also speak German rather than English.) And alcohol and cigarettes are cheap!
Apart from our beach trips to the still somewhat cool Black Sea, we also visited Varna and went on an excursion (more about that shortly). You can easily take the bus to Varna, each bus ride costs 3 Lewa (about 1.50€) and from the Golden Sands you take buses 9 and 409. The pedestrian zone in Varna was very lively and offered various private shops as well as typical European stores. Of course, there were souvenir stands everywhere, but unfortunately no nice postcards. Right nearby is the 'Seagarden', which represents a beautiful park along the sea. It was recommended to us, but we only walked through it briefly to get to the beach. In my opinion, the beach was even more beautiful than the Golden Sands, simply because it was cleaner and emptier (off-season). The two of us also visited the Varna Mall and the Grand Mall. My little insider tip is the view of Varna and the Black Sea from the McDonald's in the Varna Mall (pictures).
The other excursion took us to Balchik to the summer residence of a former Romanian queen, to Cape Kaliakra and to a snail farm. The garden of the residence was very magical, as was the cape (But one shouldn't expect too much, it's just a small platform, but the view is worth it). The snail farm was interesting and somehow cute, but my interest in it was not enough for a tasting.
My conclusion from the trip is that I would not go to Bulgaria again with just a friend. The memory of the vacation is definitely a positive one, but that is also due to the many lovely people we met. Since the high season would be too crowded for me (we just witnessed the change from pre- to high season), it is not a destination I would visit in the summer. The Golden Sands is perfect for all party vacationers (especially groups of men)!
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