Sunny Beach and Nessebar

Contrary to its promising name, Sunny Beach greeted us with ominously dark rain clouds and a strong breeze of cool wind. It had suddenly turned autumn overnight. The temperatures dropped and the summer bathing feeling was instantly gone. If the countless streams of tourists, for whom the thousands of gigantic hotel complexes were built, had known this already, there were only a few holidaymakers to be found here and thus, at the end of September, the season was already noticeably over. Only a few operators of the disgustingly many souvenir and clothing shops, as well as amusement stands, bars, and fast food restaurants along the promenade, resisted the dismantle and winterization that was buzzing everywhere. Since the scene seemed rather depressing, we amused ourselves with a game of mini-golf and then strolled along the promenade, eating ice cream, through this tourist sin pool and gained an overview of the entire extent of the flourishing money machine from the local pier. As there wasn't much else to linger for us, we drove to Nessebar, the small town located on a peninsula at the southern end of Sunny Beach. Although the many winding alleys, with their picturesque houses, restaurants, art galleries, and historic churches and ruins, offer a completely different flair, the off-season atmosphere was already the same here as well. After a stroll, we let ourselves be caught by one of the numerous restaurant operators for a little salad dinner and then fled back to the car to escape the approaching storm.