Geoff Brock & Bruce Gamble
         
     
   
 
 
 

From Burgas to the city-museum of Nessebur ...and a lovely lunch ashore
 
Monday 13th October 2014
  
We awoke to a rather dull looking morning in the port of Burgas, Bulgaria... or was it just that the port itself made the day look dull?
The overnight voyage from Constanta had been calm and peaceful.
 
At our briefing last night we were told that the port of Burgas is a working port and that, as such, we would not be permitted to disembark and walk into town independently. Instead, after passing through immigration, we would have to get onto one of the coaches provided and be taken to our destination, Nessebur. We later found out that Nessebur has its own small port for tourists, but its facilities are limited to one ship at a time. As our visit was a late addition to the itinerary, caused by the Ukraine crisis, another ship had already booked the docking location for today. We were quite amused to discover that the ship which had beaten us to the port was none other than the Island Sky and we would get to see it once again!
After boarding our alloted coach, we drove through the port and out via the official exit point into the city of Burgas.
Our route was fairly straightforward and we tracked the coast, more or less, from Burgas to Nessebur...
... passing the residential tower blocks of the city...
   
... as well as its airport...

...arriving at Nessebur about 45 minutes later.

This is a view of where we were (not taken by one of us, clearly!)

 
After driving through the newer part of the town, we crossed the causeway to the peninsula where the old town is located.
 
 
 
 

At the entrance to the old town, the coach dropped us off and the guided walking tour began.
 
 
 
Our first stop was at the museum where we were taken into a room for a lecture. True to form, we spotted the warning signs and made our bid for freedom! We did manage to look around the museum for ourselves before we left, though.
 
It wasn't long before we spotted the Island Sky, docked in OUR space!
 
When we got to St. Stephan Church, we rejoined our walking group, because this was one of the highlights of the tour and we wanted to get some information about it from the guide... (also, we would have had to pay to get in independently and we had no local currency... again!)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
Well, we really enjoyed that visit and could see why this church is easily the highlight of the old town.
One down, thirty nine to go!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
Church of Saint Sofia
 
 
 
 
St. Paraskeva Church
 
 
 

 
Church of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin (I think)
 
St. Spas Church
 
 
 
 
 
 
Christ Pantocrator Church
 
 
 
 
 
 
It was time to decide whether to take the coach back to our ship for lunch and to spend the rest of the afternoon on board OR to stay in Nessebur, have some lunch at a local restaurant and spend a little more time wandering around this remarkable old town. We chose the latter!
 
There weren't too many restaurants open, certainly none that were on the recommended list given to us last night on the ship. Being a Monday in October, perhaps it was a bit late in the season.
We did, however, find what looked like a suitable place to eat and, together with Angela and John, enjoyed a lovely meal there.
 
 
 
 
After lunch, we had a bit more of a mooch and then went to the appointed place to catch the 3.00pm coach back to the ship.
A slightly better photo of some old planes, as we passed the airport on the way back.
 
We left Burgas on schedule.
 
It would be another 36 hours before our arrival in Thessalonica, so tomorrow would be another day at sea. We were scheduled to sail past Istanbul during the night so the highlight for tomorrow would be sailing through the Dardanelles in the afternoon.
 
 
©Geoff Brock and Bruce Gamble