Sunny Beach - A superb beach on the Black Sea Coast
The resort is perched at 36 km north of Bourgas and about 90 km
to the south of Varna and is the largest holiday complex on the Black Sea coast.
It numbers over 100 hotels, erected in long and wide lanes, surrounded by green
and shady parks. It is naturally set in a small bay, protected by the slopes of
the Balkan Mountain to the north. Its six-kilometers-long beaches reach as far
as Nessebur to the south. The Mediterranean climate of the resort, a wide
semi-circular bay facing east an over 8 km long beach strip, 30-60 m wide, fine
golden sand, natural dunes a clean and gently sloping sea no dangerous fish,
1700 hours of sunshine from May trough September and average daily temperature
in summer 27C makes it preferable for family tourism. It offers the whole
spectre of services as well as plenty of entertainments for the children.
Having visited Sunny Beach in Autumn 1999 I was left with mixed feelings. The resort is segregated with guard posts monitoring all incoming traffic etc. With this being such a poor country you cannot hide from the fact that you are from a different world to most of the people you meet here. This doesn't stop the local people being friendly and helpful though you do get tired of the street beggars constantly pestering you for handouts, a little bit like Oxford Street in London. The restaurants are plentiful and in general serve good food, the choice is wide and the price is reasonable. Wine is incredibly cheap but can be of a very low quality, do pay a little bit more and enjoy some of the excellent local variety's on offer.
We stayed at
the Hotel Continental, described in the brochure as a firm favourite with our
clients. This place was a culture shock and we were considering asking to be
moved until a couple of families arrived the next morning, relocated from other
unsatisfactory hotels and were delighted with the Continental - this was scary.
The rooms were very basic and the plumbing was a nightmare, if our friends in
the room next door turned their bathroom sink taps on the taps in our bathroom
came on as well. Breakfast was either boiled eggs or various salads, cooked
meats, olives or cakes!
Right - This is the magnificent new swimming pool at the improved hotel Continental. The picture was sent to me by my friend Gill from Brighouse in Yorkshire. Gill has been visiting the Hotel for many years now and will not say a bad word about it, so much so that I am thinking maybe next year we may visit it again. (no one on the sun beds though)
The pictures below were taken in Nesubar the nearest town south, a
beautiful
fishing village with some excellent restaurants. There is also a really good
market here where you can buy some very well priced clothes. Memorabilia, German
and Russian is also a popular seller as well as pirate software and cd's.
