OUR TRAVELS
Photos of sightseeing enthusiasts
A TRIP ROUTE
IT IS WORTH KNOWING
Slavic states began to arise as a result of the processes of unification of Slavic tribes, and one of the first was Bulgaria. Proto-Bulgarians are a people of Turkish origin, who in 679, led by Khan Asparuch, crossed the Danube and conquered the areas inhabited by the Slavic Sklavins and Ants. In their contacts with the Slavs, the Proto-Bulgarians quickly denationalized, lost their language and fully merged with the indigenous Slavic people, on which they imposed their name and organization. Pliska, and then Presław, became the capital of the Bulgarian State. The apogee of his power came after the adoption of Christianity by the Khan Boris in 864. During the period of its greatest territorial development in the 9th century, the Bulgarian states covered an area of approx. 750,000 km2 and covered the entire territory of today's Bulgaria and partly Albania, Montenegro, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine and Hungary. For most of its existence, Bulgaria waged wars with the Byzantine Empire, which ended with the incorporation of its territory into the Byzantine Empire in 1018 during the reign of Emperor Basil II of the Bulgarian Empire.
INTERESTING FACTS
Mutual relations between Poles and Bulgarians have always had something of a solidarity with brotherhood, as both countries remained under the strict influence of the USSR for many years. It is thanks to Bulgaria that citruses and exotic fruits found their way to our festive tables. During communism, Bulgaria appeared to the average Pole as a land flowing with honey and milk, and holidays in Sunny Beach or Golden Sands were what a holiday on the French Riviera was today. People talked about such vacations throughout the winter, and an individual resting by the Black Sea was the envy of his colleagues from work. The reality, however, was much more complicated. The tiring train journey lasted almost two days, and in addition to luggage, you had to take with you various articles such as jeans, sunglasses, Nivea cream or the famous perfume "Perhaps", which were sold to the Bulgarians to finance at least some of the family holidays.
Bulgaria - northeast region
September 2016
Tempted by promotion rather than sentiment, we spent our next family vacation on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. As we do not like going to the same places, this time we decided to relax in Albena, full of greenery, located near the popular Golden Sands resort.
Established in the 70s of the twentieth century, Albena is a real open-air museum from the previous era. It didn't bother us at all, because we spent a lot of time exploring the area. Julek had a great time, both in the hotel pool and by the sea. After a few days, his greatest passion became vending machines selling plastic eggs with dinosaurs, which he managed to collect by the entire army by the end of his stay. Our vacation at the Black Sea was very successful and it's really hard to find anything that we could fault.Julek is resting
Albena resort, like the neighboring Golden Sands, offers tourists wide and clean beaches and a good infrastructure. Most importantly, the water is shallow up to a certain distance from the shore, so we did not have to worry about Julek, who loved to play in the sea. Fortunately, there weren't too many holidaymakers at this time of the year, which, apart from the ubiquitous greenery, was another advantage of this place.
Balchik and Kaliakra
We visited the rocky headland of Kaliakra as part of a half-day trip. According to the tourist brochures, the place is beautiful, and the picturesque views from the high cliff are among the most beautiful on the entire Bulgarian coast, which we have witnessed. However, the ruins of the fortress from the 4th century BC and the remains of Christian churches are not very impressive, and only colorful legends testify to their former greatness.
Shumen and surroundings
The Shumen region is a very important place in the history of Bulgaria, because the city itself is famous for many medieval monuments, and in nearby Pliska, it was the capital of the first Bulgarian state. However, what inspired me for the trip was the famous relief from the 8th-9th century called the Madara Rider, entered on the Unesco List. I read about him as a teenager, but I must admit that the face-to-face meeting disappointed me a bit, because I thought that the bas-relief is...much larger.
The rock monastery of Aladzha
It turns out that Golden Sands is not only a paradise for sunbathers, because the Aladzha Monastery is literally a stone's throw from the popular resort . Despite the fact that the cells, halls and churches carved by monks in the limestone cliff are in ruins today, they made a huge impression on us. Julek, on the other hand, liked a stroll around galleries suspended on a rock and throwing small coins on a rock shelf.
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