Sozopol and the Black Sea

I made it to the Black Sea.... a big check on my checklist. Sozopol is a quiet little town settled about 5500 years ago, the first settlement, in fact, on the Black Sea coast. The Old Town is on a tiny spit of land about 300 yards across that extends less than a mile into the Black Sea. Lots of winding cobblestone streets, cozy cafes and picturesque traditional Bulgarian homes. You can see the sea from just about anywhere and walk the entire penninsula in half an hour.
I'm traveling again with Carel. He bailed on the mountains south of Bachkovo and joined up with me a day later in Veliko Tarnovo. We caught a bus to Burgas and then transferred to a local bus to Sozopol. We immediately headed into the old town and found a fine room with an ocean view and private bathroom. It's very typical in Eastern Europe for older folks to supplement their income by renting rooms to travelers... we lucked out in this case. $22 per night for the room... that's $11 for my share! Right on the beach, clean and quiet.
The food is great here as it's been throughout Bulgaria. I tried some little fried fish for dinner last nite. They were about 2 inches long, whole, battered and deep fried... delicious. Washed it down with a nice cold beer from Burgas. Right in the same courtyard as our "hotel" is a little family owned restaurant with outoor seating. (I haven't found a place yet without outdoor seating.) Anyway, I had another delicious Shopska salad and tried the cold cuccumber soup in a diluted yogurt broth with dill and finely chopped walnuts... not my favorite soup in the world but very refreshing on a hot summer afternoon. I've also been eating lots of fruit. If you can't pick it off the trees there's a produce stand on every other corner selling fresh plums, strawberries, delicious peaches, grapes, apples, berries, all for pennies. I paid about 15 cents for the ripest peach I ever tasted. Tonight we're heading for a traditional seafood restaurant on the waterfront overlooking the marina.
Sozopol is a quiet town, full of vacationing Bulgarian families. The few local people we've run into that could speak either Spanish or English were very surprised to find an American and an Autralian here. Been spending most of my time reading, swimming, laying on the beach and wandering around town. This place is definitely not on the traditional backpacker/hosteler itinerary. We got lucky with the timing..there's a music, art and literature festival going on in town. Outdoor concerts, art exhibits and book presentations (for lack of a better word). We met a fairly well known (in Bulgaria at least) Bulgarian journalist who invited us to her reception tomorrow evening at 5pm. I have no idea what to expect but I think we'll go check it out.
Istanbul on Monday!!

Larry