Years ago I met a young woman who came from Burgas and who told me a lot about her hometown. I was curious to see this city for myself. Of course we wanted to see the Black Sea and Burgas or Varna are the two big cities and starting points. We rent a small room in a hostel and explore the city. Today it is stiflingly hot again.

When we want to get a bite to eat at the Fish Express and the two boys see my camera, they want a photo straight away. The sandwiches are very good and we stroll to the beach. Since the city is located on a peninsula with three lakes on the back, you don’t have to walk far to the water in any direction.

The beach is clean and tidy, the water warm and pleasant. There are bars and leisure activities all along the promenade.

We do not allow ourselves a cold beer and we are determined to come back here soon, but we have an appointment this evening.

Stefan became aware of my posts on Facebook and we arranged to meet in Burgas. He and his friends are students who have just finished their semester break and will see each other again after a long time.

They have chosen your favorite bar well. There are lots of craft beers, rock and live music. There is said to be an even better bar in the city of Sozopol, Rock right on the beach. We want to try that out.

We arrive just in time for the Sand Sculpture Festival, which opens exactly when we arrive. There’s a website, an ad on Google Maps, and lots of posters around town. However, nobody seems to be interested in the festival apart from us. In any case, we have the whole area and the exhibits to ourselves.

But we are not very enthusiastic either. The sand looks like cement and all the motifs are obviously addressed to children. So we take a handful of photos and look for another attraction.

We need another break from cities and the tent is calling. Our Bulgarian friends recommend us a beach for wild camping. However, this is no longer an insider tip, the beach is already listed in Google as “Wild Camping Beach” and we are not only not the only ones, we have to fight each other over a place for our car and our tent.

Fortunately there are fewer people around sunset and only a few tents remain.

It is wonderful to jump into the sea again as darkness falls. It is also a great feeling of happiness to run straight out of the tent into the warm water at 5 a.m. with the first rays of sunshine.