The city has no camping site within 15km so I decided to park up and sleep in the Yo-Ho Hostel in the city centre. The hostel is a little chaotic and cramped but pretty fun and friendly and I shared a dorm bed on the first night with a couple of German guys, George and Lars, who had cycled from western Germany and were also headed for Istanbul.
Varna is charming little city on the coast with a sandy beach to match the one I had left behind in Mamaia. Behind the beach is a long strip of shady parkland where the locals seem to gather away from the hot sun and touristy crowds. The centre is quite a nice place to visit too, with wide pedestrianised streets and some nice old buildings.
After a long day in the city, I retired to the hostel bar to watch the football and ended up drinking with a group of tatooed skinheads with goatee beards and a love for heavy metal. Before long, I had agreed to go with them to a rock bar with a live band and inadvertantly persuaded a group of people from the hostel to join us.
We were led down a long dark alley, some deep winding steps and then through a thick black curtain into an underground cave bar where everyone was dressed in black and smelled of BO. There was even one guy who was passed out in the corner for the whole time we were there. I think we all suddenly felt a little bit out of place. That said, everyone was really friendly and accepting and it turned into a good night out, ending with a beachside bar, a few games of pool (without a white ball) and a long stroll home.
The next day I saw a few of Varna's "sights", starting with the great gold domed cathedral in the city centre. Inside it's a mix of gold, navy blue and chandeliers - more like a suave hotel reception than a religious building. As a city, it also seems to be full of water fountains, not that it's a bad thing, with a long row of them outside the Archeology Museum. The museum itself has lots of interesting local history although a lot of it was closed off for refurbishment when I visited.
That evening I had a rare meal out with another fun English couple, Chris and Jess, who had joined us at the rock bar the previous night. After the meal, we accidentally befriended an oriental man and his outragously small dog (appropriated named "Fu-Fi") in the park. The timid little dog scuttled along like it might collapse at any moment.
Yes, that little speck is his dog
I had mentioned to George and Lars on the first night that I could drive them down to Istanbul and by this point word had spread throughout the whole hostel and the number of passengers had risen to five. In the morning the six of us left the hostel, loaded up, and headed south.
L-R: Jess, George, Leo, Chris, Lars
I hope when I get back to Bulgaria that it is still as fun as the last couple of days in Varna.
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