My name is Marion Vermazen. I am a traveler, hiker, reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, YouTuber, Spanish and French language student, knitter, weaver and genealogist.
To make it easier for you to follow our 2026 Spring European trip from the beginning I’ve linked the blog posts in order.
You can go to the first blog post of our trip by clicking on this link.
At the end of each blog post after that, there is a link to the next day’s blog post.
Today we went out exploring. We drove 45 minutes up the coast to the old town of Nessebar. The following is taken from the UNESCO World Heritage Site web page.
the more than 3,000-year-old site of Nessebar was originally a Thracian settlement (Menebria). At the beginning of the 6th century BC, the city became a Greek colony.
We walked all around the town, went to the Archaeological Museum, and stopped for coffee.
For dinner we went back to Restaurant Ziatna Ribka. Duke had Rapana and I had mussels. It wasn’t until after we ordered that we figured out that Rapana is a kind of invasive sea snail. It was all very good.
Sun! We had a lovely sunny day today. The high temperature was only 56° but the blue skies and sun made it a very pleasant day. This morning we went for a walk along the coast of the Black Sea.
This afternoon we went back and had another pastry at the pastry shop we went to yesterday.
For dinner we went to a nearby restaurant called Tony Gigi Burgas.
To read our next blog post click here.
When I was looking at the map of Burgas yesterday I saw a park nearby with what were described as Book Benches. It was grey and rainy this morning so we didn’t go out exploring until about 1:00 pm. Our first stop was to check out the Book Benches.
Next we visited the Burgas Archaeological Museum. The museum is small but full of treasures. All the signs were in both Bulgarian and English so we learned about all the civilizations that have lived here over the centuries.
The sign says that these Lily-shaped ceramic vessels date from the first half of the 5th millennium BC.
When we were done in the museum we went to a pastry shop across the street and had coffee and a pastry. Our chocolate pastry was delicious.
For dinner we went to a nearby restaurant called Zlatna Ribka. We had one of the best meals of the trip.
Tomorrow they are predicting sunshine! Read the blog post here.
This morning we left our hotel, EcoCenter RumiKa and drove about an hour and a half west to the town of Burgas on the coast of the Black Sea.
The hotel we are staying at in Burgas, the Primoretz Grand Hotel, is beautiful. It’s one of nicest we have stayed at so far on this trip
To read our next blog post about exploring Burgas, click here.
Today we left Greece and headed north back into Bulgaria. The drive ended up being about four and a half hours. For much of the drive we were within view of the Turkish border. At one point as we crossed a road going east into Turkey we passed a very long line of semi trucks on the shoulder of the toll road. The line was about seven miles long. I think they were all waiting to get into Turkey.
Tonight we are at a rural hotel, EcoCenter RumiKa. It is quite basic but very clean and comfortable. I don’t think there are any restaurants around here. When we checked in, the one staff person we have seen showed us the dinner menu. She spoke no English but we managed to show her what we wanted by pointing.
Tomorrow we go to Burgas on the Black Sea coast. If you would like to like to read tomorrow’s blog post you can click here.
Marion's Blog 