Day 26
Beach Day in Sozopol
Saturday, September 14, 2024
Dobŭr den,
Today we spent the day at the beach in beautiful Sozopol.
For obvious reasons (privacy) we can't share too many photos, but we'll try and describe some the scenery to you.
Hotel Cristiani offered a beautiful buffet breakfast, and that went down very well. Breakfast sitting by the pool while sitting in the warm morning sunshine. Our post-breakfast plan was to hit the beach, then come back and swim in the pool.
Harmanite Beach in Sozopol is … nice. It has golden sand very much like the sand on Mooloolaba Beach in Australia.
What quickly becomes clear in Europe is while they do have some nice beaches, they are nowhere near as clean and natural as those in New Zealand and Australia. Beach clubs are everywhere, offering sun loungers and an umbrella, which can be nice. But with the beach clubs also comes food, drink, and inevitably, rubbish and waste. Cigarette smoking is prevalent throughout Europe, including on the beach. So cigarette butts are rife in the sand.
The area around the beach clubs can be quite dirty and untidy, with rubbish bins, old equipment left to rust, and general yuck. For example, there was a pile of half a dozen old sun umbrella frames rusting away in the sand dunes. How hard would it be to break them up and take them to the metal recycler?
However, the water was clear, the waves were gentle, the sun was gorgeous, and we can now say that we have swum in the Black Sea. We did spend a very enjoyable morning on the beach, reading, swimming and relaxing.
We didn't see any sharks, but we did see - the nuddy section of the beach. Unfortunately, we couldn't miss it. As we walked across the dunes to get to the beach, we looked across the sand and were greeted by the glorious sight of several willies waving in the breeze. Very tanned willies they were too, so they must see a bit of sunshine.
After lunch, an offshore wind came up and whipped up the whitecaps on the sea, but whipped up even more excitement onshore. We were getting whiffs of smoke from a fire. When we looked behind us, there was very thick and black smoke from what was a sizeable fire. And it was coming from the direction of our Hotel. We could also see that the fire was spreading.
Everywhere we have been in Europe so far has had such a hot and dry summer. And very little rain. The ground is hard-baked, the trees are wilting and the grass is burned brown by the sun. It is not hard to imagine a fire getting started and racing through the undergrowth. This was exactly what was happening in the hills behind us.
It appeared that the fire started in some scrub on the other side of the main road and quickly spread with the wind. So quickly that it jumped the road to our side, and kept spreading through the undergrowth.
The picture above was taken the next day. The red arrow is pointing to our hotel. We were so lucky that the hotel did not burn down. Sadly, a house located within fifty metres of our hotel did burn down. The fire department was racing up and down the road in fire trucks, trying to get in front of the fire. Residents had their garden hoses out to try and dampen down the dry grass. People were even throwing buckets of water on the flames to try and stop the spread. The poor couple that ran our hotel wore worried expressions as they joined the fight against the flames.
The area lost electricity for about an hour. We couldn't use the lift! Luckily we're well practised at using stairs.
We were expecting to be asked to evacuate at any moment.
Here's the funny part. Our Hotel had a little safe in each room. When we arrived in Sozopol yesterday, for some stupid reason Koro thought it would be a good idea to lock our passports in the safe. We have never done this before, and have never felt the need. Why Koro did it, he can't possibly say. But he did. Being Koro, he didn't follow the instructions properly and ended up locking our passports in the safe without knowing the combination!
We couldn't unlock the safe! With a fire raging around our hotel's neighbourhood!
Silly Koro.
Through the efforts of the fire department and local residents, within a couple of hours the fire was extinguished and power was restored.
We have to make special mention of the Hotel Cristiani owners and staff. While they all must have been worried about their hotel, business and livelihoods, they remained calm throughout and provided reassurance to the guests. Afterwards, the team cleaned all the ash that the smoke had dropped on the pool, wiped down all the outside furniture and swept all the terraces clean. The hotel restaurant opened for dinner on time and the buffet dishes were perfectly cooked. They all did an amazing job.
We're hoping tomorrow we can spend more time at the beach and maybe swim in the hotel's beautiful pool.
Love to you all from Grandma & Koro & Buzzy Bee.