Sozopol

Yavor, the son in law of my host family in Kravoder, met me at the Sofia bus station. Getting my luggage to his car in front was a challenge. Once in the car, he informed me that Gabi and he would be taking me to stay at their friend’s apartment in Sozopol for my remaining days. Awesome surprise! I never had the chance to make the trek across Bulgaria to the Black Sea and regretted leaving without doing so. Going with Gabi and Yavor was way better than I could have hoped to plan on my own. I was grateful for time with them, and time to relax, reflect, and recharge.

 

Our trip to Sozopol was perfectly timed. The weather was warm enough for the beach, but not too hot. Tourist season doesn’t begin until the end of May, so we had the beaches and restaurants to ourselves. Their friend’s beachfront apartment is very nice and we went out for super fresh seafood at ever meal. It really was the perfect weekend to end my two years in Bulgaria.  

 

Sozopol is an ancient city located on the southern part of Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast. It has been inhabited since the Bronze Age and has been ruled by Byzantine, Bulgarian, and Ottoman leaders. Greek settlers established the current town in the 7^th century BC and many streets still bear Greek names. Ruins of an ancient necropolis are located near the beach and new findings are common. Near our apartment a part of the soft sandstone ledge broke away revealing a skull and ceramic urn from Roman times. The archeologists onsite let us get close and take pictures.

 

At the end of the trip, it was hard to return to Sofia. My Bulgarian was at its best and I’d had a great time with great people in a beautiful place.

I had a day of logistics, paperwork, and more goodbyes at the Peace Corps office in Sofia. Raf, a fellow PCV and friend, was also in town and walked back to Gabi and Yavor’s with me. Gabi returned from work around 8 pm with a large cardboard box, medical tape, gauze, and plastic (she’s a doctor). We worked to consolidate my checked luggage until after midnight, hauling them down to the vegetable and fruit market nearby to check the weight on their industrial scale. Finally succeeded with two suitcases and one box all exactly packed to weight! (And they all arrived without problems in the US!!) Gabi is a pro at packing. I was super impressed by the handles fashioned out of braided gauze.

Checking three pieces of luggage on an international flight is expensive enough, without her help I probably wouldn’t have managed getting out of a cab, would have had to buy a new suitcase, and I’m sure had to pay overweight fees. The flights were non eventful, I even had a row to myself on the Paris – Atlanta leg.