Burgas Warnings Or Dangers Tips by johngayton Top 5 Page for this destination

The Most Expensive Beer In Town!

With an hour or so before my train onwards from Burgas, heading for Plovdiv and then Veliko Turnovo, I reckoned a final beer somewhere close to the station would be in order (having said my farewells to the guys at Pri Akolite over my morning coffee).

This is quite a smart-looking bar, on the main pedestrian street Aleksandrovska, and seemed quite popular. On asking for a large draft beer the attractive young mini-skirted waitress informed me that they only had bottles - Heinekin or Becks. Ach well, I'd lit my cigarette and was getting comfortable and so opted for a Heinekin.

The beer promptly arrived, along with the bill. I fell off my seat.

5.50 leva and it was only a small bottle at that.

You have been warned!

Is It A Conspiracy?

One thing I was particularly impressed with here in Bourgas was the street signage. This was the first place in Bulgaria that not only did the streets have signs in the logical places; such as at their starts and their intersections, but also written both in Cyrillic and Latin characters.

Yep, I was dead impressed...until...

It came to finding my hotel!

I'd arrived here in Bourgas in the late morning, a bit too early to check in to my hotel. But I was travelling light and so instead of immediately searching out my hotel to drop my bag off I had a pleasant wander around the city and its Sea Gardens, an odd beer or two. Around mid-afternoon, having orientated myself in what is a pleasantly compact city centre I followed my mental map (and the excellent street signage) towards my hotel.

I knew my hotel was just off Hristo Botev, one of the main roads heading into the city from the railway station, and yep that was easy enough to find and there was the street sign.

The only problem was...it just wasn't facing the right direction, well not according to my mental map anyway. Hmmmm.... OK, all the other street signs have worked for me and so I'll follow the sign. Hmmm.... Now I find myself back at the railway station!

I reloaded my mental map, retraced my steps and yep, there's the sign, definitely pointing in the wrong direction. This time I continued with my mental map (though I did stop off for a beer to assist the re-orientation process!) and followed the road that I expected my hotel to be on and yep there was my hotel, exactly where it should have been according to my mental map.

So here's the "Warning or Danger": I reckon the local taxi drivers alter or remove the street signs here in Bulgaria just to booger us poor fools who reckon they can find their hotels without them. HA! But this time it was daylight and I was travelling light and could have wandered around all day if necessary and as I proved I can find my hotel eventually!

Is it a conspiracy or am I just being paranoid?

If anyone actually knows Bourgas they'll immediately spot that the sign on this pic is definitely facing the wrong way by 90 degrees!