The Road Less Traveled: "'Travel' is the name of a modern disease which became rampant in the mid-fifties and is still spreading. The disease - its scientific name is travelitis furiosus - is carried by a germ called prosperity." George Mikes.

One of my latest trips was to the Black Sea Coast town of Varna. Varna is one of Bulgaria’s most popular tourist destinations…but it was not quite tourist time yet. Pictures of Varna usually depict busy beaches covered with umbrellas, but our trip was a little early. The Black Sea was still too cold for tourists to be out swimming and sunbathing on the beach. However, our stay was still very enjoyable. We saw the Cathedral of the Assumption, the Archaeological Museum, the Roman baths, and the Sea Gardens before heading to the beach. The Cathedral was yet another beautiful church in Bulgaria. It is the second-largest church in Bulgaria. It was constructed to honor the Russian soldiers who fought to free Bulgaria from Ottoman Rule. The Archaeological Museum was surprisingly filled with British tourists. This museum boasts of over 100,000 ancient artifacts discovered in Varna and the surrounding areas. The ancient Roman baths were harder to imagine, since it was mostly old stones in the middle of the city. It was interesting to see, but not as impressive after viewing Roman ruins in Rome. While we walked in the middle of the town square, we came across a children’s concert. This was really cute to watch. One by one, children no older than 6 got up on stage to sing and perform for the audience. I’m not sure what it was, but I assume that it was some sort of competition. Listening to kids sing in another language is really something special.

We didn’t have much time to spend in Varna, because it’s a long bus ride from Blagoevgrad, but it was fitting because we ran out of things to do. If the weather was a little hotter, we could have relaxed on the beach…however, after the few sites of Varna were seen, we headed to the mall. The mall gave us a few stories. Being before Easter, we saw an Easter Bunny all dressed up, but no one was in line to get pictures taken with him. (We would later find out that this is not a real Bulgarian tradition). Also, while shopping around, we would be asked where we were from. In one particular store, the workers were taking bets on where we were from. Next, we grabbed a movie while we waited for our bus back to Sofia. This was the first time I had been to a movie since I left the States. We approached the ticket counter and asked which of their movies would be in English…we had four choices, which was more than we expected to have! One difference between American movie theaters and Bulgarian ones- assigned seats. You choose which seats you want on a computer screen as you are buying your ticket. This was a little different, but it was nice to guarantee yourself the seats you want.