From Golden Bay to the Golden Fish
Zlatina Ripka sounds like a Russian movie star but in reality as a camping ground on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast. The name means golden fish, and while we haven’t seen any golden fish we have seen a lot of golden, tanned people. This area is very popular as a holiday destination with Bulgarians and it reminds me a lot of places like Pohara, in Golden Bay, Aotearoa, where we used to spend our summer holidays as children.
The campsite is located 5kms north of Sozopol, a busy tourist town with a history reaching back thousands of years:
Sozopol is one of the oldest towns on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. The first settlement on the site dates back to the Bronze Age. Undersea explorations in the region of the port reveal relics of dwellings, ceramic pottery, stone and bone tools from that era. Many anchors from the second and first millennium BC have been discovered in the town’s bay, a proof of active shipping since ancient times.(from
Wikipedia
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We had a look around the town today, and it reminded us the Turkish island towns of Bozcaada with ancient houses beautifully restored, and rambling cobblestone streets twisting above the sea. This town has been part of many different empires, Thracians, Romans, Byzantine, although today it is Bulgarian through and through. With the exception of the music – Buddy Holly, The Animals and other relics of the near past seem to be the big thing here.
Time to head back to camp for a swim.
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