This Ancient Village Is a Bulgarian Port to Call

Sightseers meander along narrow cobblestone streets and stop under the vines of the outdoor cafes for coffee, poppyseed cake and sparkling apple juice. Children play hide ‘n’ seek or bounce balls off old ruins of buildings.

It is an ancient town with fine old churches, well preserved for the visitors, most of them on day trips.

The majority come by car, camper or bus and are generally from Eastern Europe. Others, like myself, arrive from cruise ships that make this city a port of call, usually for a day.

Nesebur (Pop. 7,000), known as the “birthplace of sailors, captains and fishermen,” provides a historic and cultural view of Bulgaria.

What it offers is Old Mystic, Conn., or Williamsburg, Va., Bulgaria-style, and is a sharp contrast to the spas, casinos and resorts that line the 235 miles of Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast.

The small, rocky peninsula, about 1,000 feet wide in the Gulf of Burgas, stretches into the sea for about 3,000 feet. A long, narrow strip of land connects it to the mainland.

On the peninsula, which is Nesebur proper, is a combination of ancient houses built of stone and timber, 13th-Century churches, fishing boats and narrow, crooked, cobblestone streets.

At the end of Nesebur Bay, amid dunes that stand out like huge waves in the ocean, lies Slunchev Bryag, or “Sunny Beach,” considered one of the finest on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.

Nesebur has been occupied since the Bronze Age, when a Thracian war lord, Mena, paused long enough to found a settlement and call it after himself: Menabria.

In 510 BC, the Greeks arrived, expanding the village into the city-state, Messambria. By 72 it had attracted the Romans, and continued to be a busy port. Eventually, it yielded to the Byzantines.

Under guidance from Constantinople just across the water, city walls went up, also churches and towers. Later it became part of Bulgaria, and the Slavs eventually changed Messambria into Nesebur.

Despite the changes in ownership, there was little destruction. Even the Turks, who arrived in 1453 and stayed a few centuries, left the Orthodox religious structures intact.

The basilica remains are in good shape, considering their benign neglect over the centuries. You can see the shell of the Old Metropoli Bishopric (5th Century), then go inside St. Stephen’s, the “new” Metropoli Bishopric, which dates from the 10th Century, with such add-ons as murals and a bishop’s stall.

Most churches, the oldest of which were built in the 5th and 6th centuries, are tiny and constructed in the Bulgarian “pictorial style,” using layers of cream-colored dressed stone, narrow red bricks and multicolored ceramic cups in walls as decorations.

The Church of St. John the Baptist, built in the 10th Century, is entirely preserved, with frescoes from the 16th and 17th centuries.

The frescoes and icons of St. Maria (patron of sailors) sit beside part of a capital from a temple to Zeus. At the Church of St. Stephan, also from the 10th Century, the bishop’s throne and pulpit are decorated with wooden carvings.

The town has a permanent ethnographic exhibition of costumes in Mouskoyani House, built in 1840. The house also is the main office of the Nesebur museums.

Yet Nesebur itself is not only an open-air museum of church and conquest. Fortunately, the town’s residential architecture has been saved, too.

The homes of merchants and sea captains have wooden facades on the upper stories and carvings under the eaves. Courtyards are embraced by grapevines and centered with fig trees. Flowers cascade from windows, and there is a charming feeling one gets from the mansions.

The house of a sea captain, for instance, has a vaulted gate with a marble beast head. It is a home in the tradition of Nantucket and the Maine coast.

Nesebur, with its Old World architecture and museums, should be included on any Black Sea trip. However, it’s advisable to just visit and not plan on an overnight stay.

The difficulty is in where to stay. The city has no hotels, although some rooms are available in private homes.

A larger resort complex at Sunny Beach is served by Balkantourist and public buses.

The beach complex accommodate 30,000 people in 112 hotels and apartments, and there is also a stadium, a swimming pool with water slide, a train/trolley for kids and horse-drawn carriages for romantics.

Balkan tourist buses from Nesebur and other cities always stop at a snack bar at the edge of the Sunny Beach complex and at a hard currency duty-free shop for the convenience of shoppers. Not all bargains are Eastern European. Scotch at $7 a bottle sits beside Bulgarian champagne, $1.50, and cherry brandy, $1.

There are English chocolates, Czech crystal and high-glaze indigenous pottery. Costumed dolls for $3.50 and up are one-third the Nesebur price.

At a red and yellow entertainment pavilion, greeters in peasant dress offer the traditional bread and salt (mixed with paprika for color, a local touch). After dipping a small piece of bread into the salt and eating it, you are seated at one of the many large tables grouped around a raised stage.

As a professional troop of musicians, dancers and entertainers perform, white wine is served, along with platters of cheese, pate, ham, bread, cherries and oranges.

Women on the tour receive long-stemmed carnations and small wood flacons of rose water; men get bottles of wine.

Nearby vineyards produce the pleasant rough wine, and not far away are the fragrant fields of Rose Valley, where Bulgaria grows the flowers that are pressed into 90% of the world’s rose oil (perfume).

Although attar of roses in hand-carved, wooden containers is the most popular souvenir, tourists can buy leather goods, rugs and carpets made in Kotel, a nearby village, which come in a variety of colorful designs, or rugs and carpets made in Chiprovtsi.

The Bulgarian Artists Union sponsors shops around the country that feature various membership products. The state-run foreign currency Corecom stores also are a good source for Bulgarian items, including silks and sheepskin coats. Bulgaria also has fine ceramics, furs and embroidery for sale.

Bulgaria is the home of yogurt, which is called kisselo mleko , a common dish found all over the country.

Other popular dishes are kebabches , grilled minced rolls made of veal and spiced with black pepper, paprika and onions, and tarator , a cold soup made from cucumbers, ground walnuts, sour milk and garlic.

Also, imambayalda and gyuvech , dishes of mixed vegetables, and fassoul , which is green beans cooked in a variety of recipes.

There is no direct U.S.-Bulgaria air service, but Balkanair and other international carriers connect Sofia to all European capitals.

Within Bulgaria, Balkanair flies between major cities at reasonable rates. Bus tours run by Balkantourist are accompanied by multilingual guides and are suggested for sightseeing.

Tourists who wish to travel on their own can rent a Russian Lada, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen or Toyota through Shipka, the touring agency of the Bulgarian Motorists Union, at 6 Saint Sofia St., Sofia, or through Balkantourist, 1 Vitosha Blvd., Sofia.

Payment must be in U.S. dollars and credit cards are accepted.

From a Black Sea resort a day trip by bus to Nesebur is about $23 per person.

Prepaid tours to Bulgaria may be arranged by travel agents. Costs are inexpensive, and U.S. tourists with vouchers can qualify for a break over the official exchange rate.

For visa applications and more information, contact Balkan Holidays, 161 East 86th St., New York 10018, (212) 722-1110. In addition, the Bulgarian Embassy, 1621 22nd St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008, or call (202) 483-5885.