Ken Hensley

Day 5

The sun came up at around 07:20 and the little bay of Sozopol was slowly coming to life. Standing on my balcony I could see the early morning beach-joggers nd the seagulls preparing for a morning of fishing. This is an old and historic village. There is a lot of evidence of renovation but it is tightly controlled so as to preserve the character of the place and there is even more evidence of the need to shore up some of the infrastructure. Bulgaria's economic growth and foreign investment will help to make this possible but it's going to take time to realise its full potential.

Breakfast was quite unusual and I'm not just talking about the food! What makes it worth a mention is that, from time to time, the room was visited by girls, women, young ladies, whatever, wearing, well, not much! They were not that tough to look at but this was breakfast and one or two of them looked as if they'd be more at home on certain Las Vegas streets! A little later all was revealed (poor choice of words here…. Ed). There was to be a beauty contest in town called "Miss Summer" and these ladies represented a number of Eastern European countries with one contestant coming from as far away as Cuba. (Photos of the contestants here and here).

George and Marietta showed me around town and I enjoyed walking through the newer part into the old town, among the roadside stalls selling jam, seafood and all the usual touristy stuff until we settled at a small café for espresso and a look at the small island which is only inhabited by the lighthouse-keeper and his family and, I am told, a lot of rabbits!!!! Quaint!

Then it was time for another interview, this time for a TV documentary, a little lunch and then I was ready for my siesta. This was rudely interrupted by the phone so I began to get ready for dinner. We had a large group this evening and the beauty contest was taking place on the boardwalk below us so the conversation was frequently interrupted! By 11:30 I had had enough so it was time for bed, thereby avoiding what looked like becoming a long, hard night!