Day 12 of our Black Sea Empires Cruise -Varna Bulgaria.

So today's port was Varna. Just a morning visit and Peter and I were escorting a tour to the Archeological Museum and Petrified Forest. To be honest, we weren’t that interested in the museum, but the idea of a forest turned to stone definitely appealed.

So we duly stood outside the bus as everyone got on board. At this point I should point out that shore excursions are arranged by local companies, i.e. when in Bulgaria, a Bulgarian excursion company works with the ship’s shore excursion team to provide the tours when the ship arrives. Considering the ship may be early or late and that passengers can be so disorganised that some of them don't know which tour they are on (despite having the tickets in their hands), the whole exercise runs incredibly smoothly.

And usually passengers accept the options they are given, the procedures that they are asked to follow, and understand that their actions on a tour will often affect everyone else. Most people are very considerate. But there is always someone that bucks the trend, and just such a couple were due to get on our bus which had filled up nicely and just in time for it’s scheduled departure.

Problem: This couple weren’t entirely happy with the tour, because it was due to go to both the Petrified Forest and the Museum. They only wanted to go to the museum, and weren’t interested in an area full of old rocks.

Answer: Well, they could remain on the bus whilst the rest of the group took a walk around the Petrified Forest.

Problem: This couple didn’t think they should have to wait on the bus. They didn’t want to go on a tour and sit on a bus for ages until they got to where they wanted to be.

Answer: OK, the ShoreEx teams would take them off the tour, and refund their payment. They could then go independently to the Museum – it was only a cab ride away.

Problem: Nope. That was not suitable as our these passengers didn’t have any Bulgarian currency to pay a taxi driver or get into the museum.

(Peter and I are stood waiting outside the bus getting a little frustrated by now. This couple had received the same information as the rest of us when they booked the tour. Why had they left it until now to raise these problems? They could have spoken to the ShorEx team on board ship at any time.

The whole bus load of passengers waited.

The Shorex team were also getting impatient and it was at this point Bulgarian tour company stepped in. Eventually, (despite the fact that to us, this seemed to be giving in to unreasonable demands), the Bulgarian guides agreed to give the couple a lift to the Museum and leave them there. We (the bus) would meet up with them at the museum and bring them back to the ship.

See what happens when you kick up a fuss and demand stuff. You get it! And our bus left a good 15-20 mins late.

Our first stop was the Petrified Forest. Our tour guide, lovely as she was, was a little bit tyrannical about getting around the site and leaving on time. The fact that we had left late didn't help. She was really good, explaining that we would have to split into groups and that she would lead the faster walkers to show them an area of a stone circle. I was to remain with the slower walkers to potter around the area nearer the bus.

I have to say that area was so much better than I expected,( although I don't really know what I expected). It's not really a petrified forest - it's also known as the Pobiti Kamani (translates to Stone Desert), and it is Bulgaria's first Natural Reserve, created in 1937. There are 253 acres of limestone columns here which baffled the experts for many years.

They've now concluded that the columns were formed as the skeletons of dead sea creatures slipped into cracks and crevasses in the seabed. (When the area was coverd with water of course). Then, when the seabed lifted, the sand surrounding the limestone columns was eroded away - leaving he column standing proud and looking like ancient fossilised trees.

Anyway, so whilst the guide, most of the group, and Peter dashed off into the distance (and the heat) I took it easy and enjoyed the nearer surroundings. This place is awesome.

All too soon it was back onto the bus. Back in Varna, roadworks caused all sorts of problems but eventually got into the museum. Again, our guide was really good, and so knowledgeable. I suppose I hadn't really thought about how far Greek Empire stretched, and all the mythology and legend that surrounded us. 

There were a couple of things in the museum that interested me though. The first was a recreation of a burial, I was quite amazed by the detail, the way he was laid out the gold discs that were probably part of his clothes originally.

The second part was something we'd been promised by the guide. In a hall upstairs in the museum, four men and three woman sang old Bulgarian Orthodox songs a cappella. The resonance of the hall, and the quality of their voices created a sound that was truly angelic. They are not professional, but Oh My! It's hard to describe how wonderful it was. None of the ship's passengers understood the words, but all of them rushed forward to buy a CD, or even two, at the end of the performance.

Magical!

Afterwards, we were joined by the couple who'd missed the Petrified Forest and were all packed back on board the bus and hurried back to the ship. The guide did well. She got us all back in time, and the ship sailed as planned at 1pm

To reach Nessebar at about 5 o'clock. We watched over the rails as the ship manoeuvred into dock. Nessebar looks really interesting...................

But that's for the next blog post.

If you want to read about our last visit to Varna (or Varne), click here