Bulgarian Trip #1

Going back to work after holiday is never easy. This time was especially tough 'coz I started working again by doing something completely new, something that I had received some training prior my holiday but never really got any chance to have some real practice yet. I was a bit worried about it, but thankfully my coworkers helped me, so I wasn't completely lost. Still the first day was tough and my body was very sore after the first shift was over ha ha...The second day went better and I'm thankful that today was a free day 'coz I have two weekend shifts. :-D

Anyway, let me share a few photos of our Bulgarian trip. As I had stated before, we were pretty lazy travellers this time, so we didn't really roam too much. Here are some of the things I bought:

1. A fleece jacket.
2. A pair of jeans at around €20 (at least I don't have to shorten them - in Finland I can get them cheap on a discount as well, but more often than not I have to shorten them and shortening a pair of jeans the last time around cost €10/pair).
3. A pair of relaxing pants.
4. A few types of body butter that cost double in Finland. I LOVE body butter!!!
5. A pair of polarized sunglasses at €18. 
6. Half a dozen bottles of chili sauce (local and Indonesian brand LOL!!!), emperor's rice AKA ketan hitam, Indomie (Indonesian instant noodles), and chocolate. 

We had a full-body massage twice at the hotel we stayed in (it's called Relax Holiday Complex & Spa). It was GREAT. :-D The bad thing was that there was only one masseuse, so we couldn't have the treatment side-by-side, but it's still cheap compared to the same kind of treatment in Finland (in Finland it can cost double). It cost around €30/person/hour.

I also tried billiard for the first time in my life (it cost around €2/game) he he...they had a pool table and a gym and sauna and Turkish bath in the basement floor, but we only tried billiard a few times. I laughed so much the first time I tried billiard 'coz I often miss hitting the white ball ROFL ROFL ROFL...but it was fun anyway!

Here are some pics:

Arttu's first taste of local beer on the beach nearest our hotel. We decided not to stay in a hotel directly across the beach, so in order to reach the beach (esp. the central part of Sunny Beach), we had to walk a few kilometres. I ordered a glass of fresh orange juice in the bar below that cost only €1. :-D VERY cheap!!!

Below is a sneak peek of one of the 5-star hotel along the main part of Sunny Beach. If you wonder why the photo angle is strange, it's because I didn't dare get inside the area 'coz there was a guard standing in front of the gate, so I only took pictures from above the bushes on top of the gate surrounding the hotel.

Me trying billiard for the first time in my life. Yep, that pillar next to me was quite annoying indeed he he he...

This car was parked in the yard of the nearest Zora supermarket. :-D

Found this butterfly while walking towards the beach area...

Posing in front of this Buddha statue in front of the Chinese resto. We tried eating there once and the food was quite good, but rather pricy. No wonder the place never looked full! However, the service was VERY VERY quick!!! We ordered two dishes and in about 5 minutes we could start eating already (even though I did hear the cook prepare the dishes in the kitchen). The fastest service ever in our entire time in Bulgaria!

I just thought the colours looked nice 'coz it's rare to find buildings with this colour in Finland he he...

While walking towards the beach from our hotel, look what happened below!!! We ran out of sidewalk!!! But just keep on walking...the first time around I felt a bit giddy walking there 'coz I was a bit afraid a car might hit me or something he he he...

 

A half moon and a full moon. The first beach photo was taken in the middle of the centre of Sunny Beach, whereas the second one was taken nearer our hotel at the end of Sunny Beach (actually closer to Sveti Vlas area).

We also went to an Indian restaurant once, which was again very empty. Why? I suppose it was quite expensive, as well. In my opinion, the food was OK, even though R2 thought it was great, but I think I've had better Indian food. I can't stop remembering the lovely Indian food we had in Vienna or in a small resto in Helsinki he he...

R2 swimming...the water was cool! :-D

OK, I think this is enough for now. I'll continue sharing some more photos later on. Have a blessed and relaxing weekend, people! I'll have a busy weekend at work ha ha ha...

Keszthely Beach!

We went to the nearest beach in Keszthely a few times. We went swimming there twice. I had known that there was a free beach, but it was farther away and because it was mostly hot there, we didn't really feel like walking all the way there. 

The first time we went to the beach, we were just looking around. To my delight, I found so many swans and ducks roaming freely in the shallow water. Here are a few pics outside the beach area (to get inside, you have to pay 920 HUF/person or € 3.4 if I remember correctly):

A pic of us with the swans and ducks:

Another view of the lake from the other side of the walkway:

This is the walkway...

This is the duck food machine:

Feeding the swans and ducks on a different day he he...'coz I just HAD to try the machine HA HA HA HA HA HA...

 
At the end of the walkway there is this cafe, but we never ate anything there. The end of this walkway is also used for tourists' boats.

Here's one example of the tourist boat and no, we didn't ride on it 'coz we had no time (this kind of boat leaves a few times a day and sometimes for certain boats, they only leave during the evening before sunset):

Here's a video clip of the area outside the beach. Over at the back there is a stage for performers and a few days before St. Stephen's Day on August 20th, there were lots of food and wine stalls as well as a stage for bands. There is also a shady park in the area.


Here's another video of the swans and ducks fighting for food!!! 


Balaton lake is really safe for kids because of the shallowness. One has to walk SOOOO far away from the beach to be able to reach more depth. One funny incident happened the first time we went to the beach. Even though there was a tourist info office right next to the beach pay booths, but because we had been there once before and the young men spoke more German than English, I was reluctant to go there and ask again.

The beach pay booths were manned by two older women who obviously didn't speak English. I just raised 2 fingers to pay for our tickets but then after we got in, I realized that I wanted to hire a locker so that we could both swim together without worrying about our money or mobile phones, so we went back to the pay booth and I said to her, "Locker?"

She stared at me with a blank look on her face. I resorted to using body language. I made a box in the air with two hands, then I pretended to put a key in the middle of the box with one hand and then turn the key around. She got it right away!

She gave me a receipt for that and then wrote "18.30" (had to pay 1,300 HUF for that or around €4,8 - a sum that I thought was rather hefty for a key!) and she said some Hungarian words and then she held up a 1,000 forint bill while pointing towards the "18.30" again. I just assumed that if we didn't return the key after 18.30, that meant we would have to pay 1,000 HUF more, but I knew that we wouldn't be staying that long anyway, so we went in and put our important stuff in the locker after paying for two sun chairs.

That first swimming day wasn't as hot as the second one. The temperature was 23'C and the water temperature was 22'C. The second time we went swimming there, the temperature was 33'C whereas the water temperature was 30'C.

Here's the view of inside the beach. Apparently after 6 pm, they opened all the doors so that people could get inside for free (but then most of the people stopped swimming at 6 pm or at the latest at 6.30 pm anyway).

A short video clip of the beach area. Lots of food stalls and beach bars and there was also a small swimming pool somewhere in the area, farther away from where we were sunbathing.


When we returned the locker key, the woman checked the key number in the receipt book and then she returned the 1,000 HUF to me. Ohhhhhh!!! So renting the locker didn't cost THAT much after all, but probably they kept the 1,000 HUF just in case we didn't return the key on time or something.

Here are some more photos in the beach area, just to show you different angles and how shallow the water really is...the first pic is just sunbathing pic hi hi...and we'd always hide under the shade once we got too hot (the second swimming day, though, it was too hot to sunbathe directly under the sun, so we put our sun chairs in the shade). THANK GOD for the shady trees!!! :-D

To be continueddddd...