A Visit to Nessebar, Bulgaria

 Yesterday, Saturday July 13th, I had the great experience of visiting the old town of Nessebar. Nessebar is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is referred to as a city-museum. There have been people living in Nessebar for thousands of years. In the 6th century it became a Greek city. It was inhabited by rich sea merchants. They made their money by making and selling fig wine. It was a big seller all over the area. One way that the locals would show just how rich they were was to build a family church. The more beautiful the better. Here I am standing in front of what is left of one of these churches. Note the brickwork and intricate design. Also note I am wearing my Dodger shirt (Go Dodgers lol). At one time there were more than 40 churches in this small town. Only a few remain but those that do are beautiful.

 This is what remains of the town defensive wall. The town is actually a small island that has been joined to the land by a small road way. This is part of the original fortification of the town. When you have something valuable you want to protect it. The people who lived in this town were rich enough that when the Ottoman Empire defeated them, they were able to pay tribute and not have their town and churches torn down. The Ottomans did not mind Christian churches as long as the roof was no higher that a man on horse back. The churches in this town are much taller but because they had money the Turks left the churches alone. So even though you had a great defensive wall like this one must have been it was no guarantee that you would survive an attack.

Here is a view up one of the streets in Nessebar. As you can see the streets are still lines with cobblestones, nice to look at but not the best to walk on. The house have wood siding because it is the best for this seaside location. Also as you can see, and this is not even the most crowded street, every nook and cranny is filled with a vendor trying to sell you something. Interestingly enough, many of the vendors were selling Jack Daniels Tee-Shirts. Go figure. As my host and friend Miss Tony said "Jack is probably rolling over in his grave."  I hope you enjoyed this small view. I have some more pictures of some of the churches, if I hear from enough of you I will post them too.