Nessebar

Nessebar

Location: 20 km north of Bourgas
Ground: Rocky peninsula (old town)
Beaches: 2 beaches, near the new town. Also the nice beaches of Sunny Beach resort, only 2 km far from Nessebar.
Busiest months: July and August
Accommodation: Old town mainly private rooms and very few family hotels; New town - many nice hotels as well as private rooms.
General impressions: Excellent choice!
What to do: Everything is available here! There are ancient buildings and historical monuments as well as quiet restaurants and fashionable cafes and discos. Bulgaria's biggest beach resort Sunny Beach is only 3 km far, offering lot of amusements and excellent night life.
Internet access: Widely available in the internet cafes both in new and old town.
It is located on a small peninsula in the Black Sea which is linked with the land only by a long and narrow isthmus. It has existed for more than 9,000 years. It emerged as a fortified Thracian settlement; afterwards it was a Greek polis, then a Roman colony. Has 2 parts - the Old Town abd the New Town.

Nessebar is best known for the old town (about 9000 years) on the peninsula. No one can say for sure whether the isthmus is natural or man-made. The largest number and best known buildings date from 11th to 14th centuries almost all of them churchies in the so called "picturesque" style: walls intersected by pilasters and lunettes, with stone, brick and ceramic ornaments and arches along the cornice.

Christ Pantokrator church (10th - 11th c.) Some of the churches have stunningly beautiful facades and interiors and are among the best preserved ones in the Balkan Peninsula. The oldest one is the Sveti Ioan Krastitel (St.John the Baptist, 10th -11th century.

Today the old part of the town has regained its original romantic atmosphere: narrow cobblestone lanes, tiny squares, two-storeyed period houses with stone-built ground levels and wooden upper floors jutting above the streets and external staircases, gift shops, pubs, tavern and lovely flower gardens.