The Black Sea Can Also Be Blue!

The sea is one of my passions. I'm not sure how it happened and why, but I realized that I can't live without seeing the sea every year, at least once. I have the major disadvantage that I do not live by the sea but I wonder if I would have grown up and lived near the sea I would still feel this great need for ... sea!

But fortunately, I live quite close to the sea, the Black Sea, only 200 km.

I didn't see the sea until I was 18 years old. A frustration that I failed to go to sea earlier, maybe that's why my passion for the sea may seem exaggerated. From the 70s until the 99s I saw the sea only in Romania, in all communist resorts, and in the last 7 years (ie in the last years until 1999) in a village on the border with Bulgaria, called Vama Veche. Vama Veche was the meeting place of artists, musicians, and hippies. Unfortunately, this place so pleasant and special turned slowly but irreversibly into a place of extreme fun for young people with money and was no longer frequentable.

I made such a long introduction just to explain why, after the year 2000, I moved to Bulgaria, to the same Black Sea, but across the border. I said the same Black Sea, but it wasn't really the same. I was disturbed by the beauty of the sea in the country next to me.

It may be incomprehensible why I am surprised by this color, but in the Romanian part, the color of the seawater is grayer and sometimes a kind of green. I think this is due to the fact that the river Danube flows into the sea here, with its fresh and alluvial waters that turn the sea into a kind of great lake.

In Bulgaria, the Black Sea is blue and even sometimes has the color of emerald. Just 250 km from my house in Bucharest!

I usually go to Balchik every year, a place full of history, a common Bulgarian-Romanian history in a certain period of time. Balchik is a modernized resort now, with lots of hotels and restaurants, a good place for family vacations. But the closest place to Romania is Shabla, a village. Here I found a beach over 7 km long and almost deserted.

I discovered this beach by chance. We were looking for a place to eat fresh fish and a friend recommended us to look for Shabla. I discovered a small tavern and a small terrace, located on a kind of cliff.

My expectation was to find a fishing terrace but the big surprise was great. The sea is seen from the seafront. The blue color of the sea with emerald.

There are no hotels nearby, just a campsite. Because of this, tourists come only for a day at the beach and bathing in the sea, come by car, from morning to evening, and then retire to hotels in more remote resorts, but not very, not more than 10-20 km away. Because of this, the beach is not crowded.

At first, I walked on the seafront and admired the sea and the beach from a small height. As I guess, there were some student resorts and camps there during communism. After the fall of communism, they were abandoned.

Traces of the past are still visible on the beach. A casemate used in World War II that could not be demolished is now covered in graffiti. It brings a splash of color.

An abandoned place, fortunately. Because there are still many people who are still looking for places to relax away from the modern and noisy world. For example, I am looking for the lost paradise of Vama Veche and I can say that I found it in Shabla. I like abandoned and forgotten places, which remind me of the past, of my youth. What better image of abandonment than a boat thrown ashore and dismantled.

Just a few steps below begins the beach with fine and warm sand. Solid concrete steps, I've been there for over fifty years, I think.

Once on the hot sand, we can admire the sea. The sea was a bit rough, with quite big waves. How big the waves can be on a small sea!

I'm afraid of water and I don't rely on my untested swimming skills. That's why I prefer to admire the sea from a distance, especially when it's angry. So my attention goes to the beach. To the beach and its people.

I admire these people and consider them true lovers of the sea. People who bring their children to play all day in the sand, under the sun. People who are not attracted to the facilities and comfort of well-known resorts. I can't be like them, I swing between resorts and long for these deserted beaches.

I like the sand here. When you step, your foot is buried in this warm sand as if you are receiving a massage. Some have lost their heads in this sand. Head and slippers!

Unfortunately, I was just passing through and running. It was just the discovery of this beach that was hidden from me for decades when I crossed the road a few kilometers above. One last look ...

Regretfully, it was time to leave. Everything has an end! For now, we are not thinking about the big end, but it is said that: to leave always means to die a little.