The ancient town of Nesebar Несебър bears resemblances to Dubrovnik, Croatia (Pearl of the Adriatic) and is therefore known as "Pearl of the Black Sea". It was inducted into UNESCO's World Heritage Site list in 1983.
Wanted to go back to Dubrovnik with my family but our travel plans weren't long enough to cover such a huge area so Bulgaria's Dubrovnik it was. While its fortifications are not as massive as Dubrovnik, Nesebar deserves to be recognized for its own culture and heritage without constantly drawing comparisons with its Croatian counterpart.
Featured in the album cover is the ruins of the Basilica of the Holy Mother of God Eleusa, Nesebar with the sun setting behind it. Made for a perfect silhouette photo! I'll put the marker down and say that this photo is among one of my favourites!
The walls of the old town along with the flags. It must be said that the fortifications were all uniquely impressive in each of their own way. Certainly helped that most of them had a full descriptions, with translations in Deutsch and English, standing next to them. Definitely went a long way in retelling the stories behind this ancient town. Most descriptions of the photos are excerpts of the "museum's" descriptions.
The Cross at the Port of Nesebar Old Town glowing radiantly under the setting sun.
The iconic wooden windmill on the isthmus, connecting the peninsular to the mainland, outside the old town's entrance.
The Western Fortress Wall is only part of the fortification system of Messambria-Messemvria, most of which is submerged underwater now. They were severely damaged during the many invasions spanning since the Middle Ages. Under the Ottomans' rule, the walls served no purpose and were gradually destroyed. Restoration works were only carried out between 1958 and 1969 as well as 1970 and 1981.
St John Aliturghetos Church was built in the 14th Century. It has a cruciform dome with 3 apses and a narthex and was built with a design that is unlike most other churches.
With everyone beside the St John Aliturghetos Church, the Black Sea behind us and the sun setting down on us.
St. Stephen (св. стефан) under the gloomy skies after the storm clouds cleared up and the rain stopped. Stand across the street from St John.
Decided to take the footpath all the down from the Old Town streets onto the coastline trail. Here's the Southern Bay of the Old Town, seen here also glowing in the sunset.
Nesebar is such a beautiful town to enjoy the sunset simply because everything just seems to glow around it. Another sunset beauty from outwards of the Southern Bay.
Taking a stroll while enjoying the sunset and looking across to Elenite Елените. With the help of the full zoom of my 18-200 lens!
The remains of the Basilica of the Holy Mother of God Eleusa. Seen here in full lighting instead of a silhouette like in the album cover. (Again, the flare cap doesn't help prevent the lens flare effect. But it still turned out pretty well.)
Most of the churches so far are in ruins, but here's one that isn't. I think it's called the Assumption Church because it says успение богородично uspenie bogorodichno.
The Old Bishopric or The Church of St. Sofia is found in ancient centre of the city. It had been abandoned sometime in the 18th century and then left into the ruins.
The roof is obviously gone now but you can still see 2 rows of 5 pillars that would have supported the entire building. It's mentioned that Venetians had looted the church in 1257 and took religious relics to San Salvartore in Venice.
The Christ Pantocrator Church: A cruciform dome church with 3 altar niches, a narthex and a bell tower above the narthex. Its interior had 4 pillars that supported the dome.
It might not look like the many cathedrals of today, but you have to admit that it's exterior is very impressively decorated. It is one of the Bulgaria's most well-preserved churches from the Middle Ages.
The last church to be featured is Church of St John, the Baptist.
Another cruciform dome church with 3 altar niches, it was built with crushed stone and pebbles sometime between the 10th and 11th century. Unlike many of the others in Nesebar, it has no narthex (entrance area to a church).
Unlike the Pantocrator Church, it isn't well-decorated on its exterior though the bricks seen on the front probably does count as decoration.
A little gift my little sister picked up with her name on it. Couldn't help but show it off I guess?
The fact that Nesebar had in the past been at the center of multiple invasions, meant there was a lot of history embedded within this little town. Almost all of the photos featured were taken from within the old town which is on a peninsula connected by an isthmus to the mainland.
So that was it for Nesebar and it was time to head back to Burgas for dinner with Deyan who had rushed to Burgas from Sofia just to meet me.
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