Огромный и подробный отчет. Лето 2009, Болгария, Кранево, отель «Верден». Huge and detailed report. Summer 2009, Bulgaria, Kranevo, Verden Hotel.

You know, if you have previously traveled to Turkey, Egypt, or imagine what a quality Crimean vacation is, then you better not go to Kranevo. Well, if you want to get an idea of ​ ​ ​ ​ Bulgaria, and at the same time relax on its Black Sea coast, it is better to do this in Albena or Golden Sands. True, in these large resorts everything is twice as expensive as in Kranevo, and here, in turn, prices are much higher (4 times) than in similar Ukrainian resorts such as the Odessa coast or Kherson.
So, what is Kranevo - this is an urban-type settlement on the coast with a local population of 800 people, the village is located above the resort area, which reminded me of Ukrainian resorts in all its glory, except perhaps poorer about all kinds of entertainment on the beach.
During Soviet times, Kranevo was planned as a children's resort. Along the coast there are three twin buildings "Bamboo", "Zora" and an unfinished gray bulk. Along the streets, you can still see the creations of Soviet architecture. For myself, I realized that cheap and uncontrolled recreation flourishes here for children and teenagers who live in terrible conditions, but they are sold cigarettes and alcohol, and they are allowed to go to discos at night. They yell drunk under the windows all night.

There are also many small private hotels, very nice, but for some reason most of them are full of signs for sale and rent (the new, attached building of Verdun did not escape this fate). In Kranevo, all hotels are private, and the former Soviet heritage too. But if, for example, "Verden" is somehow blown out (it is also a standard Soviet sanatorium building) - they added an upper floor with a nice roof, a restaurant on the ground floor and a hall, a new three-star building, built an outdoor pool, ennobled the territory and continue slowly remodel, then some similar hotel buildings remain in a state of the Soviet past.
I went to Kranevo and Verdun after reading rave reviews. This year our finances were tight, we wanted to go to Sevastopol. We had already booked a good hotel, calculated as much money as needed, and then Kranevo dawned, a little more expensive, but still abroad, it’s interesting to visit Bulgaria, and it’s hot to go to Turkey or Egypt at the end of July, but here it seems like the climate is similar to ours. I decided at the last moment to take a three-star room with breakfast, instead of a two-star one, which, according to the descriptions, was freshly renovated and had air conditioning - and thank God I changed it. A two-star room is just a little white room with dark, broken-down Soviet terrible furniture. Meals were taken only for breakfast, I wanted not to be tied to the hotel and try all the variety of Bulgarian cuisine.
We arrived around midnight, I will not sing the praises of Aerosvit for his godless lateness and disgusting service. We entered the room. I felt bad, and I realized that I would listen to the whole rest from my husband, why did I exchange IT for a cheaper and much more decent hotel in Sevastopol. There is no smell of three stars here, I have something to compare, for example, in terms of the level of three-star hotels in the Czech Republic. Yes, this is a new building, the room consists of a bedroom, a corridor and a bathroom. Plasterboard walls, without soundproofing, heard a lot: about dirty walls, about carpeting in terrible stains and not even lined with baseboards, about meager furniture in which there was nowhere to place things, even there were only 3 coat hangers in the closet. About cheap and broken simple accessories in the bathroom, especially depressing was the glass shelf falling out of the puzzles under the mirror, the shabby tulle curtain on the window, which did not cover the rays of the rising sun in the morning, some old and poorly painted entrance doors and the bathroom, about the sound insulation of which do not have to speak. Holes in the ceiling sealed with construction tape, a TV remote control without a cover with batteries falling out, and there were already a whole bunch of Russian channels. We drank with grief, bought in a dutik and decided - the morning is wiser than the evening. But it wasn’t there, drunk teenagers screamed through the open balcony door all night, and in the morning seagulls, they scream especially loudly and vilely, during breaks the air conditioning system of the neighboring hotel rumbled, and passing cars rumbled. Thank God there are no discos nearby. And with the door closed with the air conditioner did not want to catch a cold.
Claimed at reception in the morning. They honestly scrubbed the carpet for us, but they didn’t succeed in removing the stains, they changed the broken soap dish, they didn’t give additional hangers, they didn’t repair the shelf in the bathroom, I filled the puzzles with cardboard, and it more or less stopped threateningly falling out on its feet. Having calmed down, I decided to enjoy the rest. In the morning, a wonderful view of the mountains, nice hotels, as well as a clay broken-down road and a gray Soviet unfinished building covered in graffiti opened up from the balcony.

But at the entrance to the restaurant there was a cool grandfather with a snow-white mustache, smiling, and indeed, the staff smiles and tries to help and solve all problems, everyone speaks and understands Russian. The hotel is mostly Bulgarians, all plump, well-fed, the peasants have an earring in their ear. Breakfast is normal, you can eat well. Several types of sausage cuts, I usually don’t eat sausage, but I ate here, because there was no more meat for breakfast : ), quite tasty (but sniff it, once there was sausage with a “smell”), boiled sausages. Chopped vegetables: tomatoes (oh, and tomatoes are delicious in Bulgaria! - Domaty in Bulgarian : )), cucumbers, peppers, boiled eggs and egg scramble, pasta with vegetables and the remnants of yesterday's sausage. Sometimes they served rice with vegetables, and boiled potatoes, potato salad with sour cream, thick spaghetti with a tasteless sauce. Very tasty croutons in an egg. They made a cake a la "broken glass", filled with colored gelatin the remains of yesterday's half-eaten buns, bagels and muffins. By the way, a very tasty saffron-colored cupcake, just wonderful donuts are fried, I didn’t like all the other bagels and cookies. Excellent fresh and sour milk, muesli, cereals, a couple of types of jam, honey, butter, cheese, cheese, several types of herbal tea and black tea (by the way, they practically don’t have black tea in stores, and if they have it, it costs wild money) , for tea - lemons. Breeding cocoa like Nesquik with milk is quite tasty, coffee (but in the hall bar for 1 lev coffee is of course tastier), fresh rye and wheat buns, fresh bread. There are enough fruits: watermelons, melon (papesh), peaches, nectarines, apricots, apples, oranges, bananas. But their dishes are not so hot, the plates are almost all broken along the edge, when the round plates end, they serve some kind of herring, it is inconvenient to collect food in them, there are no teaspoons. Sometimes, with a large influx of people in the dining room, there are not enough places and there is no place to sit near the buffet. We dined a couple of times in our hotel restaurant, normal tasty food, but a little more expensive than in a tavern across the Usoy path and the cook cooks for a long time. The bar on the ground floor is open until 2 am. Currency exchange until 9 pm. You can change the currency at the hotel, the exchange rate is almost the same everywhere, sometimes the dollar becomes a couple of leva more expensive, but everything is stable. The exchange rate was 1:1.90 euro to the left, 1:1.30 dollar to the left, or 1.32. By the way, you can change currency at night, exchangers on the central walking road are open until late at night. Yes, and the Bulgarians themselves in the hotel, in souvenir shops, in eateries work from morning until 2 am, at least. I just sympathize with them.
In principle, in supermarkets : ), they call all shops supermarkets, everything is absolutely there, up to ready-made food. Wine should be bought within the price range from 6 to 11 leva, excellent wine, try the Bulgarian variety "Mavrud", this is a dry red wine, but with a characteristic pleasant tart-sweet-bitter taste, full-bodied. “Shumenska” and “Ariana” really liked the beer; Buy halva, oriental sweets, honey, cosmetics from roses in a supermarket, and not in a souvenir shop, everything is the same, but the price is half as much. Ayran is very tasty, Bulgarians drink it everywhere and everywhere : ). The cheapest supermarket near the hotel with an orange sign - three-dimensional letters. You can also buy fruits - peaches (praskovi) are already not expensive, but even cheaper in the store. Fruits and vegetables are sold everywhere - figs are delicious and simply gigantic. Boiled corn (tsarina) is excellent, it costs from 1 to 1.50 leva. Pancakes for 1.50 leva with different fillings are delicious and it is impossible to eat this pancake - so huge. I didn't like their shawarma. There is a fish diner near the Izvora restaurant, where they sell ready-made fried and marinated seafood by weight, which you can immediately have a bite to eat or take with you, well, any meat. I can recommend tsatsu - small fish fried in batter, tasty and very cheap, Bulgarians only order it in restaurants : ). Rapana and mussels fried in batter, various fish, marinated mussels are delicious, but I do not advise rapana. By the way, a shark is very expensive everywhere, 8 leva per serving, only, in the restaurant “Rybny Dar u Ivan” (hello waitress Mimi! : )) it costs 7 leva, but there is nothing tasty in this shark.
Yes, let's go through the restaurants, the most delicious and expensive "Izvora", very close to the hotel and "Serbia" - go to the loudest folk howls - you will not pass by. But I recommend Izvora, a very beautiful interior, an artificial stream, vegetation, pleasant smiling waiters, an extensive menu. Eat with a bottle of wine for two will cost up to 40 leva. It is customary to tip by simply rounding up the bill, but if you really like it, you can add more. Bulgarians thank for the tip - "mersi"  . In "Serbia" it is very tasty, but the music is too yelling, the waiters are not smiling, they also cheat, one price is indicated on the menu, and another amount will be brought on the bill. We tried to try their national meat dishes - terribly tasty, just with your hands you can eat wonderful vegetable salads, as an addition, Shopska, monastic, etc. For fish and sea delicacies, I recommend going to Ivan's Fish Gift. Cocktail bars: After all, the most delicious (but also the most expensive) cocktails in a playboy bar. If you are not embarrassed by youngsters around : ). "Usoya" next to the hotel - you can eat soup, salad for lunch, but their meat dishes, let's say, are a mas-market, but not exclusive. It's delicious, but still all the other eateries except Izvora and Serbia are like that, a bite to eat. In such places, eating and drinking beer for two will cost you up to 20 leva. For some reason, there are a lot of pizzerias, I didn’t eat pizza. Blasphemy, to have such a rich and magnificent national cuisine, while switching to the ubiquitous pizza, by the way, I noticed such a trend in the Czech Republic. About huge portions - weight is written everywhere, it is clear that a salad of 400 grams is enough for two, but, for example, a kebabche of 200 grams for two will not be enough.
We spent more on food than if we had taken all-inclusive, but we ate varied, tasty and for our own pleasure.

In the evening, the shopping and tavern street of Kranev begins to smell fragrant with the aromas of pastries, grilled meat. Trade goes on until late at night, many restaurants are open until 2 - 4 in the morning. Trays sell mainly cheap clothes and shoes, souvenirs, local rose cosmetics. Weave pigtails, paint figurines, draw tattoos, shooting galleries, ride a taxi with a donkey, rent bicycles with pedals for four, etc. etc. , everything that usually happens in seaside towns. Two discos for youngsters - Amazon and, oddly enough, Playboy.
The road to the beach is hard, at least 5 minutes walk from the hotel. Dust, sunshine, and after the rain - a clay mess. Along the road there are shops with related goods - the prices are moderate, for example, an umbrella costs from 11 to 22 leva. The beach itself is excellent, as I like - white sand. For an umbrella and a sunbed they shamelessly tear 3 and 3 or 5 umbrellas and 2 sunbeds. From the first day we went with our umbrellas, put them near the paid zone and lay around until lunch, and after lunch they didn’t charge any more, and we came without umbrellas. And even though they were constantly in the shade, they tanned like hell. The sea is warm, the bottom is sandy, the entrance is gentle. The water is blue, but not too transparent, clouded by the sand whipped up by the feet of the bathers. If the sea is calm, you can see crustaceans running along the bottom, flocks of fry and small fish. At the end of July, it is quite hot even to sit in the shade of an umbrella. We went to the Central Beach, or you can go a little to the left to the North Beach, there is no big difference. If you go even more to the left, there will be a nudist beach, where, as it seemed to me, only men are sitting and waiting for at least one nudist to come : ). There is almost no entertainment on the beach: a trampoline for bungee jumping, a water banana, a volleyball court, and a boat that rides to Albena and back. On foot along the road to Albena, which takes about 20 minutes, there will be a reserve, how beautiful it is there! Relic trees covered with ivy, small streams, swamps, palm-sized snails, flowers. Turtles live in lakes and streams. There is an observation tower along the way, which offers views of both towns. I liked Albena very much, I even regretted that I had saved on Kranevo. Yes, the prices are more expensive, for example, in Kranevo soup costs 2 leva, in Albena 2.50, beer 1.50, and in Albena 2.50 and all in the same vein. But how good is it. Everything is paved, benches every 5 meters, beautiful parks, flower beds, cafes. On the one hand, there are well-maintained beaches with huge residential complexes, restaurants, swimming pools, on the other side there is a forest and fresh air. There are children's camps, not like the Kranevskys, children in groups with counselors walk in multi-colored scarves, do something according to their interests, some in sports, some dancing, some carving. They don't go out with beer at night. Sports complexes, a circus, an amusement park, a train carries around the city. Beautiful in Albena and breathe easily.
But back to our hotel. "Vedren" is strategically very well located, it is practically the penultimate hotel on the way to the beach, after it there is only a small "Margarita" and a beautiful modern complex "Sun and Love". Immediately from the hotel start restaurants, shops, supermarkets, bars, eateries, restaurant "Izvora" right there, all within a two-minute walk. The hotel has a swimming pool, one, and not as they say on the site - three. The pool is shallow, animation is held near it, a couple of times a week for children in the evening - clowns, balls and all that. Once a week for adults, all sorts of skits, games, dances, cocktails. On the ground floor there is a tennis table, slightly shabby leather furniture, a large TV. There are also two small billiard tables, one near the pool, one near the tennis table, but they are covered all the time and no one plays them. The safe is paid, how much it costs - I don’t remember, we didn’t use it, pah-pah, nothing from the room was lost. The cleaners are friendly and smiling. We left them a tip at the end of our stay. Cleaned up every day. Fine. For two weeks the bed was changed 1 time, towels 3 times. There are only two glasses and an ashtray in the room. In principle, for 3 stars this is the norm. There is a dryer on the balcony, two plastic chairs and a table, the balcony was a favorite leisure place when we were in the room.
In general, the hotel is not bad, they are trying. This is if you do not see anything better. And Kranevo is a developing resort, it has a gorgeous wide beach, mountain landscapes, in the future it is planned to create a park area from the Sun and Love complex to the beach. I see that Vedren itself is slowly building up and getting rid of its Soviet heritage. And given their excellent national cuisine, gradually there will be a good resort. But for now, cons. All the same we can get at inexpensive resorts in Odessa and Kherson regions. Plus, there will be much more entertainment, all this will cost 4 times cheaper. Geographically, Kranevo is located at the latitude of our southernmost point of the South Coast, where Foros is located, but the air cannot be compared with the air on the South Coast. The sea is empty, there is nothing to see, there is not even a bush of algae anywhere and the water is not transparent because of the sand, so there is no reason to dive there. The level of hotels still leaves much to be desired, and their only road could still be asphalted. And even more often to clean the beach, gobies remain in the sand. I won’t go to Kranevo anymore, and probably not to Bulgaria either, but I will miss their chic national cuisine : ).