Food | Fish | Black Sea | Bulgaria | Travel

Fried Fish by the Black Sea: A Tasty Treat

A beautiful day and a delicious Bulgarian meal!

I’m writing about our day today, November 7th, because I feel like if I don’t do it now then it will pass me by. And it’s too good of a day to forget so I want to record it while it is fresh in my memory.

We are currently in Varna, Bulgaria, and are really enjoying our time spent on the Black Sea. The weather has mostly been warm and sunny and a couple of weeks ago we were surprised to see people suntanning on the beach and even swimming.

Today, being that it is now November, we were even more shocked to see people enjoying the water. When we woke up in the morning, it was grey and cold looking. But as we walked down to the beach, the sun started breaking through and it turned into an incredible day.

About a week ago, a Bulgarian friend here asked us if we wanted to go out for lunch. She wanted to treat us to a local Black Sea treat, Smelts.

We really had no idea what to expect but agreed that it would be nice to get together since we hadn’t seen her in about 3 weeks.

We planned to meet at a restaurant called Nord, located right down on the beach.

We arranged to meet at 1:00, so we made our way down there by foot walking through Varnas pedestrian areas that connect the downtown core.

We came across the above sign, telling us that we were at the right place. Immediately we could see what a great location it was as it was right on the beach, and it was very welcoming.

Like most places on the beach, this restaurant had an ocean/sea theme and there were ornaments and marine decor scattered around.

Our friend hadn’t arrived yet, so we walked through the restaurant and out onto the sunny beach. It was such a warm and spectacular day.

Figuring that we should secure a table, we decided to go inside and sit down to wait for her. She had messaged that she had trouble parking, and would be a few minutes.

So we started to look through the menu.

This menu really does represent many of the menus that we have seen in Bulgaria. It must be to help foreigners, but most menus are full of many pictures of the dishes so that there is no confusion about what to order.

Sometimes the amount of choices is overwhelming.

After a little while, our friend arrived and we could see that there were tables still available outside, so we figured that we would take advantage of the beautiful weather and move.

We found a table that was sheltered from the slight breeze and sat in the direct sunlight. We could watch and hear the waves splashing up on the shoreline as we ate. The seagulls were swooping down to the beach, and a couple of cats were prowling around us looking for scraps.

Of course, we couldn’t help but give them bits and pieces of our meals.

Our friend ordered for us but was disappointed that they actually didn’t have the tiny fish called “smelts” that she had wanted us to try. So instead, she ordered three different plates with varying sizes of fried fish.

The small fish in the foreground were to be eaten whole. Of course, as Canadians, we aren’t used to eating entire fish, but the whole thing was fried really well so we went for it.

Our friend told us that eating these and drinking beer is a truly Bulgarian Black Sea tradition.

There were no problems with bones or anything else with the small fish, however, the other fish in the background of the above photo were a little bigger, and we had to pull them apart from the spine before eating them. The heads were a little bigger on those ones as well, so Chris and I would pull them off and feed them to the cats at our feet.

There was also another plate of different fried fish that came and they were really fresh and delicious.

We ate and chatted and got caught up with our friend. None of us was in a hurry to leave the glorious warmth of the sunshine that we were feeling in our little nook.

But, after a while, we finally finished the plates! What a feast we had!

We decided to walk with our friend back to her vehicle which was located at a different part of the beach. Much of Varna Beach is pedestrian access only, so she actually had to park about 15 minutes away from the restaurant.

We didn’t mind walking in the sunshine and soaking up more of this beautiful day.

We wandered north along the coastline and watched the waves crash in. It was surprising that there was barely a breath of wind, yet the waves were really big. Big enough, in fact, that we saw some brave surfers heading out into them.

There is a wide pedestrian walkway that winds along the coastline leading to the north of Varna. Along the way, there are little pockets that have restaurants, coffee shops, and even a workout gym.

There are also a few different hot springs that make their way down to the shoreline. One of them is free and open to the public, and many people were relaxing in them and taking in the glorious day.

Eventually, we reached the area where the parking was but our friend wanted to take us to another part of the shoreline where there was a group of coffee shops and bars. So we headed down there to continue our tour.

We stopped to purchase a coffee then headed down to some steps at the waterfront to sit and drink them. This time the waves were literally almost splashing at our feet.

After a while of taking in more beauty of the day, we parted ways. Our friend left in her car while we continued our walk back to our hostel. We made our way back down the boardwalk along the shoreline and marveled at the waves splashing up on shore.

Our friend told us that this area of the city used to be very trashy and unkempt. It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that she came down and discovered how much they have improved it. Today it is clean and modern and offers a really nice area for locals and visitors to enjoy the sea.

On the windows of one bar, we discovered some pretty unique artwork.

As we slowly made our way back to the hostel, we relished again in what a wonderful place this is. There is something very special about Varna, and we look forward to getting to know it better over the course of our stay here.

Just as we crossed the last main road to our hostel, we glanced to our left to see a glorious full moon rising above the streets as the sun was setting.

What a spectacular day we had.

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