Bulgaria-Day 1

Barely 18 hours into my visit to the shores of the Black Sea and I feel well and truly on vacation. Not sure if that's more a function of my interleaving of weak all-inclusive cocktails with strong cups of Nescafe, or whether the relaxed atmosphere of Sunny Beach, Bulgaria has ensnared me with its charm.

Sunny Beach, on the surface, is a complete abomination. Imagine a seaside knockoff of Las Vegas done up in Oligarch chic. Lots of new buildings in bright colors and bad concrete. But a different class of bad concrete than was used in Commie days, with but a few old-school reminders of the Big Red Machine interspersed among hotels like the Planeta, Hrizantema, and Polyusi.

The Riu Helios Palace is an oasis in this sea of post-communist tourist mayhem. An outpost of the Spanish-German Riu chain, it is four-star both in rating and performance. Not ultra-luxurious, but competently run and with a fairly high standard of food, drink and accomodation served up to a fairly well-screened northern European clientele.

Being a single at an all-inclusive is always a bit of a challenge, particularly when one isn't actively "on the pull" (once again, my vacation coincides with the early stage of a new relationship conversation). Mostly, I'm interested in meeting some new buddies to take in Sunny Beach's legendary dance-music nightlife with. But even sans buddies, there is an abundance of entertainment here--mostly to be gained from watching the legions of young Scandinavians letting their hair down to the techno beat.