ALADJA MONASTERY
The year is 1302. Your older brother has already been granted the family land, your younger brother is serving the Ottoman sultan in Constantinople, your younger sister has been married off, and you, the remaining son, want to make something interesting out of your life.

So you decide to become a monk, and go live in Aladja, one of the few monasteries built into the rocky cliffs on the Bulgarian Black Sea.

Active between the 13th and the 15th centuries, the Orthodox Christian Aladja Monastery was not identified by name in print until 1832, when Russian war correspondent Viktor Teplyakov mentioned it in his book Letters from Bulgaria. Truth is, though, that the original name of the monastery was most likely not Aladja (a word of Turko-Persian origin meaning “motley” or “mixed”, referring to its murals), but something else, which is, today, forgotten.

The monastery has a church, a chapel, a church where prayers are said for the dead, a crypt, a kitchen, a dining hall, cells for the monks and workshops.

Where: 15km from Varna and three km from Zlatni Pyasutsi (Golden Sands), located in the Zlatni Pyasutsi nature park. Tel: 052 / 35 54 60. Open every day from 9am to 6pm. Closed Sundays in winter.

DULBOKA MUSSEL FARM
It’s time to flex your taste buds and a deep way up the Black Sea coast to Dulboka Mussel Farm, nearer to the border with Romania than it is to Varna. The restaurant is famed for its fresh mussels, served in an idyllic cove. The menu is largely an assortment of mussel dishes with names like “the tears of the water-nymph” (in-shell steamed mussels with vegetables) and “sea mirage” (mussel soup) and “manipulations on a pan” (choices include a skewer of mussels with coconut). There is also a large selection of fresh Black Sea fish. The prices are reasonable, with appetisers starting at four leva and a main course between eight and 20 leva.

Where: between Balchik and Bulgarevo; tel: 048/ 911 377, 089/ 991 13 77

BULGARCHE MUSIC CAFE
Think of it like a Bulgarian version of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Bulgarche Music Cafe, opening in Mall Varna on June 23, is the only place in the country where modern Bulgarian pop and rock music receives its due, through presenting in a museum format the musical history of the country and through actively supporting new musical projects of Bulgarian artists. Included in the music cafe are legendary names like Vassil Naidenov, Kiril Marichkov and Petar Gyuzelev, along with more current figures like the folk-pop (ie, chalga) diva Kameliya. On display are stage costumes, jewellery, photos and items that became symbolic as part of the musicians’ careers.

The cafe itself has 200 seats, 24 plasma screens, and a stage for live performances. Accompanying this is a kitchen that prepares top-quality traditional Bulgarian food.

After all, without Moya Strana, Moya Bulgaria (My Country, My Bulgaria, an emblematic 1970 song by Emil Dimitrov), Bulgarian music would still be in the times of Nazad, Nazad, Mome Kalino! (Go Back, Go Back, Lass Kalina!).

Where: Mall Varna, 3rd floor, info@bulgarche.eu

MAGNITO, RETRO BUDDHA LOUNGE BAR
They say that the music is so bad, it’s good. Whatever it is, live on the white piano or pumped through the loudspeakers off a CD, Magnito has its followers. And the party is non-stop. And there’s sushi.

If that’s not your style, there’s Retro Buddha Lounge Bar, where cocktails and late nights are accompanied by a garish red decor.

Where: Lozenets, south of Bourgas.