The Soviet Riviera – Bulgaria’s Black Sea Coast from Shabla to Rezovo
July 2025. Bulgaria (България).
Join me on a four-day road trip down Bulgaria’s Soviet Riviera from the Romanian border at Vama Veche / Shabla (Шабла) all the way to Rezovo (Резово) on the Turkish frontier. Along the way I uncover the Cold War history, socialist-era monuments, and seaside relics that shaped this coastline when Bulgaria was under communist rule.
From the windswept cliffs of Cape Kaliakra to the massive resort zones of Golden Sands (Златни пясъци) and Albena (Албена), I explore planned socialist leisure utopias built for both locals and Soviet tourists. I climb through WWII bunkers, abandoned radio towers, and decaying monuments that tell the story of propaganda, defense, and ideology on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast (Черноморие).
I stop in Varna (Варна), home of the towering brutalist Monument of Bulgarian-Soviet Friendship, wander through Burgas (Бургас), staying at the iconic Hotel Bulgaria, and even explore the remains of the communist elite’s secret seaside retreat at Perla 2. In between, I enjoy the small things that bring the story to life, like a plate of crispy tsatsa (цаца) fish by the beach in Obzor (Обзор).
It’s a journey of sun, sea, and socialism, where warm summer beaches meet Cold War history.
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I’ve been homeless since 2012. If you’d like to buy me a cheap Eastern European Socialist-era hotel room, you can do so here: https://www.paypal.me/FastEddieDice, or via YouTube’s “Super Thanks” button. $20 usually does the trick! I may even give you a shout-out.
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Referenced videos:
Varna: https://youtu.be/ZhJSu-Urx5Y?si=dd7BL18-zryL7EMj
Burgas: https://youtu.be/mP99zHQU8NI?si=B0vIvhPl-5RvIbWL
Bulgaria playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnrWepwzwiRFsGJ8PBdagoqVfE1JSqvNb&si=AI5cUU-QURQjH-az
30 Comments
You know knowledge
Those are romanian bunkers. They were built between the wars when this area belonged to Kingdom of Romania. All the coast of Cadrilater you will find these bukners just like on the shore of Romania. So all these bunkers were buiilt to prevent a soviet attack by the sea.
Too much emphasis on socialist past made it unpleasent to watch. Bulgaria was occupied by Red army in 1944 ,coup was made by trained in Moscow agents after big terror and executions started, inteligencia was killed or sent in concentration camps. That was done after the West and USA sold out Eastern and Central Europe to USSR.Very dark period of totalitarism. You try to make this times of betrayel and suffering for Bulgarians like a fun. As a Bulgarian I find it insulting and rude. It is like making a trip trough Germany in only their Nazis cites or Great Bridain visiting only the houses and everything buil by slavetraders though that was German and British choice amd calling everythin Germany nazis or Britain imperialist,colonialist,slaveowner and slavetraders, but Bulgaria had no choice from what was inforced on them by USA,GB and USSR. You even told that mussle farm in Dylboka was socialist..it started 1992..after socialism collapsed
You probably know this but Bulgaria was the closest Soviet ally, it almost joined the USSR. Bulgaria is at the center of the balkans and whoever controls it controls the region. Thus we were controlled by every superpower since the romans through the ottomans, germans, russians and now the eu and the west.
Bulgaria has bent over to every empire because since the defeat in WW1 because we lost all our neighbouring bulgarian populated lands and we are in steady political and societal decline ever since.
Because since WW1 we are spineless all foreign politics are just us bending over to the strongest side. From Boris serving the germans to our communists who totally sold out to the soviets. We were important for the soviets because we were supposes to fight both turkey and greece in case the cold war became hot. Thats why USSR invested so much and tried to befriend us as much as possible.
What is interesing is that we are still ruled by the communist clique, but due to the loss in the cold war we joined the victorious western bloc. Now that russia is reemerging our politicians are in a funny situation – in theory we are a colony of the west but they have to appease the russans because our politicians are all descendants of bulgarian KGB, they do business with the west and they love the money but their heart os with mother russia because all of them are descendants of National Security agents – the bulgarian KGB.
Now you probably see how complicated the balkans are and how hard its to fix them 😂
Great stuff. Very informative
You're like a Temu Anthony Bourdain 🤣, interesting though
Very informative and well made video ,. Thank you . I love your videos !
Always so informative and interesting 👏 👍
No matter what, never — and I mean never — withdraw money from those yellow ATMs on the street! Depending on your card, the ATM fee can be as high as 30 leva.
With the new 5 star resorts all arround the 400km shore line is not no soviet riviera since long ago,there is almost nothing left from this times
The serbian airforces and anti aircraft batteries come to train on shabla with the bulgarian one,cause they dont have a sea to shoot with longer range rockets and with airplanes….and by the way the bulgarian oil is with the highest possible quality,now we have a deal with shell to search for oil and gas in the bulgarian black sea exclusive economic zone
Bulgaria was not part of the USSR and was not the Soviet Riviera. Most tourists were from Western Europe – Germany, Great Britain, etc.
Bulgaria was never part of the Soviet Union, you fool!!! I see you like to hang around and photograph trash – there's plenty of it in the UK or the US.
I enjoyed this video very much. I've been to those cities (multiple times), and actually grew up in communist Bulgaria in the 1980s. Yet, I can't remember ever seeing many of the monuments you show. You seem to discover landmarks everywhere you go! It's great that you care to share with us the history behind every place or monument. Looking forward to the next video!
No thanks to Schengen. More and more migrants with corrupted bulgarian authorities. Last example : Varna city mayor arrested few days ago on july…fuck the EU.
dude, your presentation skills are fantastic! I really had fun watching the video, thanks!
Great vlog. learned much
Bulgarian North seashore is one of most beautiful seasides you can find on this planet! Not only beautiful, but full of archeological sights, dating back to the 4th century BC! And you chose to pay attention to some of the ugliest shit ever created by the most untalented of human beings who ever lived!
Amazing video. I love this part of the world and Soviet architecture. I'm going to Constantia next month and hoping to see some Brutalist buildings .
If you had said communist republics, you would be right. But neither Romania nor Bulgaria were part of the Soviet republics. The closest Soviet republics to us in terms of distance are Ukraine and Moldova.
Глупав и тенденциозен материал. Минаха 36 години от желязната завеса, алоууууу 😀 Свери си часовника.
Чърчил позволи на Сталин да окупира България, иначе ние бяхме съвсем нормална страна. А Вие посетихте най – свинските места. Пропуснахте да видите музея с най – старото злато в Европа, пропуснахте да видите археология, която у Вас няма. Въпрос на вкус. Разглеждахте бункери и графити, неща които са интересни на просяци и наркомани.
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Awesome content. Thank you for taking us with you
Bulgaria and Romania never been part of USSR my friend ."" Soviet "" means USSR . This insult to romanians and bulgarians
Enjoy this sightseeing folks, because we'll bring down those eyesores of fake history and symbols of occupation one by one, sooner than later.
Congrats, excellent video, one of the most entertaining on modern Bulgaria I have ever seen. Do not pay attention to the trolls, they know nothing about the topic. My grandpa was a colonel in the Bulgarian army and one of his closest friends and neighbor was general Boris Toshkov, Bulgarian attaché in Moscow in the early 80'. So I know "some stuff" and I can tell You, your comments were spot on the military subject. I was surprised to see locations I as was not even aware of. Shame on me. Are You from California? And You brought your Toyota by boat?
Keep on the good work
Абе кавал, не всичко е от комунизма бе! Ти каквото видиш и все комунизъм ти в кратуната, това е дълбоко непознаване на България , ама такива сте вие англосаксите – идиоти !
I've been homeless since 2012. If you'd like to buy me a cheap Eastern European Socialist-era hotel room, you can do via YouTube's "Super Thanks" button. $20 usually does the trick! I may even give you a shout-out.
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Correction: In the video I mention Dalboka Mussel Farm as a socialist-era site. In fact, it opened in 1994, after the fall of communism. I still included it because it shows how Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast reinvented itself after the socialist period
Such a masterpiece one of a kind video!!! I am honored and humbled by your extensive knowledge and deep dive into Bulgarian communist history. The Bulgarian government decided long time ago to not investigate and analyze its communist past so all the archives are sealed off and were off limits to the general public. Not surprising at all because the peaceful transition from communism to capitalism was done under the strict supervision of the old communist bosses. Sad but true! No wonder the country has done not well since the fall of communism and neighboring countries like Romania are growing faster and attracting a great deal of foreign investment compared to Bulgaria. At the end of the day you get what you deserve. It is that simple.