Just 6.5 km from Burgas, St. Anastasia Island captivated me forever more than 20 years ago, when it was called "Bolshevik" and was a much wilder place than it is now. But it has become a great tourist attraction visited by people from all over the world. The purpose of our visit - with @fog043 and other friends - was a symphony concert with film music. It is a tradition during the summer season to hold concerts of various artists and operas there.
There is a boat that takes visitors from the port of Burgas, and it must be booked in advance, because especially at this time of the year, the interest is really high. We were among the spectators of the symphony concert in question, which took place at 9 p.m., and because of the great interest, the ship had to make three trips to transport those who wished to attend.
The sailing is about 30 minutes and is extremely pleasant, and the pleasure was also complemented by the beautiful sunset combined with the expanse of the sea 🌊
We had some fun taking photos 😊
St. Anastasia Island is only 600 decares, but its value for me is not only that it is a beautiful and attractive place, but mostly in its interesting history. Many years ago, when we gathered together with friends and visited the island, it was called "Bolshevik". the story goes that it was once a monastery constantly looted and burned by pirates. It was later turned into a prison for political criminals. You can read a lot of interesting facts and events on the island's website (https://anastasia-island.com/) and on (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Anastasia_Island)
We continued into the island and had time to visit the delicious seafood restaurant, find seats in front of the small dedicated concert stage and look around before it got completely dark.
This is the building in question, which was once a prison, and in which years later we used the rooms as a hotel during our visits. They weren't much at the time, but there were clean sheets. How many young adventurers needed it then :) But now it's different. The interesting thing that I found out from the manager of the island - a smiling and hospitable middle-aged man - is that guests can stay there overnight in a tent.
The seafood dishes offered at the St. Anastasia Island restaurant are some of the best. And I know this not only from personal experience, but also because I have attended culinary events in which they took part. Even two years ago, I think they won first place for the best fish soup, and this dish for us is very revered here by the sea.
There is an interesting legend about this well, which says that a pirate's treasure was once hidden there and the spirit of a pirate who guarded it lived there.
And now let the concert begin..
The musicians were from the esteemed Orchestra of the Burgas Opera, and the guest vocalists from Sofia. The conductor is the famous Levin Manukyan.To be honest, I imagined the stage a little bigger and with a little more separate seating, but.. the sound of the music is important, right?
The concert itself only lasted about an hour, and as everyone rushed to get on the first two courses of the ship, we stayed on the island for a while longer. The polite manager offered us a tour of the museum while we were waiting which turned out to have a very interesting interactive exhibit.
In almost all the rooms there was music, whispers, sea sounds and videos that recreated history in a unique way.
St. Anastasia is one of the most revered female martyrs of both the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. She became a legendary healer and helped Christians imprisoned in dungeons, healed them and gave them food, for which she was crucified between four pillars and burned alive. Her memory is commemorated on December 22, when she was brutally murdered.
In this room, with the VR glasses, swimming at the bottom of the sea is recreated, which looked so realistic that there is a place to hold yourself, because you feel that you are really swimming.. I saw the wreckage of a sunken ship, I passed by different kinds of fish, and the sound effect was just one time!
The room representing the closed pirate treasure.
After exploring the museum, I decided to enter the small monastery church "Assumption". It turned out that it was really very small and looked a lot like the temples in the villages.
Thank you for stopping by 😊
