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Sozopol - The town of Apollonius

Georgi Georgiev

Thousands of years ago, when gods and heroes ruled the world people depended on the gods’ will and the messages of their priests. Back in those days the gods and goddesses used to come down to earth, merge with the common people, help them or play jokes with them. They even used to fall in love with some girl or young man, seduce them and then leave them with their sweetest memories.

The gold-haired Apollonius was one of those gods, who used to come to earth. He happened to roam around the wide world one day, until he reached the Black Sea side. He sat down on the rocky shore, not far away from a small fishermen village. He was staring into the blue sea, when suddenly in the quiet sea waves, he noticed the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Her dark long hair was falling heavily on her slender waist and the water drops were trickling down her body, leaving slim water traces. Although Apollonius was a god, he could not stay indifferent to this view and immediately started making plans how to seduce her. She went out of the water, revealing her unique beauty. She raised her heavy hair, then put on her tunic and set off for the village. The enchanted from her beauty God turned into a sea gull and flew after her.

On her way the girl was gathering shells and sea pebbles and was walking so elegantly as if she was dancing with the waves. She finally reached a hut in the centre of the village and came into it while the sea-gull alighted on the window sill. The girl spilled the gathered pebbles and shells and started stringing them together in nice necklaces and bracelets. With the tail of her eye she noticed the bird at the window. Then Apollonius flew towards her and perched on top of the shells pile. And since he was the God patron of Arts, he started picking up the most interesting and beautiful shells and pebbles and with his beak was giving them to the girl.
First the girl was very surprised, but then started arranging the very shells the sea gull was giving to her. And there it was – the most beautiful necklace she has ever made! She put it right away on her neck and then put a smaller one on the neck of the bird. Happily she ran away to see her friends and came back home late in the evening. When she entered her room she saw the sea gull was still there, smiled at the bird, took her clothes off and went to sleep. Apollonius then regained his God look, threw aside the bed cover and tenderly kissed the girl and presented her with the loveliest night of her life. On the next morning Apollonius flew away and the girl woke up exhausted from the so real and nice dream. The sea-gull was gone, but there was a feather left from its wing on her pillow.

Apollonius came back to his temple in Delphi, where the priestess Pithia delivered his message – at the place, where the fishers’ village existed a big town to be found. The people submitted to the God’s will and headed towards the seashores with their ship to build Apollonia, nowadays called Sozopol.

Not long ago I also visited this ancient town, which still preserves the God passion of Apollonius. The atmosphere can be mostly felt in the old town of Sozopol. But it was another spot for me that brought the real atmosphere of Sozopol in me. Before I entered the town, I walked the way from Golden Fish camping site to Sozopol on foot. In the middle of the road there is a special place, which reveals the whole charm and fascination of the area. May be that was the exact spot, where Apollonius sat, when he saw the nice girl. The clean fine sands of Golden Fish are to the left, the port and the peninsula with the Old Town are to the right. Right in the middle, the quiet bay shelters boats and yachts and only a couple of kilometers in the sea St. Ivan Island – a former pirates’ hiding place is found.

When I entered the town I had already collected positive emotions and was in high spirit. The old town of Sozopol met me - happy people, sunrays and sounds drifting about. The old square was home of many artists and painters, selling their nice works and drawing people at the very moment. I kept on walking along a small cobbled street, which I thought was central. It led me to a white church, which was in a very sharp contrast to the dark ancient 18-Century-old houses around. There was a very nice and cosy bar across the church and I was tempted to sit and have a refreshing drink in its garden and think of my further plans about my route. Actually it was my first visit in Sozopol, so I really wanted to see everything.

I kept on walking along the cobbled street until I reached a small art gallery and ancient ruins, being silently watched by two old houses above. Stunned by the ancient lovely atmosphere I kept on just wandering around and enjoying old houses, air and sea breeze. I later saw the small chapels, which were built during the Ottoman Rule, when the Christianity temples had to be lower than an Ottoman on a horse. Then after a short walk I found myself on the rocky seaside, where a group of cyclists were staring at the sea. The leader of the group was telling stories of Sozopol, tales about St. Ivan Island, St. Precursor Monastery, the pirates and the jail and about the lighthouse, which was showing the way of the ships towards the Bourgas sea port. There were people, sunbathing and walking on the rocks, while tourist boats were sailing tenderly in the sea waves. Further, after the rocks, the stronghold walls of the Southern Gates were found. The stunning architecture complex and cosy sea restaurants, peeping over the sea were pleasantly bringing freshness and true moments of happiness in the air. After I passed along the stronghold wall of Sozopol I continued my way to the main alley and set of for Golden Fish camping site again.

The dark of the night was falling dawn, tenderly embracing the peninsula, when late fishing boats started to come back to the sea port. I could hear happy voices in the distance. Sozopol was preparing for night life.
And here I sat down, looked at the sea, thought for a moment and smiled. May be later during the night a beautiful girl will dream a lovely dream…and may be on the next day white and proud sea-gull will flew out of her window towards the sea. May be…I do not know…and doubt that anybody else out there does know either.

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