Calisto Hotel

Drink tekila in some of the bars in the Old city

by bgrossi1981

The young people who knows how to enjoy the night life My dream is one day to live in Sozopol and not only in the summer, but the all year :) I want to see the beach in snow and how the birds are coming back in the spring :)

The Beach

by Sininen

Sozopol is also a famous beach resort by the Black Sea. The day we were there the waves were big and there was black flag showing that no swimming was allowed. The sea, however, was crystal green and beautiful.

Old-style wooden houses

by Gosia78

The architecture in Sozopol is extremely picturesque and intimate. Oriels jut out so much that the streets resemble tunnels where hospitality is offered in shop and taverns. It is the street architecture that gives Sozopol its unique charm
The most interesting thing is probably the old town with its interesting old-style wooden houses (some of them are national monuments)

Sozopol –The town of salvation

by Gosia78

Sozopol is one of the earliest towns on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and dates from 2 610 years ago. It is situated upon a picturesque peninsula. The archaeological findings testify to the presence of the Thracians as its first inhabitants. In 620 B.C. immigrants from the rich city of Milet - the largest South Greek centre on the Asia Minor coast - turned the old Thracian settlement into a rich Hellene colony - the independent city-state Apollonia-Pontica.
Only as late as the beginning of c.4, with the great political and ethnic changes in the Roman empire and the growth of Constantinople's in its eastern part Apollonia regained its former significance. This is the source of the town's new name - Sozopolis, the town of salvation.

Sozopol resisted the barbarian invasions in the period from c.3 to c.7 A.D., it was annexed to Bulgaria's territory in 812 by Khan Kroum, and after that was continually conquered by Byzantium and regained from it (972-1366). In c.13 it was an important harbour centre, a mediator in the international commerce, an episcopal and metropolitan's seat. The monastery "Sveti Yoan Predtecha" (St. John the Forerunner) on the Sveti Ivan isle was a spiritual and literary centre not only on a local and a national, but also on an international level.
After the fall of Sozopol under Ottoman oppression in 1453 it gradually declined and turned into a poor fishermen's and wine-producers' settlement. It recovered in the years before the National Liberation in 1878 and especially after that because of the exclusive hardiness and vitality of its population.

Sozopol today I a romantic oasis for fishermen and artists. Everything is bright, attractive and conductive to inspiration and creativity. It’s no accident that the town host the traditional Apollonia Festival of Arts.