Nesebar

The peninsula was a Thracian settlement before Dorian Greeks from Megara settled it at the beginning of the 6th century BC. Mesembria, as it was known, was the only Dorian colony on the Black Sea coast, an important trading centre and a rival of Apollonia, today's Sozopol. It joined the Athenian-led Delian League in 425–424 BC and minted its own coins in bronze and silver from the 5th century BC and in gold from the 3rd. Its surviving ancient remains are mostly Hellenistic — an acropolis, a temple of Apollo and an agora — along with a stretch of Thracian wall on the north side. Rome took the town in 71 BC.

From the 5th century AD Mesembria was one of the most important strongholds of the Byzantine Empire, and Bulgarians and Byzantines fought over it for centuries; Khan Krum captured it in 812 after a two-week siege. The Bulgarian form of the name, Nesebar, is recorded from the 11th century. The town prospered under Tsar Ivan Alexander in the 14th century, when a remarkable series of churches was built, until crusaders under Amadeus VI of Savoy took it in 1366. It passed back to Byzantium in 1403 and fell to the Ottomans in 1453, which began its decline.

In the 19th century the wooden houses typical of the coast were added to the old town. After 1878 Nesebar belonged to Eastern Rumelia, which united with Bulgaria in 1885; in 1900 it was a small town of about 1,900 people, mostly Greek fishermen and vine-growers. It grew into a seaside resort in the 20th century, a new town was built on the mainland after 1925, and UNESCO listed the old town in 1983.

Nesebar is sometimes said to have more churches per head than any other town: forty survive wholly or in part, from Early Christian basilicas of the 5th and 6th centuries to the cross-domed churches of the Middle Ages. Together they trace the development of Eastern Orthodox architecture under Byzantine, Bulgarian and Ottoman rule, and the brick-and-stone walls and blind arches of churches such as Christ Pantocrator are among the peninsula's best-known sights. Several are now museums or ruins, and some lie partly underwater.

The town's Greek past runs deep. Its old name was Mesemvriya until it was replaced by the current form in 1934, and in the early 19th century many local men joined the Greek patriotic society Filiki Eteria, some fighting in the Greek War of Independence in 1821.

Each year brings a run of festivals, among them international art and children's festivals and a honey festival from late August into early September, and the town celebrates its own day on 15 August, the feast of the Dormition. The town has a football club with a 6,000-seat stadium.

About 14,500 people lived in Nesebar together with Sunny Beach at the end of 2021, making it one of the larger towns of Burgas Province, and the municipality had about 30,700. The town has grown well beyond the peninsula, and the new town on the mainland has merged with Sunny Beach.

Tourism dominates everything. Sunny Beach, which has grown to merge with Nesebar, is the largest resort on the Black Sea and contributes a significant part of the province's economy, and the old town draws large numbers of day visitors from the resorts along the bay. Many residents earn most of their income in the summer months, letting rooms, running restaurants and shops or working in hotels.

The year divides sharply. From June to September the town is crowded from morning until late at night, and the buses to Sunny Beach run constantly. In winter much of the resort closes, museums close at weekends, and Nesebar returns to the rhythm of a small coastal town.

As everywhere on the coast, the sea supplies much of the menu. Grilled fish, both saltwater and freshwater, is a staple of the restaurants on the peninsula, and fisherman's soup, ribena chorba, is a spicy fish soup made with thyme and fresh lovage. Mussels in butter with onion and fresh herbs are traditionally from nearby Sozopol.

The rest of the table follows the national cuisine. Tarator, a cold soup of cucumbers, garlic, yogurt and dill, suits the summer heat, and shopska salad — cucumbers, onions, peppers and tomatoes with white cheese — is a common salad. Banitsa, a filo pastry with egg, sirene cheese and yogurt, and mekitsi, deep-fried dough served with jam, honey or cheese, are breakfast foods sold in bakeries. Sirene, a white brine cheese similar to feta, turns up in salads and many pastries.

Zagorka and Kamenitza are popular national lagers, and Burgasko is the local beer. Rakia is the everyday spirit.