Chengene Skele fishing village

Worth a detour

When Burgas port expanded in 1972 the local fishermen were moved out here, and their huts and boats are still on the water. The municipality has built a cultural complex round them: three exhibition houses on the Black Sea, fishing customs and the life of the crews, with demonstrations of net weaving and rope work, a small restaurant, an amphitheatre and a beach. About €3, and best in the late afternoon.

Story

Background

The name comes from Chingane iskelesi, the Ottoman settlement that stood on this bay. The fishermen arrived in 1972 when the port took their old moorings, built themselves shacks on the shore, and went on working. What the municipality has done, with European fisheries and regional money, is renovate the infrastructure, add a pier and a boat for trips, and put three exhibition houses among the huts: Taifa, Buruntia and Evksinski Pont.

The exhibitions are about fishing rather than about the sea in the abstract — the boats, the nets, the crews and the shore-side beliefs that went with a dangerous trade. Net weaving, rope splicing and knots are demonstrated, traditional food is offered to taste, and the amphitheatre and multifunctional hall take events. A fish festival is held here with the local fisheries group.

The practical difficulty is that Burgas municipality publishes no opening hours for it, so telephone first. Prices it does publish: about €3 standard for the exhibition, €2.50 for students and pensioners, €1.50 for children between three and seven, and an audio guide in Bulgarian, English or Russian for about €2.50. Getting there is fifteen kilometres of the Sozopol road and a turning, or a boat from Magazia 1 in the port, which is the better arrival. There is a small beach beside the complex and a boat station for trips out into the bay at sunset.