September 5; Apollonia times are here again ⚓️☀️

The annual joy of art and music in the City of Salvation... this was my week

Happy Sunday,

It may actually be Monday already in most parts of the world, but since it’s Unification Day here in Bulgaria, and Labor Day in the US, it’s just the second 24 hours of a 48-hour Sunday, if you ask me.

Sunshine or rain, Sozopol is always a good idea 💛

Ellie and I made it to Sozopol on Thursday, for what is one of our favorite annual traditions; the Apollonia Festival of the Arts, Bulgaria’s cornerstone annual arts festival. Ten days of book presentations, exhibitions, theater performances, and concerts.

Early on Thursday morning, we took our EV for the 420km drive from Sofia to Sozopol, as our diesel car is in post-summer maintenance. With Bulgaria’s rapidly expanding charging infrastructure, it’s a surprisingly easy drive with two charging stops under an hour each.

Ellie grew up attending Apollonia events as a child, because her family usually spent the summer holiday at a campsite close to Sozopol, and since she first took me to Bulgaria in summer thirteen years ago, Sozopol and Apollonia have become a very favorite annual tradition of ours.

An Insta post of mine from seven years ago. Sozopol has grown a lot since, and even this old town view is largely the same, the part in the lower left corner next to the Marina is considerably better developed today.

The festival was founded by Bulgarian soprano Margarita Dimitrova and violinist Dimo Dimov in 1984, as a place where non-officially endorsed art could be performed. Sozopol, in those late days of the socialist regime in Bulgaria, had already turned into a favorite seaside holiday town for the country’s non-conformists, bohemians, and artists, and Apollonia quickly became the Bulgaria’s main platform for non-sanctioned art happenings. After the changes of 1990, it transformed into the official annual gathering of artists and performers in the country.

My favorite contemporary Bulgarian artist, Stefan Valdobrev with his “Usual Suspects” band, yesterday night at Apollonia

Apollonia tickets FTW… get them early!

In 2010, Ellie and I got to know Margarita, Dimo, and their team, and even volunteered for several summers, helping Apollonia with digital marketing and communications.

Snapped by Apollonia’s official photographer during a book presentation last week

This week, it was an especially happy occasion, as the majority of my Vitosha team came to Sozopol as well, including my wonderful friend and partner Maris Prii, who finally was able to join us in person in Bulgaria for the first time since the Covid thing started last year.

Rooftopping in Sozopol with Ellie and a part of the Vitosha team

Ellie and Maris in blue against blue in Sozopol’s old town 💙

Sozopol has a beautiful history, that weaves very well into its current state of holiday and arts town. Since the days of Alexander the Great’s empire, it was a major fishing and trading town, and for many centuries after among the Black Sea’s most important settlements. During the Ottoman Empire, it was predominantly a fishing village populated by Greeks, hence the Greek-origin name. After playing an important role in the Crimean War, when the imperial Russian navy briefly occupied it and used it as a base for naval warfare against the Ottomans, it became part of Bulgaria upon Unification, 136 years ago exactly today.

Sunset dinner with Ellie in Sozopol

Since then, the old town has been rebuilt in the beautiful Bulgarian Renaissance style, and due to its natural harbor, it was for many years one of the main bases of the Bulgarian Navy and sea rescue operations. This gave Sozopol its title “The City of Salvation”, which Apollonia built upon turning the town into a refuge for artists and art-seekers.

Beyond the sea and the seagulls, Sozopol’s main feature are the ubiquitous fig trees

In the summer of 2010, it was here in Sozopol that I started contemplating the idea of structurally spending more time in Bulgaria, back then with the idea of moving a part of the operations of my Amsterdam-based startup to Sofia. A year later, having exited the startup and having spent most of the summer of 2011 in Bulgaria, it was during Apollonia in Sozopol that I realized I’ll probably stay here after summer too. Which then turned into me calling Bulgaria home ever since.

Gallery hopping with Ellie in Sozopol

Ten years later, Sozopol is ever more vibrant, without losing any of its salvation charm. A number of very decent new hotels and restaurants have opened in recent years, the roads have become better, and the Sozopol marina is visibly fuller with boats and yachts, a tangible testament to Bulgaria’s growing wealth and development.

I can’t ever have too many rooftop sunsets with Ellie 🍷

Not necessarily the most appetizingly looking dish, but sea snails are a prime Black Sea delicacy, usually served off-menu in Sozopol’s restaurants 😇

As they say, a rising tide raises all the boats, and I can wholeheartedly say the tide of the past decade has raised both Sozopol’s tide, and my own personal one very much. All I can look forward to, is to share the Sozopol magic with as many of you as I can, in the coming years and decades. Grab a ticket next year, and come celebrate life, arts, beach, and sunshine with us here.

Thanks for checking in today and talk to you next Sunday! 😇

If you enjoyed this Sunday Max update, feel free to subscribe to get it weekly in your inbox, if you haven’t yet: