Eventually, when the roads get better.

transcript

Maarten Boswijk1/10

1/10 - Kariya

Maarten Boswijk

Kavarna

Kavarna7

Kavarna9

Kavarna11

12 Kavarna13

Kavarna13

Kavarna15

Shabla

Reporter: Why are you here in Shabla?-

Girl: I live in Kavarna and I'm visiting my grandmother.-

Reporter: You're from Shabla?-

Grandmother: Not exactly, but I've been living here since '54.-

Reporter: Quite a long time.-

Grandmother: I went to Sofia but then I returned.-

Reporter: What attracted you to come here? The sea?-

Grandmother: Not the sea.-

Reporter: Love?-

Grandmother: Not love. I was attracted by Yordan Yovkov's The Farm on the Border. It was a village back then, a very nice village at that.-

Girl: It's peaceful here. It's quiet, unlike Sofia. That's the reason. Otherwise I went to Kavarna last year, because I wanted to run away from the hustle and bustle. There are great places along the seaside, there are archeological and natural reserves. Yailata, the swamp, the Durankulak Lake, there are great places.The monument, these are places where there is peace and quiet. They must be preserved.-

Reporter:Is the northern Black sea coast the place where a person can run away?-

Girl: From the hustle and bustle? Yes.-

21 Shabla

22 23 Shabla

23 Shabla

25 Shabla

27 Shabla

29 Shabla

31 Shabla

33 Shabla

34 35 Shabla

35 Shabla

37 Shabla

38 39 Shabla

39 Shabla

41 Shabla

43 Shabla

45 Shabla

47 Shabla

49 Shabla beach

51 Shabla beach

53 Shabla beach

55 Shabla beach

57 Shabla beach

Durankulak

61 Durankulak

63 Durankulak

64 65 Durankulak

65 Durankulak

66 67 Durankulak

67 Durankulak

69 Durankulak

71 Durankulak

Kariya

75 Kariya

76 77 Kariya

77 Kariya

79 Kariya

81 Kariya

83 Kariya

84 85 Kariya

85 Kariya

87 Kariya

89 Kariya

91 Kariya

93 Kariya

94 95 Kariya

95 Kariya

96 97 Kariya

97 Kariya

98 99 Kariya

99 Kariya

101 Kariya

Ezerets

104 105 Ezerets

105 Ezerets

107 Ezerets

108 109 Ezerets

111 Ezerets

Tyulenovo

115 Tyulenovo

117 Tyulenovo

118 119 Tyulenovo

119 Tyulenovo

121 Tyulenovo

123 Kariya

Additional

MuseuMs of depopulation

Large-scale areas in Bulgaria are depopulating due to migration to cities, and in the process, creating plethora of ghost villages. Although the names of these towns and communities still remain on maps, this is nothing more than a bureaucratic formality. According to demographic research, this phenomenon is reaching epidemic proportions. Data shows that in 2010, the total population of Bulgarian villages was little more than 2 million people. If the trend of depopulation in these villages continues at its current rate, and the low-birth and high-mortality rates continue to ravage these communities, there may be no rural population left in Bulgaria by 2060.

Rural depopulation issues began their ascent after 1946, when Bulgaria became a Communist nation. The natural process of urbanization in the world, and the change from a Market to a Planned economy started the migration process. Thousands of rural residents were stripped of their land and lively-hoods to further the goal of Socialist industrialization and the collectivization of agriculture. Even after democratic government changes in 1989 returned the land to their original owners, the trend of urbanization did not stop. Travel to the rural areas of the country was difficult or impossible for most.

Now, deserted farmland can be seen in many rural areas. The country’s urban population is 72 percent, while the agricultural population is only 28 percent. The rapid migration of people led to the declination of social infrastructure. Schools and medical stations were closed, bus lines were reduced, and the roads became beaten and cratered. The number of ghost villages is growing every day. They are, in a way, museums of depopulation; villages in which you see nothing but obituaries and the remaining elderly whom live difficult or even tormented lives in the service of their land. With their last strength they are holding on to it in their remaining years, to try and save it from the weeds. These people have long ceased to notice the colossal misery in which they live and take for granted their depressing poverty, relinquishing their dignity. In the years of so-called transition, no government made the preservation and development of rural areas a priority. Some argue that the depopulation of certain regions in Bulgaria is a natural process; a consequence of urbanization, globalization, Internet, free movement of human mass, or a global conspiracy. They may be right. Processes are ongoing and continuous, but the neglect and destruction of entire regions in Bulgaria is abhorrent and an ugly, cynical mockery. This is especially so for the generation of my grandparents; the people from a simpler time who gave immense care to this land. How do I tell them what seems to the truth? That their efforts were all in vain.

Vesselina Nikolaeva-

The Mayor’s view over the city

of Kavarna. The city totals

about 15.000 inhabitants, and

seems to be slowly expanding.

However, about 5km outwards, the

patched up roads start getting

more and more frequent. Even

though Kavarna has a decent

amount of tourist facilies, the

traces of the economic crisis

are visible even here. Along the

winding road that leads from the

city center to the sea are

numerous hotels for sale, which

were never fully constructed.

Some have been left untouched

for as long as 10 years.

Featuring a large garden the

size of a football field, the

Green House is a showpiece of

the European Union’s investment

in Bulgaria. The Green House was

build as a tourist information

center and a place for locals

to convene. While the Green

House is bustling with it’s own

occupants and workers, visitors

are rarely seen and it seems to

serve very little useful pur-

pose. Many in Shabla share the

opinion that the money should

have been better invested.

Reneta.

Nine years ago, young Reneta

married a boy from Shabla and

moved to a coast town from her

birthplace in the Southern Bul-

garia. Her family-in-law owns a

3-store house with guestroom for

rent in the summer season and a

small grocery shop in front of

it where she works.

‘The shop is very empty because

we cannot manage to reinvest in

new goods from what we sell.

Romanian cars on the way to the

southern coastline pass by and

never stop for even a coffee’

said Reneta. According to her,

Shabla’s population has been

decreasing dramatically in the

past few years fears that soon

the place will come to be

completely abandoned.

Zafirka.

Specialists from the hospital in

Kavarna visit once a week for a

few hours to see patients who

require special care. During

the summer when tourists visit,

communication is nearly impos-

sible due to the fact that none

of the medical personnel speaks

English.

Up to two decades ago, any self-

respecting enterprise, factory,

office, or union had a rest

house- both in the Black Sea

and mountain resorts. Indivi-

dual municipalities also used

to support camps where parents

could send their children for

two weeks during the summer

holidays. After the land res-

titution, many of these holiday

bases were returned to their

original owners or their heirs.

Most of the camp-structures were

easily demolished due to their

light construction, while the

rest remained abandoned. What

followed was a massive sale of

land, and most of these affor-

dable holiday resorts ceased to

exist. The rest have been frozen

in the era of socialism.

Krassi.

Between the months of March

and December, Krassi makes his

living as a fisherman. Earning

about 3000 euros, it’s just

enough to cover expenses for his

family in Dobrich. His visits

him on the weekends at his small

house which he built himself.

Along with about 25 fellow

fishermen, he’s living on land

which is not regulated to built

on. About 500m north there’s

a small village named Kariya,

which is the only officially

registered fisherman’s village of

Bulgaria.

This cabin is the former house

of Bai Pesho, when he was

still acting out his job as a

fisherman. When he and his wife

started a restaurant in 1998,

the cabin had been transformed

in a small table section. After

adding two additional floors of

hotel rooms, they are trying to

sell their business. No buyers

have shown any interest. People

from surrounding villages used

to visit frequently to enjoy

the panoramic view of the sea

from the restaurant tables. Now,

even customers on weekends are

scarce.

Bai Pesho.

Besides her own restaurant,

Kornelia manages the Lake Hut,

which is very popular with

fishermen during their working

season. The Hut’s accommoda-

tions are very basic, it’s not

known for its luxury says Korne-

lia. The appeal is it’s sense of

homeliness and simplicity.

Typical Bulgarian mentality:

‘I am going to eat all the

apples, but will not give you

even one’ says Kornelia, the ow-

ner of a new restaurant just few

meters away from the shore of

Durankulak Lake. She shares the

opinion of many that most of the

European Union funds for road

development and tourism are not

being used effectively, and are

often returned due to conflicts

of political interests at the

municipality of Shabla.

In the year 2000 according to

the nota (law) ‘Natura 2000’

many areas in Bulgaria came to

be protected where new building

projects were restricted. Such

area is the beach line of the

Shabla city with the nearby

swampy lake.

Nothing much has really changed

on this beach since the fall

of Communism twenty years ago.

Some small bungalows remain

for rent and the old (formally

government owned) hotel is get-

ting some patch up work. The new

manager is a 52 years old Plamen

Stavrev, who works at the Varna

harbour and who has no previous

experience in catering Plamen

is renting the restaurant from

a rich bulgarian businessman

who recently bought respectful

amount of land on the first and

second beach line and who is

probably awaiting the building

restrictions to be overruled so

he demolish the old restaurant

and build on it’s place a new

luxurious hotel.

The EU invested money for wind-

mills in the whole area.

Kutsi.

Years ago, Kutsi used to live

in Sofia, where he had a job in

a parliamentarian campaign of-

fice. As if often the case with

a change in power structure in

governments, many lost their

jobs and had difficulty finding

new ones. Now Kutsi lives in

Ezerets, and earns a living from

a part-time job as a social wor-

ker, selling eggs to the local

supermarket, and renting his

three spare bedrooms to tourists

during the summer season.

Shortly after the start of the

renovation of Ezerets roofless

church, budget miscalculations

halted construction, and the

workers abandoned the project.

They told Kutsi as they left

that ‘the church will get its

roof when your beard grows to

touch the ground’.

Ezerets is advertized as one of

the few places near the Black

Sea coast which has preserved

its unique atmosphere of

serenity and peacefulness.

It would almost fool you if

not for the huge wooden pirate

ship of the Wild Duck Resort,

standing as the only big and new

building at the very center of

the village. The hotel complex

is built to attract and satisfy

the tastes of tourists who will

not settle for the modesty of a

local restaurant. The seating

area is adorned by small bridges

which span over narrow channels

of water. There is a playground

for children, and a small pool

inhabited by black swans. The

fenced-off ostrich pen is a

popular spot for goers to snap

photos.

Dessislava.

‘Had you come 20 years ago, you would have been a small boy, but there would have been a lot to see.’

‘Now, for example the empty beach, with no lifeguards, but at least there’s peace and quiet.’-

Colofon

Photography:Maarten Boswijk

Text:Maarten Boswijk/ Vesselina Nikolaeva

Production/Translation:Vesselina Nikolaeva

Design:Léon Wijnhoud

Thanks to: Galya, Krassi, Denka, The Green House, and all of Shabla’s local inhabitants who made me feel most welcome during my stay.-

Maarten Boswijk1/10

1/10 - Kariya

Eventually, when the roads get better.

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