Save Vama Veche... from itself!

The boulders have been removed from the beach in front of the castle of Queen Mary in Balchik and yet tourists flock to the other holiday spot not very far from it, where you hurt your feet on rocks when going into the water.

Strange.

But that seems to be the only strange thing of the place..

Higher above, the splendid garden and the harmonious castle inspires serenity and holiday bliss, helped by the hospitality of the resort: luxurious hotel, very good food, (camembert coated with breadcrumbs and blueberry sauce, hotplate grilled clams slathered with butter, tartar, all kinds of delicious dishes!).

There are so many Romanians in Balchik, that Bulgarian policemen go on patrol accompanied by Romanian policemen, and the menu of one restaurant even begins with "Dear Romanian friends ..."

You feel right at home.

And in fact, you are: for twenty seven years, Balchik has belonged to the Kingdom of Romania (1913-1940), during which time our queen left her mark on the charm of the resort; and now Romanians and Bulgarians alike are citizens of the European Union.

In Balchik we are at home.

Ten wonderful days!

We return home.

Vama Veche is 65 kilometers away from Balchik.

We decide to have lunch there, we miss the "bohemian" lifestyle.

In Vama Veche, brouhaha, people of all ages.

Some teenage girls are lying on the corner with a cardboard asking for money - "1 leu for food" - ..."bohemian".

We go to "La Frontiera", racket - voices and music -,... behind us, someone yells at us to get out of the way,...we had not heard the waiter, and now she was insulting us ..."bohemian"...we went somewhere else, so as not to disturb her further.

Five men lying asleep on the sidewalk, with long pants on, even though the sand of the beach was no more than three meters away from them..., they had yet to wake up since from their night sleep ...hmm, OK..."it's bohemian".

We've reached "Papa la Şoni".

On the next table, a "gang" of about ten young people:

- What the hell dude, three hundred and sixty lei for a room at John's?!

- Yeah, but four of us slept on the bed and two of them on the balcony, because they couldn't stand the heat...

- They didn't even give you a fan?

- What?! They didn't even give us toilet paper, or cups, the towels were the size of handkerchiefs, and barely two scales of soap ...they'll probably repackage them after we leave ...

We look at each other flabbergasted: "Wow, three hundred and sixty! In Balchik, it cost us two hundred and seventy lei for an elegant hotel that had everything we needed!"

OK..."bohemian"...

At "Papa la Şoni", nobody yelled at us, in fact, after fifteen minutes, anybody had yet to notice us.

We went for the guaranteed solution - getting a shawarma on the main street!

Quick and easy.

As we stood victorious, with our shawarma in our hands, one truck stops and starts unloading ...in the middle of the day, at 14 hours ...

OK..."bohemian"...

A line of cars as long as the eyes could see started forming behind the truck.

I ate my shawarma, while drivers were cursing their fate.

I think of how much I like Vama Veche, and all the nice moments I had there, with my dear friends ...and I get melancholic ..."Oh, how bohemian!".

We go out to the street again, I make my way through the people clumped together in such a small place, I feel the tension, the nervousness ...and I think of bright Balchik, with its nice people.

The events of the day make me feel like I went from harmony and bliss, straight to hell ...

OK, bohemian!

But how far is it acceptable to allow yourself to be milked for money, just because this where we have become accustomed to gathering, so we can feel good among ourselves?!

After all, that's why we feel good, because we are free among ourselves, among friends.

Why do we have to pay for the squalid services that have crept in?

We liked sitting under a tent, we used to like the wild landscape and we liked the parties that took place at night.

We liked the friendship unaltered by "the man", who exploits our pleasure, but has no contribution to it.

Where are we at home?!