In 2017, Burgas was voted Bulgaria’s number-one most liveable city. Thanks to its prime location on a peninsula jutting out into the Black Sea, Burgas offers a pleasant subtropical climate, numerous beaches, and plenty of restaurants and nightlife. I spent a year living and working in Burgas, and on many a sunny afternoon as I strolled down the seaside and watched the waves crash melodically onto golden sand, I caught myself thinking: “This is a piece of paradise.”
But only a short drive from Burgas, the view tells a very different story.
No two houses look the same. Some are no larger than a one-car garage and barely tall enough for the average adult, while others hint at a multi-room interior and loom a meter above their neighbours. Some are fenced in, but most are exposed to passing eyes, and they face every which way. Yet they all share a few telling characteristics: walls of greyish mud or red brick tenuously held together by sloppy mortar, topped with asymmetrical tin roofs and punctuated by windows that often lack glass and are left gaping black. The dry earth around them is peppered with a rainbow of trash: cans and bottles, wrappers and plastic bags, entire clothing items and unidentifiable rags.
