Sinemorets ( bg, Синеморец; also ''Sinemorec'', ''Sinemoretz'', "place on the blue sea") is a village and
seaside resort
A seaside resort is a town, village, or hotel that serves as a vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requirements, such as in the Germ ...
on the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...
coast of
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
.
Etymology
The current name dates back to 1934; prior to that, the village was known as ''Galazáki'' (in
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, meaning "little blue") or ''Kalanca'' (in Turkish).
Geography
Located in the very southeast of the country close to the border with
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
, where the river
Veleka
The Veleka ( , ) is a river in the very southeast of Bulgaria (Burgas Province), as well as the very northeast of European Turkey. It is 147 km long, of which 108 km lies in Bulgaria Sinemorets is part of
Tsarevo Municipality
Tsarevo Municipality ( bg, Община Царево, ) is a municipality in Burgas Province, Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situa ...
,
Burgas Province
Burgas Province ( bg, Област Бургас, translit=Oblast Burgas, formerly the Burgas okrug) is a province in southeastern Bulgaria, including the southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. The province is named after its administrative and ind ...
, and has a population of 216 . It is situated in
Strandzha Nature Park
Strandzha Nature Park ( bg, Природен парк Странджа ''Priroden park Strandzha'', also transliterated as Stranja Nature Park) is the largest protected area in Bulgaria spanning a territory of in the Strandzha Mountain in the ...
, which assists in its range of flora and fauna.
History
Ceramic fragments from the 5th-4th century BC have been found in the Potamya inlet south of the village, as well as anchors and metal casing of an ancient ships. The village was first mentioned in an Ottoman document in 1496; the population then consisted of only 16 Christian families, as the attacks of sea pirates had forced many to move to inland Strandzha. According to
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n diplomat Wenzel von Brognard who sailed near the village, in 1766 it had 17 houses and its population mainly engaged in wooden exports. According to another westerner, Enelholm, in 1824 it had 30 houses and was located somewhat inland, with only its pier on the coast. Again, the low population and the location is explained by the attacks of the
Caucasian
Caucasian may refer to:
Anthropology
*Anything from the Caucasus region
**
**
** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region
*
*
*
Languages
* Northwest Caucasian l ...
Laz pirates.
After the Balkan Wars, the village and the surrounding area were ceded to Bulgaria. According to the Mollov-Kafandaris Agreement of 1927, the entire
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
population of the village moved to
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
and was substituted with Bulgarian refugees from
Eastern Thrace
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
*Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
*Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
*Eastern Air Li ...
. In 1926, it had 68 households.
Current Use
The area was opened to the public in 1989 when access to the border zone was allowed, and it has since developed rapidly although efforts are still made to maintain the animal population that evolved prior to population growth. It has two lifeguarded beaches, Veleka Beach ( bg, Плаж "Велека") to the north and Butamya Beach ( bg, Плаж "Бутамя") to the south of the village.
Honour
Sinemorets Hill
Sinemorets Hill (Halm Sinemorets \'h&lm si-ne-'mo-rets\) is the second most prominent (after Hesperides Hill) in the chain of hills surmounting Bulgarian Beach in eastern Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica.
Sinemoret ...
on
Livingston Island
Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of Antarctic islands north of the Antarctic Peninsula. It was the first land discovered south of 60 ...
in the
South Shetland Islands
The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 1 ...
,
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...