I have spent the last few weeks on the Bulgarian Riviera, and have noticed many differences between beach goers here and those from my home in Canada. Having visited many, many beach towns and resorts all over the world, here are my observations on the surprising differences in beach vibes – Europe vs the West.
Background
I love beaches. I can’t get enough. Living in Canada for so many years, one tends to try and escape the cold each year, and a common outlet is a beach holiday. I thrive in dry, sunny climates so beach vacations have been a perfect fit for me for ages now.
Being quiet natured, I lean towards being observant of my surroundings. The stark differences I have seen on the beaches here versus any in ‘the west’ have been remarkably interesting. I am making a leap by expanding these beach observations to all of Europe, but I have a hunch they might be more similar than not.
Crowds
In the west, we like our space. We tend to have a large personal bubble around us and this travels with us where ever we go. If we head to the beach or a park or what have you, we naturally expect other visitors to find a spot that is not close to us if at all possible.
Here, people are packed in like sardines! By 10:00am, I’m not kidding, you can reach out and touch your neighbour’s towel on the beach! I just don’t see the enjoyment in that at all, hence why I visit the beach early in the day and am out of there by noon. And these beaches aren’t small. Its not like this is happening because the beach is a tiny piece of sand, these are big beaches.
Nudity
Huge differences here than in the west. There are secluded nude beaches in Canada and the States, none publicly in Mexico where it is against the law. In general, the west is very conservative when it comes to the nude human body.
Here, every sizable beach, seems to have at least one nude area. Now by nude I mean no clothes. Not just no tops. On any beach, women here feel free to go topless and commonly are. General age in the nude areas seems to be 50 plus. I’ll add here too, that those wearing budgie smugglers are also over the age of 50.
A big, big difference I see is the nude children. I have seen some kids here as old as I’m guessing 10 years, both girls and boys, that are nude. Even the babies. Not a swimmer (water diaper) in sight. In Canada at least, there is such a taboo about children being nude in public. I’m not providing my opinion either way, merely pointing out differences that I see.
Litter
For the most part, people here pack out what they bring in. Its marvellous to see. When I walk the beach early in the morning, like at sunrise, there is hardly any trash on the sand. In Mexico, garbage is common on the beaches but they are very good at cleaning early in the day. In Canada, I hate to say it, but a lot of people leave their litter and trash laying around the beaches and parks.
People
I will preface this section with a reminder that these are merely my personal observations.
A long time ago, I remember learning how it used to be thought that the fatter a person was the wealthier they were. I know this was somewhat factual hundreds of years ago, but don’t know if it holds any bearing now.
What I have pondered as I walk these beaches is this. Most, probably 65% of the beach goers here are large apple shaped bodied folk. I would presume they are on holiday, so are wealthy enough to take time off work, travel to the seaside, and stay in a hotel for a period of time. Could the theory still hold true?
And why apples? Why not pear or hourglass or rectangle?
Apple Camps
Saying that, there seem to be three camps of apple people (well all visitors for that matter). Firstly, the untanned. Pale skin, like Canadian pale, almost always located on sun loungers owned by the hotels. Perhaps in and out holidays, like a fly and flop.
Secondly, beet red lobster apples. Presumably these same visitors, however they have been here a week now and are determined to spend their second week in the sunshine before they head back to their rainy homes.
Thirdly, the leather back apples. Perhaps this camp spends the whole summer at the seaside? They are very dark tanned. They rarely if ever are seen in the hotel loungers and almost exclusively lay towels in the free sand only areas.
Now the remaining 35% that are not apples are usually families with little wee kids or those under the age of 30ish, perhaps backpackers.
Who Are The Tourists?
I spoke with two beautiful younger polish ladies one day. I was commenting that I had rarely heard a native English speaking person in my 2.5 months in Bulgaria. They informed me that the tourist breakdown here at Nessebar and Sunny Beach are predominately Bulgarian, Polish and Russian with a few Brits thrown in.
Beaches are so very interesting. They offer a view of people at their very human core, without the protection and safety of makeup and clothing. People are raw at beaches. They are humans being humans, exposed to the elements and each other. The cultural differences are fascinating to observe and a beach offers the perfect vignette.
