The thing about not blogging while on vacation is that you have a lot to write about when you get back. Me? I always have way more to say than I ever have time to write.

The good news is that I had a great time in Sozopol and I took a ton of photos. In fact yesterday night I uploaded more than <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/" target="_blank">75 photos to Flickr</a>. That's a lot of photos.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="614" caption="Apollonia Festival Swing Music"]<a class="tt-flickr tt-flickr-Large" title="Apollonia Festival" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6124398616/"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6195/6124398616_c024c155c4_b.jpg" alt="Apollonia Festival" width="614" height="410" /></a>[/caption]

One of the reasons that we went to Sozopol this weekend rather than some other stretch of beach on the Black Sea was because of the Apollonia music festival. We were in Sozopol for three nights and we went to two different show.

Not bad if you ask me. Sure we could have done the two shows in a night thing to up our number but at this point in my life I am more interested in quality than quantity and the performances while not expensive weren't exactly cheap. They were <em>prisewert</em>--one of my favorite German words--worthy of their price. <!--more-->

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="614" caption="Apollonia Festival the Jazz Space"]<a class="tt-flickr tt-flickr-Large" title="Apollonia Festival" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6123819565/"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6207/6123819565_eed17f8a86_b.jpg" alt="Apollonia Festival" width="614" height="410" /></a>[/caption]

The first night--Sunday for us--we saw a jazz piano and guitar duo. I'd say it was experimental jazz and it took a little bit to get into. We didn't have great seats and the lighting wasn't great but the space was really cool. Partially covered partially uncovered with long bar and bar stools it felt suitably jazzy. The space also never felt overly smokey due to the set up.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="614" caption="Apollonia Festival more of the Sentimental Swingers"]<a class="tt-flickr tt-flickr-Large" title="Apollonia Festival" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6124400100/"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6088/6124400100_8671d44f9f_b.jpg" alt="Apollonia Festival" width="614" height="410" /></a>[/caption]

The second night and the last night of the festival we saw a 1940s-esque big band group. They were incredibly fun. I danced on and off in my chair for the whole show while most Bulgarians sat in their chairs hardly taping their feet. They were a very serious crowd or don't like dancing in their chairs as much as I do. And if you ask me, that's a shame. The group is pretty clearly meant to be danced to.

The group is named <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SentimentalSwingers" target="_blank">The Sentimental Swingers and the M. Yossifov Sextet</a>. They seem to regularly have shows in Sofia. I think that if you like big band music/boogie woogie <em>or</em> if you like fun this is a group that's worth checking out.