Dinko thought that after the mother the only precious thing a man can have in this world are the friends. True, faithful, diverse and sometimes sinful, but always your friends. So he was infinitely grateful to the faith for blessing him with such people. A person meets a Friend at different locations - in the neighbourhood, at school, at the bakery, and later at the pub and the café. But why Dinko had met exactly Savata and Dimacha, Rusito and Sasho, and not some others, he did not know. There were no words to explain this miracle, which they shared together and that was always bringing him back to his childhood years and made him feel the heat of the long gone summer days. Yes, as a rule, the citizens of Burgas doesn’t have winter, spring or autumn childhood memories – only summer ones. Is it because the human memory is selective or because the summer in Burgas seems endless ... I do not know. The din of the passing bunch of kids returned Dinko from his reverie. He took a last sip of coffee and headed to his regular walk along the old routes from childhood.

It was always rather a walk through time than space because he prefered watching the city through his memories of 10 years-old than through the eyes a 70 years-old. Step by step, house after house, from one street to another, the years quickly scrolled back and it is already the middle of the summer of 1939, and he is standing at 13 in front of the two "entrances" of Burgas - the railway station and the port. An aroma of baked fish is floating in the air, the sound of the horse-carts and the roar of the steam ships is everywhere. The rough fisherman’s and sailor’s speech is only part of the fuzzy diverse and unique life that is boiling up here. This atmosphere acted as a magnet for all his gang and at every opportunity they gathered in the harbour to watch the big ships and to recognize their foreign flags, dreaming of distant voyages and other countries or to exercise his new words in English, German or Greek, learned from the sailors. And when they had enough of these things, they just threw themselves on the "Anchialo Express". This, of course, was not express, on the contrary - it was so slow that he could get off and get on it in motion, but it was just the best.   

Dinko always remembered fondly of the narrow gauge railway with the old locomotive ("the kettle"). It departed from the station and the first sight that was unfolded in front of the passengers was the breakwater - a favourite place for a family outing. The wide path on the stone wall outside was crashing the irresistible waves, and on the other side, inside the harbour, the sea was quiet, as if asleep. If you get to the lighthouse at the end of the breakwater wall and look at the city, you'll see the ships attached to the dock, the fish market and boats in front of it, The Refrigerator, the tower of the station clock tower, the tower of the fire brigade, the houses of "Eshek Boulevard" (now "Ivan Vazov") and their red roofs. If you turn your look to the right you’ll see the treeless slope of the Boulevard (the Seaside Park) and the casino, which is glowing in the distance.

Then the train passed by the tennis courts, making a turn at the place of the current hotel "Primoretz" and took the driveway of the Central Beach, creeping along Apashkata hole and slowly bypassed the Bridge. And now in front of Dinko clearly emerged the cement playground with the iron railings. On the right was the building of the sea baths with its luxurious locker-rooms and the neat little bar on the left. Several tanned guys jumped "Swallow style" from the Bridge, and the gathered crowd of young girls were enthusiastically applauding. In the water the two boatmen Fatigoto and the Mother invited the young people for a short boat trip. At the front, seated at the bar were the notorious "seagulls" Pandira, Ringata, Sheriffa, Kurnaza and Rumanetsa – all of them lifeguards. For them the working day has already ended and they have just started or continued the spree, which was likely to continue through the night. It is the summer at the sea. The route of "Anchialo Express" went along the Women’s beach, then the Officers' beach, the old barracks until it reached its first stop - the saltpans. Then it went to "Hodzha Mar" mine ("Black Sea"), all the way to its final stop Anhialo (Pomorie). The gang of Dinko never got to Pomorie, because the "Express" was returning to Burgas on the next day. Their parents allowed them to go only to the bridge, but who listens - they secretly went to the saltpans and then walked back to the city.

Dinko’s afternoon walk brought him to the entrance of the Central beach. Two young men with towels on their shoulders were climbing the stairs and lively discussing the strategy of Penata for the upcoming game "Bulgaria - Germany". After the victory over Mexico everybody was talking about it. "Oh, perfect! It’s time! "- Thought Dinko and in a fast pace went to his neighborhood. His friends were already waiting for him…

On motifs from the book of Dinko Hadjidinev "Burgas - autumn dreams"

Text: Lina Slavova

Magazine “Vij! Burgas!, vol. 10