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From Balgarevo , midway between Kavarna and Cape Kaliakra, a minor road runs northeast to the one-horse settlement of Sveti Nikola , where a right turn leads sharply downhill to Taouk Liman, the Bay of Birds, better known as the Rusalka Holiday Village . A villa complex accompanied by the usual bars and restaurants, Rusalka is a quieter alternative to the bigger resorts to the south, a temptingly isolated place whose brace of shingle beaches is framed by moody, crumbling cliffs. Originally, the resort was divided into a Bulgarian-only northern half, and a southern half reserved for the French tour operator Club Mediterranee. There's no such distinction anymore, although the southern half still tends to have the better facilities, and - unusually for the Bulgarian coast - French-speaking staff. Rusalka is a small enough resort to have an intimate, family feel, with plenty of supervised activities to keep young children busy, while older holidaymakers can enjoy scuba diving, windsurfing, tennis or horseriding. There's also an imaginatively conceived underwater museum ; really a collection of ancient anchors positioned a few metres offshore, which can be visited in the company of a guide from the resort's scuba-diving school. Accommodation in Rusalka's villas (tel 0570/8315 or 3105) is relatively expensive: US$50-60 per person in the "French" half, and US$25 per person in the Bulgarian half, but all food and most activities are included in the price. There are no bus services to Rusalka, although taxi transfers from Varna can be arranged if you ring in advance. Rusalka stands in the middle of one of the last surviving stretches of uncultivated steppe in Europe, a thin coastal ribbon rich in wild grasses, herbs, insects and bird life. Carpeted by wild flowers in May, the steppe is taken over by hardier, though no less alluring, thistles as the summer progresses. Group walks and jeep safaris, led by expert guides in the local flora and fauna, are sometimes on offer from Rusalka; otherwise it's a question of just heading north or south out of the resort and seeing where you end up. Resist the temptation to pick any plants; most are protected by law. The steppe can also be accessed from the village of Kamen Bryag , 5km up the coast from Sveti Nikola, although you'll need your own transport to get there. A track leads east out of the village onto a heath-covered clifftop, where you're bound to come across one of the many family graves hewn out of the rock here, remnants of a second-to-fifth-century necropolis thought to be the work of Sarmatians - a northern Black Sea tribe who travelled down from the Crimea before intermarrying with local stock and disappearing for ever. Work your way south from here to find a path leading down to the ruins of a late-Roman fortress and a grass-tufted clifftop meadow known as Yailata , a sublime spot from which to survey the northern coastline.
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