Varna

Varna is the the third largest city in Bulgaria. The city is called a pearl of the Bulgarian Black Sea and is situated in the Varna Bay with easy access to the sea. A settlement had existed here even before the Greeks founded the Odessos colony in approximately 580 BC. Later on, under the reign of the Romans, Varna became a major sea port trading with Constantinople, Venice and Dubrovnik. In 1393 the city was conquered by the Turks to place an important military center here. The city’s name is of Slavonic origin and means "black crow".


Sailors in full-dress, crowds of tourists and local citizens strolling along the shady boulevards and buildings of 19th and 20th century, all this gives the city a kind of cosmopolitan atmosphere. The unmatched charm of the city is in its weird intertwining of ancient, medieval and modern culture.


Varna is one of the oldest cities in Europe. In the VIth century BC the Greeks attracted by the unusual calm of the Black Sea in this area – explorers and seamen, natives of the city of Miletus, arrived to the shores of the Thracian land and after a long warfare founded a colony of their own here. At that time the hordes of proto-Bulgarians arrived from the north and at the mouth of the river Danube vanquished the troops of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IV Pogonatos and forced him to ask for peace. It was here that the peace treaty was signed. In ancient times the city was known under the name of Odessos. A few cultural layers are overlapping here – the Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the era of national renascence and the modern age. It is not for nothing that just at this spot, on the outskirts of Varna, during the excavation of Varna necropolis, was dicovered the earliest gold treasure in the world (IVth century BC), exhibited in the Archaeological Museum in Varna.


Nowadays Varna is an economic, cultural and administrative center and the fastest growing city in Bulgaria. Varna is one of the most important transportation hubs in the South-Eastern Europe. Sea ferries to Georgia, Ukraine, Turkey and other countries are leaving from here.


Varna rivals such big cities like Sofia and Plovdiv, not only because of its specific status of a seaside resort, but also by its cultural life, rich and varied. The city is famous for its historic architectural monuments, museums and art galleries.