Varna - Βάρνα

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THEVarna (Bulgarian: Варна) is the largest city and summer resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, has a population of 357,198 and is the third largest city inOf Bulgaria afterSophia and Plovdiv. It is the capital of the homonymous Commonly referred to as the "Maritime Capital" or the "Summer Capital" of Bulgaria, Varna is a major tourist destination, a starting point for all resorts on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, including the Bulgarian Business and a university center, port and headquarters of the Bulgarian Navy and Merchant Shipping.

At a glance

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Sights

Sights of the city are the Archaeological Museum of Varna, which exhibits the Gold of Varna, the Roman Baths, the Park Museum of the Battle of Varna, the Naval Museum in Italian Villa Asareto, which exhibits the museum ship torpedo Drazki, the Ethnographic Museum in a complex of the Ottoman period, which describes the life of local bourgeois, fishermen and villagers in the late 19th and early 20th century.

The 'Water Garden' is the oldest and perhaps the largest park in the city, including an open-air theater (venue for the International Ballet Competition, opera performances and concerts), the Varna Aquarium (opened in 1932), the Festa Dolphinarium (opened in 1984), the Nikolaos Copernicus Observatory and Planetarium, the Museum of Natural History, a reptile, a zoo and an alpine garden, a children's amusement park with a pond, a houseboat and an ice rink and other attractions. The Road of the National Renaissance is decorated with bronze monuments of prominent Bulgarians and the Road of the Cosmonauts contains trees planted by Yuri Gagarin and other Soviets and Bulgarians cosmonauts. The Garden is a national monument of landscape architecture and is considered the largest landscaped park in the Balkans.

The seafront is lined with a range of beach clubs offering intense night rock, hip hop, Bulgarian and American pop, kid and tsalga. In 2006, the Independent christened Varna new funki-city of Europe, capital of well-being of Bulgaria. The city enjoys a worldwide reputation for its international rock, hip-hop music and artists, clubs and related events, such as the July Breakfast and international rock and hip-hop venues.

The beaches of the city, also known as "sea baths", are scattered with hot (up to 55 b.C) sources of mineral sulfur waters (used for spas, swimming pools and public baths) and several small protected marinas. The 2.05 km long and 52 m high Asparuhov Most bridge is also a popular point for bungee jumping. Outside the city are the Euxenograd Palace, with a park and winery, the Sofia University Botanical Garden (Ecopark Varna), the Pobiti Kamani rock formation and the medieval Alatza Cave Monastery.

Tourist shopping areas include the boutique series along Prince Voris Avenue (with rental rates competing with those on Vitosa Avenue in Sofia) and nearby pedestrian streets, as well as the large shopping mall and cinema complex in Mladost district, suitable for on board. Two other shopping malls, Piccadilly Park and Central Plaza, are conveniently located for catering to tourists in the resorts north of the city center, both by car and by public transport. There are plenty of ATMs and gas stations with convenience stores of continuous operation.

Grocery stores include, among others, the supermarket chains Picandili and Burleks. Credit cards are generally accepted in shops and restaurants. There are several flea markets featuring fresh local produce. Kolkotsen Bazaar, the largest of all, also has a fish market, but is located in a busy area, practically inaccessible to cars.

Like other cities in the area, Varna has its share of stray dogs, mostly quiet and friendly, with shining clips in their ears, a sign that they have been neutered and vaccinated. However, urban wildlife is dominated by ubiquitous gulls, while brown squirrels live in the Sea Garden. In January and February, migratory swans spend the winter on protected beaches.

Places of worship

Among the important old Bulgarian Orthodox churches are the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of Theotokos (of the diocese of Varna and Veliki Preslav), the Virgin Mary of the early 17th century (built on the site of an ancient church, where Ladislaus may have). Saint Athanasios (former Greek metropolitan cathedral) in the footsteps of a demolished church of the 10th century, in the 15th century chapel of Agia Paraskevi, the church of the sailors of Agios Nikolaos, the chapel of Archangel Michael, site of the first Bulgarian secular school from the time of the National Renaissance and the church of Saints.

The remains of a large fortress basilica of the 4th-5th century in Tzanavara Park just south of the city become a tourist destination with some exquisite mosaics on site. The remains of another massive 9th century basilica are excavated and preserved in the scriptorium in the monastery of the Virgin Mary of Voris AD. An episcopal basilica of the 4th-5th century north of Loutra is also being restored. There are also some newer Orthodox churches. Two dedicated to the Apostle Andreas and the local martyr Agios Prokopios of Varna, are still under construction. Many smaller Orthodox churches have sprung up in the area. In early 2009, Vasil Danev, leader of the National Organization for United Roma Communities, said local Roma would also build a small Orthodox church.

There is also an old one Armenian Apostolic church, two Roman Catholic churches (only one is now open and open in Polish on Sundays), a thriving Evangelical Methodical Episcopal church, where organ concerts take place, active Evangelical Pentecost, of the Seventh-day Adventists and two Baptist churches.

Two mosques (one is open) have survived from the Ottoman era, when there were 18 in the city, as well as two once majestic but now in ruins synagogues, one Sephardic and one

Two mosques (one is open) have survived from the Ottoman era, when there were 18 in the city, as well as two once majestic but now in ruins synagogues, one Sephardic and one Ashkenazi, the second in Gothic style (is under restoration). A new mosque was recently added to the southern Asparuhovo district to serve the neighboring Roma Muslim neighborhood. There is also one Buddhist centre.

In a different note the spiritual teacher Petar Denoff He began teaching the doctrine of Inner Christianity in Varna in the late 1890s, where the annual meetings of his Synergy Chain, later known as the World White Brotherhood, were convened from 1899 to 1908.

Architecture

Until 1878 Varna was an Ottoman city with mostly wooden houses in a style typical of the Black Sea coast, densely packed in narrow alleys. It was surrounded by a stone wall, renovated in the 1830s, with a citadel, moat-decorated iron gates, framed by towers and a vaulted bridge over the Varna River. Ancient pre-Ottoman ruins abounded in the area and were widely used as quarries.

Today, little of this heritage is preserved. The city center was rebuilt by the budding Bulgarian middle class in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in a Western style with local versions of Neo-Renaissance, Neo-Baroque, Neoclassicism, Art Nouveau and Art Deco (many of these buildings which were re-owned after 1989, have undergone renovations).

Stonework from the demolished city walls was used for the cathedral, the two model high schools and the paving of new boulevards. The middle class built functional houses and apartment buildings. Elegant mansions were erected on the main boulevards and in the vineyards north of the city. Some industrial suburbs of the working class (detached houses with small green yards) appeared. Refugees from the wars of the 1910s also settled in poorer but vibrant neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city.

During the rapid urbanization from the 1960s to the early 1980s, large housing estates spread to areas where small private vineyards or agricultural cooperatives had previously existed, as the city's population tripled. Beach resorts have been designed mostly in an elegant contemporary style, which has been lost a bit in their recent most luxurious renovations. One of the sights of the 1960s is the Palace of Culture and Sports.

Since 1989, with the return of the country to capitalism, upgraded apartment buildings have multiplied both in the center and on hills above the city overlooking the sea and the lake. The vineyards of Varna (ζlozia΄), which probably date back to antiquity and stretch for kilometers in the surrounding area, began to be transformed from mainly rural areas, scattered with holiday homes or ΄vil΄, into affluent suburbs, displaying luxury villas and hotels. , culminating in the sought after postmodern kits of Villa Aqua.

With the new reconstruction of the suburbs far beyond the development of infrastructure, landslides were caused, which temporarily disrupted major highways. As the number of cars quadrupled since 1989, Varna became known for its traffic jams. Parking on the green but narrow streets of the old town usually occupies the sidewalks. At the same time slums, more like Rio de Janeiro remain in the Roma neighborhoods of the western extremities of the city due to the ineffectiveness of local policies.

The seaside resorts have been rebuilt and expanded, fortunately not as rapidly as other tourist destinations on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, and their greenery has largely been preserved. New modern office buildings began to remodel the old center and surroundings.

Museums

• Archaeological Museum (founded 1888)
• Naval Museum (founded 1923)
• Roman Baths
• Alatza Monastery
• Museum of the Battle of Varna (founded 1924)
• Ethnographic Museum
• National Renaissance Museum
• Varna History Museum
• Museum of the History of Medicine
• Health Museum (children)
• Puppet Museum (antique puppets from puppet shows)
• Ethnographic village Proto-Bulgarian Of the settlement of Fanagoria - the largest ancient Greek city on the Strait of Kerch - (model, with historical representations)
• Aquarium (founded 1912)
• "Nikolaos Copernicus" Observatory and Planetarium
• Planetarium of the Naval Academy
• Natural History Museum
• Reptile
• Zoo
• Dolphinarium (founded 1984)

markets

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Job opportunities in Varna

Economy

The economy is service-based, with 61% of net income generated in trade and tourism, 16% in industry, 14% in transport and communications and 6% in construction. Financial services are booming, especially banking, insurance, investment management and real estate financing.

With the neighboring towns of Beloslav and Devonya, Varna forms the Varna-Devnya Industrial Zone, which houses some of the largest chemical, thermal and industrial facilities in Bulgaria, including the two largest thermal power plants of the country. There are important facilities for the production of radio navigation equipment, home appliances, security systems, textiles, clothing, food and beverage, printing and other industries. Some abandoned industries are giving way to post-industrial investments, such as a mall replacing the VAMO diesel plant and Varna Brewery being replaced by a conference center.

The first priority is tourism with the suburban seaside resorts of Chrysi Ammos, Konstantinos and Eleni and others with a total capacity of 60,000 beds (2005), attracting millions of visitors each year (4.7 million in 2006, of which 4.0 from abroad). The resorts received significant domestic and international investment in the late 1990s and early 21st century and are environmentally friendly, well away from the chemical and other tobacco industries. Varna is also the only international destination cruise of Bulgaria and an important international conference and bath therapy center.

Financially, Varna is among the fastest growing and best performing Bulgarian cities. Unemployment, 2.34% (2007), is more than 3 times lower than the national average. In 2007 the average salary was the highest, at the same level as Sophia and Burgas. Many Bulgarians consider Varna a city of explosive growth and some are relocating here, even from Sofia and Plovdiv, or returning from Western countries, but mainly from Dobrich, the Σουμεν and the wider area.

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