Information about Varna

Varna
Seal
Position of Varna in Bulgaria Position of Varna in Bulgaria
Coordinates:
Country	Bulgaria
Province	Varna Province
Government
- Mayor	Kiril Yordanov
Area
- City	205 km  (0 sq mi)
Elevation	20-80 m (0 ft)
Population (2007-07-01)
- City	357,752
- Density	1745/km (0/sq mi)
- Metro	700,000
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
- Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Website: [1]

Varna (Bulgarian: Варна) is the largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, and 93rd-largest in the European Union, with a population of 356 000 ([2]).

Commonly referred to as the marine capital (or the summer capital) of Bulgaria, Varna is a major tourist destination, seaport, and headquarters of the Bulgarian Navy and merchant marine, as well as the centre of Varna Province and Bulgaria's North-Eastern planning region (NUTS II), comprising the provinces of Dobrich, Shumen, Targovishte, and Varna.

Geography and transportation

Varna occupies an area of 205 km² ^[1] on verdant terraces descending from the calcareous Frangen Plateau (height 356 m) along the horseshoe-shaped Varna Bay of the Black Sea, the elongated Lake Varna, and two waterways bridged by the Asparuhov most. It is the centre of a growing conurbation stretching along the seaboard to the north and south (mostly residential and recreational sprawl) and along the lake valley to the west (mostly transportation and industrial facilities).

The urban area has in excess of 20 km of sand beaches and abounds in thermal mineral water sources. It enjoys a mild continental climate influenced by the proximity to the sea with long, mild, akin to Mediterranean, autumns, and sunny, yet considerably cooler than typically in the Mediterranean, summers moderated by a breeze. Black Sea water has actually become cleaner after 1989 due to the decreased chemical fertilizer use in farming; it has low salinity, lacks dangerous predators and poisonous species; the tidal range is minimal.

The city lies 470 km north-east of Sofia; the nearest major cities are Dobrich (45 km to the north), Shumen (80 km to the west), and Burgas (130 km to the south-west). Varna is accessible by air (Varna International Airport), sea (Port of Varna Cruise Terminal), railroad (Central Train Station), and automobile. Major roads include European routes E70 and E87 and national motorways A-2 and A-5; there are bus lines to many Bulgarian and European cities from two bus terminals.

The public transit system (map) is extensive and reasonably priced, with dozens of local and express bus, electrical bus, and fixed-route minibus lines, and there is a large fleet of taxicabs.

History

Antiquity and Bulgarian conquest

See also:

Varna is among Europe's oldest cities. Miletians founded the apoikia (trading colony) of Odessos in 570 BCE (in the time of Astyages) at the site of an earlier Thracian settlement. The name Odessos, first mentioned by Strabo, was pre-Greek, perhaps of Carian origin. Long before the Thracians populated the area by 1200 BCE, several prehistoric settlements best known for the eneolithic necropolis, eponymous site of the Varna culture and the world's oldest large find of gold artifacts (mid-5th millennium BCE radiocarbon dating), existed within modern city limits. For centuries, Odessos was a contact zone between the urban Ionians and the Thracians (Getae, Crobyzi, Terizi) of the hinterland. In the 4th century BCE, it was a mixed Greco-Thracian community (see also Darzalas).

In 339 BCE, the city was unsuccessfully besieged by Philip II but surrendered to Alexander the Great in 335 BC, and was later ruled by his diadochus Lysimachus. The Roman city, Odessus (annexed in 15 CE to the province of Moesia, later Moesia Inferior), occupied 47 hectares in present-day central Varna and had prominent public baths, Thermae, erected in the late 2nd century, now the largest Roman remains in Bulgaria (the building was 100 m wide, 70 m long, and 20 m high) and fourth largest known Roman baths in Europe.

Odessus was an early Christian centre, as testified by ruins of early basilicas, monasteries, and indications that Ampliatus, disciple of Saint Andrew (who, according to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church's legend, preached in the city in 56 CE), served as bishop there. In 442, a peace treaty between Theodosius II and Attila was done at Odessus. In 536, Justinian I made it the seat of the quaestura exercitus including Moesia, Scythia, Caria, the Aegean islands and Cyprus.

Theophanes the Confessor first mentioned the name Varna, as the city came to be known with the Slavic conquest of the Balkans in the 6th-7th century. The name may be more ancient than that; perhaps it derives from Proto-Indo-European root we-r- (water) [3]. In 681, Asparukh, the founder of the First Bulgarian Empire, routed an army of Constantine IV north of the Danube delta and reached the so-called Varna near Odessos. Recent scholarship has suggested that the first Bulgarian capital was perhaps located around Varna before it moved to Pliska. Asparukh fortified the Varna river lowland by a rampart against a possible Byzantine naval landing; several 7th-century Bulgar settlements have been excavated.

Middle Ages

Control changed from Byzantine to Bulgarian hands several times during the Middle Ages. In the late 9th and the 10th century, Varna was the site of a principal scriptorium of the Preslav Literary School in a monastery founded by Boris I who may have used it as his monastic retreat. In 1201, Kaloyan took over the fortress on Holy Saturday using a siege tower, and annexed it to the Second Bulgarian Empire.

By the late 13th and 14th century, it had turned into a thriving commercial hub frequented by Genoese, Venetian and Ragusan merchant ships (the three republics held consulates and had expatriate colonies there) and flanked by two fortresses, Kastritsi and Galata, within sight of each other and each with a smaller port of its own. Wheat and other local agricultural produce for the Italian and Constantinople markets were the chief exports, and Mediterranean foods and luxury items were imported. Shipbuilding developed in the Kamchiya river mouth.

14th-century Italian portolan charts showed Varna as perhaps the most important seaport between Constantinople and the Danube delta; they usually labeled the surrounding land Zagora (Bulgaria). The city was unsuccessfully besieged by Amadeus VI of Savoy in 1366; in 1386, it briefly became the capital of the spinoff Principality of Karvuna, then was taken over by the Ottomans in 1389 (and again in 1444), ceded temporarily to Manuel II Palaiologos in 1413 (perhaps until 1444), and sacked by Tatars in 1414.

Battle of Varna

Main article: Battle of Varna

On November 10, 1444, arguably the last major battle of the Crusades in European history was fought outside the city walls. The Turks routed an army of 20,000 crusaders^[2] led by Ladislaus III of Poland (also Ulászló I of Hungary), which had assembled at the port to set sail to Constantinople. The Christian army was attacked by a superior force of 55,000 or 60,000 Ottomans led by sultan Murad II. Ladislaus III was killed in a bold attempt to capture the sultan, earning the sobriquet Warneńczyk (of Varna in Polish; he is also known as Várnai Ulászló in Hungarian or Ladislaus Varnensis in Latin). The subsequent retreat of the crusader army made the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453 all but inevitable, and Varna (with all of Bulgaria) was to remain under Ottoman domination for over four centuries. Today, there is a cenotaph of Ladislaus III in Varna.

Late Ottoman rule

The Russians temporarily took over the city in 1773 and again in 1828, following the prolonged Siege of Varna, returning it to the Ottomans in 1830 after its medieval fortress was razed. The British and French campaigning against Russia in the Crimean War (1854-1856) used Varna as headquarters and principal naval base; many soldiers died of cholera and the city was devastated by a fire. In 1866, the first railroad in Bulgarian lands connected Varna with the port of Rousse on the Danube, linking the Ottoman capital Istanbul with Central Europe; for a few years, the Orient Express ran through that route. The port of Varna developed as a major supplier of food—notably wheat from the adjacent breadbasket region of Southern Dobruja—to Istanbul, and as a busy hub for European imports to the capital; 12 foreign consulates opened in the city.

Liberated Bulgaria

With the national liberation in 1878, the city, which numbered 26 thousand inhabitants, was ceded to Bulgaria by the Treaty of Berlin; Russian troops entered on July 27. Varna became a front city in the First Balkan War and suffered much damage. Its economy was badly affected by the temporary loss of its agrarian hinterland Southern Dobruja to Romania (1913-1940). In the Second World War, the Red Army occupied the city in September 1944, helping cement communist rule in Bulgaria.

Over the first decades afer the 1878 liberation, with the departure of most ethnic Turks and Greeks and the arrival of Bulgarians from inland, Northern Dobruja, Bessarabia, and Asia Minor, and later, of refugees from Macedonia, Eastern Thrace and Southern Dobruja following the Second Balkan War and the First World War, ethnic diversity gave way to Bulgarian predominance, although sizeable minorities of Gagauz, Armenians, and Sephardic Jews remained for decades.

One of the early centres of industrial development and the Bulgarian labor movement, Varna established itself as the nation's principal port of export, a major grain producing and viticulture centre, seat of the nation's oldest institution of higher learning outside Sofia, a popular venue for international festivals and events, as well as the country's de facto summer capital with the erection of the Euxinograd royal summer palace (currently, the Bulgarian government convenes summer sesions there). Mass tourism emerged since the late 1950s.

In 1962, the 15th Chess Olympiad, also known as the World Team Championship, was here. In 1969 and 1987, Varna was the host of the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships. From September 30 to October 4, 1973, the 10th Olympic Congress took place in the Sports Palace.

Economy

Varna is the second most important economic centre for Bulgaria after Sofia [4] and one of the major hubs for the Black Sea region.

The economy is service-based, with 61% of net revenue generated in trade and tourism, 16% in manufacturing, 14% in transportation and communications, and 6% in construction [5]. The city is the easternmost destination of Pan-European transport corridor 8 and is connected to corridors 7 and 9 via Rousse. Major industries traditionally include transportation (Navigation Maritime Bulgare—Navibulgar), Port of Varna, Varna International Airport), distribution (Logistics Park Varna [6]), shipbuilding, ship repair, and other marine industries (see also Oceanic-Creations).

With the nearby towns of Beloslav and Devnya, Varna forms the Varna-Devnya Industrial Complex, home to some of the largest chemical, power generating and manufacturing plants in Bulgaria, including the sites of the two largest cash privatization deals in recent history.

In June of 2007, Eni and Gazprom disclosed the South Stream project whereby a 900-km-long offshore natural gas pipeline from Russia's Dzhubga with annual capacity of 30 billion cubic meters is planned to come ashore at Varna, possibly near the Galata offshore gas field, en route to Italy and Austria.

Tourism is of foremost importance, with the suburban beachfront resorts of Golden Sands, Holiday Club Riviera, Sunny Day, Constantine and Helena, and others with a total capacity of over 60,000 beds (2006), attracting millions of visitors each year (4.74 million in 2006, 3.99 million of which international tourists [7]). The resorts received considerable internal and foreign investment in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and are environmentally sound, being located reassuringly far from chemical and other smokestack industries. Varna is also Bulgaria's only international cruise destination (with over 30 cruises scheduled for 2007) and a major international convention and spa centre.

Real estate is booming, with some of the highest prices in the nation, often surpassing Sofia. Commercial real estate is developing major international office tower projects [8], [9], [10]. In retail, the city not only has the assortment of international big-box retailers and new shopping malls [11] now ubiquitous in larger Bulgarian cities, but boasts made-in-Varna national chains with locations spreading over the country such as retailer Piccadilly, restaurateur Happy, and pharmacy chain Sanita. The city has several of the finest eateries in the nation and abounds in ethnic food places.

Currently, there are three malls approaching their completion and another two huge mall projects in development, making Varna an attractive shopping destination. To name a few, these are Phohe Mall, Mall of Varna, Central Plaza, Grand Mall (formerly Orchid Mall) and Varna Towers. [12]

Economically, Varna is among the best-performing and fastest-growing Bulgarian cities; unemployment, at 2.34%, is 4 times lower, per capita income is higher than the national average (2007). Many Bulgarians regard Varna as a boom town; some, including from Sofia and Plovdiv, but mostly from Dobrich and the greater region, are relocating.

In September 2004, FDI Magazine (a Financial Times Business Ltd publication) proclaimed Varna South-eastern Europe City of the Future [13] citing its strategic location, fast-growing economy, rich cultural heritage and higher education. In April 2007, rating agency Standard & Poor's announced that it had raised its long-term issue credit rating for Varna to BB+ from BB, declaring the city’s outlook "stable" and praising its "improved operating performance" [14].

Population

The first population data dates back to the mid-1600s when the town was thought to have about 4,000 inhabitants [15]. After the Liberation in 1878, the first population census in 1881 found 24,555 people in Varna. In the next century the town grew rapidly, becoming the nation's third largest city, and in 1965 the population reached 180,110. In 1975, it was 251,654, and in 1984 it reached 300,000. In 1992, the population was 307,915 according to the census.

Currently, Varna is still officially (according to NSI and GRAO) the third-largest city in Bulgaria by permanent address but other sources, including the local government, show it as the second largest one with perhaps up to 520,000 inhabitants, with a daily population (including commuters) of more than 700,000; and in the high summer months, 900,000 or even up to one million ([16]).

In 2006, Varna was one of the few cities in Bulgaria with a positive population growth; the number of people who were born in the city is more than the number of deaths. The majority of the inhabitants are ethnic Bulgarians (85.3% in the province but possibly a slightly higher percentage in the city [17]). Turks traditionally used to rank second (8.1% in the province, although less in the city), however, by June 2007, Russians and other post-Soviet Russian speakers (estimated at over 20,000) may have outnumbered them. There are smaller numbers of Roma, Armenians, Greeks, Jews, and other traditional groups, plus a growing number of new Asian and African immigrants. Western corporate expatriates are reckoned to be about 1,000 but the number is quickly growing.

Historical population

Year	Population
1852	16,000
1878	24,555
1887	24,830
1896	33,687
1910	41,419
1920	50,810
1926	60,536
1946	76,954
1956	120,345
1965	180,110
1975	251,654
1982	295,038
1990	314,913
2007	~800,000

Sights

City landmarks include the Varna Archaeological Museum, exhibiting the Gold of Varna, the Roman Baths, the Battle of Varna Park Museum, the Naval Museum in the Italianate Villa Assareto displaying the museum ship Drazki torpedo boat, the Museum of Ethnography in an Ottoman-period compound featuring the life of local urban dwellers, fisherfolk, and peasants in the late 19th and early 20th century.

See also:

The Sea Garden is the oldest and perhaps largest park in town containing an open-air theatre (venue of the International Ballet Competition, opera performances and concerts), an aquarium (opened 1912), a dolphinarium (opened 1984), the Nicolaus Copernicus Observatory and Planetarium, the Museum of Natural History, a terrarium, a zoo, an alpineum, a children's amusement park, and other attractions. The National Revival Alley is decorated with bronze monuments to prominent Bulgarians, and the Cosmonauts' Alley contains trees planted by Yuri Gagarin and other Soviet cosmonauts in the 1960s. The Garden is a national monument of landscape architecture.

The waterfront promenade is lined by a string of beach clubs offering a vibrant scene of rock, hip-hop, Bulgarian and American-style pop, techno, and chalga. In October 2006, The Independent dubbed Varna Europe's new funky-town, the good-time capital of Bulgaria [18]. It enjoys a nationwide reputation for its rock and hip-hop artists and related events such as July Morning, international rock and hip-hop (including graffiti [19]) venues.

The city beaches, also known as sea baths (морски бани, morski bani), are dotted with hot sulphuric mineral water sources (used for spas, swimming pools and public showers) and punctured by small sheltered marinas. Additionally, the 2.05 km long, 50 m high Asparuhov most bridge is a popular spot for bungee jumping. Outside the city are the Euxinograd palace, park and winery, the University of Sofia Botanical Garden (Ecopark Varna), the Pobiti Kamani rock phenomenon, and the medieval cave monastery, Aladzha.

Churches

See also:

Notable old Bulgarian Orthodox temples include the metropolitan Dormition of the Theotokos Cathedral (of the diocese of Varna and Veliki Preslav); the early 17th-century Theotokos Panagia (built on the site of an earlier church where Ladislaus III was perhaps buried); the St. Athanasius (former Greek metropolitan cathedral) on the site of a razed 10th-century church; the 15th-century St. Paraskeve chapel; the seamen's church of St. Nicholas the Miracle Worker; the Archangel Michael's chapel, site of the first Bulgarian secular school of the National Revival era; and the Sts. Constantine and Helena church of the 16th-century suburban monastery of the same name. The remains of a large 4-5th century basilica in Dzhanavara just south of town are becoming a tourist destination with some exquisite mosaics displayed in situ. Currently, the remains of another massive 9th-century basilica adjacent to the scriptorium at Boris I's Theotokos Panagia monastery are being excavated and conserved. There is also a number of newer Orthodox temples; two are currently (2007) being erected, dedicated to apostle Andrew and the local martyr St. Procopius of Varna.

There is an old Armenian Apostolic church; two Roman Catholic churches (only one is open and holds mass in Polish on Sundays); a thriving Evangelical Methodist episcopal church offering organ concerts; active Evangelical Pentecostal, Seventh-day Adventist, and two Baptist churches. Two old mosques (one is open) have survived since Ottoman times, when there were 18 of them in town, as have two once stately but now dilapidated synagogues, a Sephardic and an Ashkenazic one, the latter in Gothic style. A new mosque was recently added in the southern Asparuhovo neighborhood. There is also a Buddhist centre.

On a different note, spiritual master Peter Deunov started preaching his Esoteric Christianity doctrine in Varna in the late 1890s, and, in 1899–1908, the yearly meetings of his Synarchic Chain, later known as the Universal White Brotherhood, were convened there.

Architecture

By 1878, Varna was an Ottoman city of mostly wooden houses in a style characteristic of the Black Sea coast, densely packed along narrow, winding alleys. It was surrounded by a stone wall with a citadel, a moat, ornamented iron gates protected by towers, and a vaulted stone bridge across the River Varna. The place abounded in pre-Ottoman relics.

Today, very little of this legacy remains; the downtown was rebuilt by the nascent Bulgarian middle class in late 19th and early 20th century in Western style with local interpretations of Neo-Renaissance, Neo-Baroque, Neoclassicism, Art Nouveau and Art Deco (many of those buildings, whose ownership was restored after 1989, underwent extensive renovations).

Stone masonry from demolished medieval city walls was used for the neo-Byzantine cathedral, the two elite high schools, and for paving new boulevards. The middle class built practical townhouses and coop buildings. Elegant mansions were erected on main boulevards and in the vineyards north of town. A few industrial working-class suburbs (of one-family cottages with small green yards) emerged. Refugees from the 1910s-1920s' wars also settled in similar poorer but vibrant neighbourhoods along the city edges.

During the rapid urbanization of the 1960s to the early 1980s, large apartment complexes sprawled onto land formerly covered by small private vineyards or agricultural cooperatives as the city population tripled. Beach resorts were designed mostly in a sleek modern style, which was somewhat lost in their recent more lavish renovations. Modern landmarks of the 1960s include the Palace of Culture and Sports (1968).

Upscale apartment buildings mushroomed both downtown and on uptown terraces overlooking the sea and the lake. Varna's vineyards (лозя, lozya), dating back perhaps to antiquity and stretching for miles around, started turning from mostly rural grounds dotted with summer houses or into affluent suburbs sporting opulent villas and spacious houses, epitomized by the researched postmodernist kitsch of the Villa Aqua.

With the new suburban construction far outpacing infrastructure growth, ancient landslides were activated, temporarily disrupting major highways. As the number of vehicles quadrupled since 1989, Varna became known for traffic jams; parking on the old town's leafy but narrow streets normally takes the sidewalks. At the same time, a stretch of shanty town, more befitting Rio de Janeiro, remains in a Roma neighbourhood on the western edge of town due to complexities of local politics.

The beach resorts were rebuilt and expanded, fortunately without being as heavily overdeveloped as were other tourist destinations on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, and their lush greenery was mostly preserved. New modern office buildings started reshaping the old city centre and the city's surroundings. ^[3][4].

Education

Higher learning institutions

The University of Economics, founded in 1920 as the Higher Business School, is the second oldest Bulgarian university, the oldest one outside Sofia, and the first private one, underwritten by the Varna Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Prof. Tsani Kalyandzhiev, who was educated at Zürich and made a career as a research chemist in the United States, was its first Rector (President).

The Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy is the successor to the nation's oldest technical school, the Naval Machinery School, established in 1881 and renamed His Majesty's Naval Academy in 1942. Other higher schools include the Medical University, the Technical University, the Chernorizets Hrabar Varna Free University, the first private university in the nation opened after 1989, three junior colleges, and two local branches of other Bulgarian universities.

There are four Bulgarian Academy of Sciences research institutes (of oceanology, fisheries, aero and hydrodynamics, and metallography), a government research institution (shipping), and a now-defunct naval architecture institute. Varna is home to a total of 2,500 faculty and researchers and over 30,000 students.

• English Academy
• University of Economics
• Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy
• Technical University and Varna College
• Prof. Paraskev Stoyanov Medical University and Medical College
• Chernorizets Hrabar Varna Free University
• College of Tourism
• New Bulgarian University Local Centre Varna
• Bishop Konstantin Preslavski University of Shumen Teacher Information and Qualification Centre (graduate)

Noted high schools (gymnasia)

• First Language School (English and German)
• Konstantin Preslavski National High School for the Humanities and Arts
• Dr. Petar Beron Mathematics High School
• Acad. Metodi Popov High School of Science and Mathematics
• Frédéric Joliot-Curie Fourth Language School (French and Spanish)
• John Exarch Language School (English, German, and French)http://www.5eg.net
• Dobri Hristov National School for the Fine Arts (instrumental and vocal music, dance, and visual arts)
• Antoine de Saint-Exupéry private gymnazium (IT, languages, and PR)

Libraries

• Pencho Slaveikov Public Library

Culture

Museums

• Varna Archaeological Museum (founded 1888)
• Naval Museum (founded 1923)
• Roman Baths
• Aladzha Monastery
• Battle of Varna Park Museum (founded 1924)
• Museum of Ethnography
• National Revival Museum
• History of Varna Museum
• History of Medicine Museum
• Health Museum (children's)
• Puppet Museum (antique puppets from Puppet Theatre shows)
• Bulgar Settlement of Phanagoria ethnographical village (mockup, with historical reenactments)
• Aquarium (founded 1912)
• Nicolaus Copernicus Observatory and Planetarium
• Naval Academy Planetarium
• Museum of Natural History
• Terrarium
• Zoo
• Dolphinarium (founded 1984)

Galleries

• Boris Georgiev Art Gallery
• Georgi Velchev Gallery
• Modern Art Centre
• Print Gallery
• Numerous smaller fine and applied arts galleries http://www.varna.bg/kult/galerii.htm

Performing arts professional companies

• Opera and Philharmonic Society (opera, symphonic and chamber music, ballet, and operetta performances; earliest philharmonic society founded 1888)
• Stoyan Bachvarov Dramatic Theatre (founded 1921)
• Puppet Theatre (in Bulgarian, founded 1952; performances for children and adults)

Other performing arts groups

• Morski Zvutsi Choir School (academic choirs)
• Dobri Hristov Choir School (academic choir)
• Varna Ensemble (traditional folk music and dance)

Other institutions

• Festival and Congress Centre (in Bulgarian, 1986; concerts, film, theatre and dance shows, exhibitions, trade shows)
• Palace of Culture and Sports (1968; sports events, concerts, film shows, exhibitions, trade shows, fitness)

International arts festivals

• International Ballet Competition (), founded 1964 (biennial)
• "Varna Summer" International Music Festival, founded 1926 (annual)
• "Varna Summer" International Jazz Festival (annual)
• International May Choir Competition (annual)
• European Music Festival (annual)
• Euxinograd Opera Festival (annual)
• Sea and Memories Annual international music festival devoted to popular sea songs
• International Folk Festival (annual)
• "Discovery" International Pop Festival (annual)
• "Song on Three Seas" Pop and Rock Competition (annual)
• International Theatre Festival (annual)
• "Golden Dolphin" Puppet Festival (triennial)
• "Love is Folly" Film Festival (annual)
• International Festival of Red Cross & Health Films (biennial)
• World Animation Festival (discontinued)
• Product Festival for Contemporary Art (multimedia, annual)
• "August in Art" Annual Festival of Visual Arts (in Bulgarian)
• International Print Biennial (founded 1980)
• "Slavic Embrace" (annual Slav poetry readings)

National events

• Golden Rose Bulgarian Feature Film Festival (biennial)
• Navy Day (second Sunday of August)
• Urban Folk Song Festival
• Christmas Folk Dance Competition

Local events

• Easter music festival
• Golden Fish fairy tale festival
• Kinohit movie marathon
• Crafts fair
• Dormition of the Theotokos festival, cathedral patron, Varna Day (August 15)
• Beer Fest
• Saint Nicholas Day (December 6)
• Christmas festival

Media

Local newspapers

• Cherno More
• Chernomorie
• Narodno Delo
• Pozvanete
• Varna (weekly)
• Vlastta (online publication)

National newspapers' local editions

• 24 Chasa More
• Morski Dnevnik
• Morski Trud

Magazines

• Morski Sviat
• Prostori

Publishing houses

• Alfiola (New Age)
• Alpha Print (advertising)
• Atlantis
• Kompas
• Liternet (poetry, fiction, non-fiction: electronic and print)
• Slavena (history, children's books, travel, multimedia, advertising)

Local radio stations

• Alpha Radio
• DarikNews (Varna)
• FM+ Varna
• Radio Bravo
• Radio Varna

Local TV stations

• BNT Varna
• MSAT
• TV Varna

Web portals

• Varna Info (general info, English)
• Moreto.net (general info, news)
• ida.bg (general info, news)
• ole-bg (sports)
• varna-sport.com (sports)
• Biznesa (business)
• Programata (free cultural guide)
• Parvi dubal (movies)
• Liternet (books)
• Varna na mladite (youth)

Sports

Soccer is the biggest spectator sport with two rival clubs in the nation's top professional league, Cherno More (the Sailors), founded in 1913 and four times national champion, including the first championship in 1925, and Spartak (the Falcons), founded in 1918, once champion and participant in the UEFA Cup in 1983, when it reached the second knockout round and played Manchester United.

In the late 1800s, Varna was considered the birthplace of Bulgarian soccer with a Swiss gym teacher coaching the first varsity team at the men's high school. In February 2007, the city decided to replace its antiquated 1950's municipal stadium with a new arena according to UEFA/FIFA specifications [20].

Men's basketball, women's volleyball, boxing, and sailing are also vibrant. The 4-km swimmimg marathon Cape Galata—Varna is a popular venue. Varna hosts international competitions, including world championships, and national events in several sports on a regular basis, including auto racing and motocross. Bulgarian national basketball and volleyball teams host their games at the Palace of Sports, the country's largest arena. Currently (2007), three 18-hole golf courses of professional quality are being developed north of the city in the vicinity of Balchik and Kavarna, with more to come. A hippodrome with a horseback riding school is located in the Vinitsa neighborhood, and Asparuhov most is the foremost bungee jumping spot in the nation due to the local Club Adrenalin.

In the beginning of August 2007, a new sports complex with fields for soccer, basketball and volleyball was opened as a part of a larger complex with sports facilities, bars, mini-golf, tennis, biking alleys, mini-lakes and skating rinks in the district of Mladost. The complex will be finished entirely by the end of 2007.

Organized crime

As in other Bulgarian cities, some sectors of the economy, including gambling, corporate security, tourism, real estate, and professional sports, are believed to be controlled in part by shady business groups with links to Communist-era secret services or the military; the local TIM group [21] is one notorious example^{[5] [6]}. In 2003, Ilia Pavlov, chairman of MG Holding (former Multigroup), owner of the posh St. Elias resort at Constantine and Helena and president of PFC Cherno more, was gunned down in Sofia^[7], as was Emil Kyulev, chairman of DZI Financial Group and owner of the stylish Holiday Club Riviera resort at Golden Sands^[8], in 2005. The perpetrators are still unknown. Varna has also seen gangland- (mutri-) style bombings, and is believed to be a hangout for Russian and Chechen mafias^[9]. However, it is noted that in Varna, the mutri presence is by no means as visible as it is in some smaller coastal towns and resorts.

Twin cities

Varna's twin cities are:

• Aalborg, Denmark
• Dordrecht, Netherlands
• Kharkiv, Ukraine
• Aqaba, Jordan
• Odessa, Ukraine
• Malmö, Sweden
• Turku, Finland
• Miami, United States
• Rostock, Germany
• Novorossiysk, Russia
• Pireus, Greece
• Memphis, United States
• Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Washington, England
• Karlsruhe, Germany
• Boston, United States
• Almaty, Kazakhstan
• Wels, Austria
• Vysoké Mıto, Czech Republic
• Genoa, Italy
• Lyon, France
• Ningbo, China
• Saint Petersburg, Russia

Trivia

Varna Peninsula on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Varna.

Varna was the point of origin of the ship Demeter in Bram Stoker's Dracula.

References

See also

• List of mayors of Varna
• Bulgarian Black Sea Coast
• St. Nikolai, Varna
• July Morning
• Mladost, Varna municipality

External links

• Varna City Guide
• Official homepage (in Bulgarian)
• City map
• Public transit map
• Photo gallery
• QTVRs and panorama photos of Varna Cathedral, Christmas, City Hall, Archaeological museum, Shipka St., Harbour, Night
• Pictures from Varna
• Useful Information about Varna
• More photos
• Varna, Bulgaria, meets Varna, NY
• Song of Varna (YouTube music video), Planeta Payner

[ edit ]	Municipalities of Varna Province
Aksakovo | Avren | Beloslav | Byala | Dalgopol | Devnya | Dolni Chiflik | Provadiya | Suvorovo | Valchidol | Varna | Vetrino

•  • [ e]  Cities and towns in Bulgaria
Aytos | Asenovgrad | Blagoevgrad | Botevgrad | Burgas | Dimitrovgrad | Dobrich | Dupnitsa | Elena | Gabrovo | Gorna Oryahovitsa | Gotse Delchev | Harmanli | Haskovo | Karlovo | Karnobat | Kazanlak | Kardzhali | Koprivshtitsa | Kyustendil | Lom | Lovech | Montana | Nova Zagora | Panagyurishte | Pazardzhik | Pernik | Petrich | Pleven | Plovdiv | Razgrad | Rousse | Samokov | Sandanski | Sevlievo | Shumen | Silistra | Sliven | Smolyan | Sofia | Stara Zagora | Svishtov | Targovishte | Troyan | Varna | Veliko Tarnovo | Velingrad | Vidin | Vratsa | Yambol | Zlataritsa

Coordinates: