Roman therms, Photo 5
Roman therms
The situated in the South-Eastern part of Varna Roman therms are the biggest ancient public building found in Bulgaria by now. The comparatively well preserved walls outline an impressive structure, built on more than 7000 square meters.
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Roman therms
The situated in the South-Eastern part of Varna Roman therms are the biggest ancient public building found in Bulgaria by now. The comparatively well preserved walls outline an impressive structure, built on more than 7000 square meters.
The aquarium, Photo 2
The aquarium
The aquarium was built in 1912by the idea of King Ferdinand.It is very interesting that on its facade embossments of a mussel and some Black Sea animals.In the main hall you can see living a lot of sea and river animals ,showing the flora and fauna of the Black sea.In the other two halls there are taxidermy animals of the World Ocean .Also there is a library with more that 30 000 books in that sphere
Upright stones(pobiti kamani-Bulgarian), Photo 5
Upright stones(pobiti kamani-Bulgarian)
Pobiti Kamani is a rock phenomenon located near Varna . It consists of several groups of natural rock formations on a total area of 70 km². The formations are mainly stone columns between 5 and 7 metres high and from 0.3 to 3 metres thick. The columns do not have solid foundations, but are instead hollow and filled with sand, and look like they are stuck into the surrounding sands, which gives the phenomenon its name.
In order to be preserved, Pobiti Kamani was designated a natural landmark
timada Varna Intro, Photo 1
lotharscheer Varna Intro, Photo 3
lotharscheer Varna Intro, Photo 2
lotharscheer Varna Intro, Photo 1
The Gateway To The Pedestrian City!
Although Varna is a relatively small city it is still a very busy one and the main thoroughfares such as Mariya Louisa and Primorski are pretty much jam-packed with motor vehicles during the day. It is however also a very pedestrian-friendly city with the actual centre being almost entirely traffic free except for a couple of bus routes.
This has been achieved by some excellent forward-thinking city planning which put the main cross-city traffic through a tunnel under the city centre between Mariya Louisa and Primorski and also provided the main traffic-laden streets with pedestrian underpasses.
This means that pretty much everywhere that you could want to be here in Varna's city centre really is easily accessible by foot and makes wandering a pleasure.
Car Emerging From Its Tunnel
NO Guns, NO Attack Dogs!
Leave Your Gun At Home...
...along with your attack dog!
Whilst Bulgaria does have strict regulations regarding private ownership of firearms it does seem that there are quite a few illegal guns around. Gun crime however is not a major problem in Bulgaria and in fact (according to Wikipedia) the percentage of homicides with firearms here is less than that of Canada.
But it's good to see that Happy Bar and Grill here in Varna won't let anyone in if they are carrying!
PS The door sign says "Pull".
The Municipal Tourist Info Centre
I personally never had cause to use this info office but it is there for general tourist info on Varna and the surrounding area. It looks pretty chic though and peeking inside there seems to be plenty of brochures and bits and pieces on offer.
I don't know whether it does things like accommodation etc. but having gotten to know Varna a little I'm sure that the staff would be friendly and helpful.
I personally never had cause to use this info office but it is there for general tourist info on Varna and the surrounding area. It looks pretty chic though and peeking inside there seems to be plenty of brochures and bits and pieces on offer.
I don't know whether it does things like accommodation etc. but having gotten to know Varna a little I'm sure that the staff would be friendly and helpful.
Don't Forget To Look Up!
Following Bulgaria's National Liberation in 1878 Varna quickly became established as Bulgaria's most important port and the city centre was substantially rebuilt in a variety of asthetically pleasant architectural styles. Despite the post WWII socialist developments and the more modern additions many examples of this turn of the century architecture still remain and are well worth looking out for.
Following Bulgaria's National Liberation in 1878 Varna quickly became established as Bulgaria's most important port and the city centre was substantially rebuilt in a variety of asthetically pleasant architectural styles. Despite the post WWII socialist developments and the more modern additions many examples of this turn of the century architecture still remain and are well worth looking out for.
Happy Bar is the one on the right!
Watching The World Go By
As soon as the first hint of a sunny day arrives the cafes and restaurants around the main square (pl Nezavisimost - Independence Square) become the place to be where you can sit with your coffee and watch the world go by - in my case sit watching the pretty women ;-)
One word of advice though is that coffee prices vary enormously between the cafes and that the best value for money is The Happy Bar and Grill.
It may be a bit of a cliche to say that "the best things in life are free" but it is, in my personal experience, quite often the case. Here in Varna one of my favourite places is the magnificent Sea Garden which sprawls northward from the city centre for several kilometres following the Black Sea coast. The Sea Garden (sometimes referred to as Primorski Park) is one of Europe's largest city centre public parks with an area of about 90,000 square metres and is an eclectic mix of both formal and informal cultivation.
Many of Varna's main tourist attractions are situated within the park including the Dolphinarium, the Observatory and the Varna Aquarium as well as several cafes and restaurants. What I especially love about the place is that when you get off the main promenades, with their sculptures and monuments, pleasant though these concourses are, you really can just escape from the city and surround yourself with birdsong and the vegetal scents mingled with those of the sea.
On one of my meandering wanders I had a bit of the park pretty much to myself until I came across another like-minded guy. This guy was just standing on the dirtpath, transfixed in his own solitude, listening to the birds and breathing deeply. This was one of those times where you don't need to have a shared language in order to be able to communicate as he greeted me and said (in Bulgarian) what I would assume was "Isn't this beautiful, listen to the birds..." I stopped and we stood a while in silence before I replied (in English) "Yes it is..."
We shared a smile and parted company having shared a small moment of humanity and each set up for the rest of our day with the shared smile and the birdsong as our day's highlight.
Address: Off Primorski (at the city end)
Directions: Basically between the city and the sea. The main colonnaded entrance is at the bottom of Blvd Tsar Osvoboditel but the park can be accessed pretty much anywhere.
Magnolia in Full Blossom
One of the "Off The Beaten Path"s
The Main Avenue
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