Bulgaria: Beautiful Varna by the Black sea coast

Being at the beach listening to the waves and drinking Cappuchino is one of my favourite things to do in Life!




Varna is a positive surprise to me. It's nice, green, fresh and with many open and friendly people! Coming from Bucharest in Romania I can't help to notice the difference.
Varna has become touristic (with advantage and disadvantage?) with all the beach resorts outside the city (Golden sands, Albena) but it seem like the locals lives in happy co-existance with the tourism, especially in Varna city. The city itself has quite nice beaches and many beach cafees and restaurants. One important thing to discover is the beautiful Sea side park, which is considered to be the biggest in Europe with its 8 km promenade, museums and historical monuments. The sea side park is a popular strolling ground for locals as well as curious visitors in all ages.

From may to september the place is very much alive and many locals get their extra income during this high season. In winter it gets cold and the temperature can even go down to -20 degrees celsius (which is tough since the house heating systems are not made for such temperatures). Hard to imagine it can be like that when it's so warm, sunny and green right now. But that's what we say about Finland too. We have such a green and warm summer (most of the time) but in the winter it gets too cold... AND dark (which is not the whole truth, though, since it can be very shiny in February when the sun starts shining and reflecting its strong light over the ice and snow).

Varna has the most famous museum in Bulgaria. We didn't go there cos of lack of time. But you can sense the exciting history of Bulgaria everywhere: in people's mentality, in the architecture, in the delicious food! Bulgaria has a peaceful and friendly connection to Russia but is now building up their own policies much under the American influence, my host (from Hospitality club) told me.

The history is interesting cos there are traces from Indo European tribes (the Tracians) as old as 4000-3000 years BC! In the 500 century BC the Greeks came to Varna and formed a colony and a port. Since then the city has been an important Black sea port. Today Varna is also known for its ski resorts and for its academic world. The city is a fascinating culture mix of ancient, medieval and modern styles. And the people are open and friendly to most diversity.

If you go to the Varna area, don't miss out on the real local Bulgaian city and its surrouings. There is much more to Golden sands and Albena that the beach resort area! Apart from the city of Varna you can for example visit smaller towns and monasteries by micro bus.