The Wayback Machine - http://web.archive.org./web/20131020055427/http://wn.com:80/Varna_Airport

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VAR - Varna  Airport
Above Varna and Landing at the airport.mp4
Approaching Airport Varna RWY 27
Varna Airport - LBWN
Samolet izleze ot pistata na letiste Varna
B747 take off from Varna airport (VAR)
Varna Airport in Bulgaria is super efficient
Smartlynx airlines takes off Varna airport
Crosswind landing @ Varna Airport, Bulgaria - 3
Airport Varna runway opening 2012 with beatiful rainbow
Funny Cat at Varna Airport
Bulgaria Air  Embraer 190 LZ-SOF landing at Varna airport VAR

Varna Airport

Radio Stations - Varna

RADIO STATION GENRE LOCATION
Radio Z-Rock Rock Bulgaria
Radio Stara Zagora News Updates Bulgaria
Radio Mix Folk Folk Bulgaria
Radio 1 rock (BG) Classic Rock Bulgaria
Radio Ultra Petrich Varied Bulgaria
Darik Radio Pop Bulgaria
BG Radio Contemporary Bulgaria
Radio Nova (BG) Pop Bulgaria
Radio Focus Sofia News Bulgaria
The Big Boss House Electronica Bulgaria
Alpha Radio (BG) Dance,Electronica Bulgaria
Radio Veronika Folk,Pop Bulgaria
Pause Radio Top 40 Bulgaria
Radio N-Joy Pop Bulgaria
Radio Bravo Varna Contemporary Bulgaria
Folk Radio Nazdrave Folk Bulgaria
Radio Varna News Talk,Varied,News Bulgaria
Traffic Radio Alternative,Dance,Top 40 Bulgaria
FM+ 90s,80s,Pop Bulgaria
Classic FM - Alma Mater Classical,College Bulgaria
Radio Focus - Smolian News,Adult Contemporary Bulgaria
Radio eXtra Dance Bulgaria
Instudio54 Lifestyle Radio Dance,Electronica Bulgaria
Radio Vega+ Top 40 Bulgaria
Radio Shumen News Updates Bulgaria
Radio Energy Top 40 Bulgaria
Radio K2 Sofia MP3 96 Kbps News/information Radio Menes FM News Bulgaria
Radio Fresh! (BG) Contemporary Bulgaria
Greek Web Radio Sofia Greek Bulgaria
Radio Mix Sofia Pop Bulgaria
Music Space Radio Top 40 Bulgaria
The Big Boss PopFolk Folk Bulgaria
Jazz FM Lounge Jazz Bulgaria
Vidin FM News Updates Bulgaria
Radio Blagoevgrad News Updates Bulgaria
BNR Horizont Varied Bulgaria
Katra FM Pop,Dance,Top 40 Bulgaria
Tangra Mega Rock Alternative,Adult Contemporary,Indie Rock Bulgaria
BNR Hristo Botev Varied Bulgaria
Trust Global Radio Adult Contemporary Bulgaria
Radio Focus Kustendil News Bulgaria
Radio Ultra Blagoevgrad Varied Bulgaria

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VAR - Varna  Airport
  • Order:
  • Duration: 9:27
  • Updated: 19 Jun 2013
Take-offs and landings at Varna Airport,Bulgaria. ALL CREDITS MUST GO TO YouTube user LZB765 who filmed this wonderful clips! I just combined them in this vi...
http://web.archive.org./web/20131020055427/http://wn.com/VAR - Varna Airport
Approaching Airport Varna RWY 27
  • Order:
  • Duration: 2:32
  • Updated: 05 Jun 2012
Air Bulgaria Flight FB973 SOF-VAR, 2012-03-29, Airplane BA146, approaching Varna Runway 27 (from sea side) passing Hotel Cherno More, Cathedral, Spartak Spor...
  • published: 29 Mar 2012
  • author: RausP
http://web.archive.org./web/20131020055427/http://wn.com/Approaching Airport Varna RWY 27
Varna Airport - LBWN
  • Order:
  • Duration: 11:37
  • Updated: 25 Jun 2013
Beginning of the summer charter flights.
  • published: 04 Jun 2013
  • views: 55
  • author: davyd fly
http://web.archive.org./web/20131020055427/http://wn.com/Varna Airport - LBWN
Samolet izleze ot pistata na letiste Varna
  • Order:
  • Duration: 2:03
  • Updated: 13 Jun 2013
Samolet izleze ot pistata na letiste Varna An airplane skidded off the runway at Varna airport in Bulgaria on Friday, injuring two people. The incident happe...
http://web.archive.org./web/20131020055427/http://wn.com/Samolet izleze ot pistata na letiste Varna
Varna Airport in Bulgaria is super efficient
  • Order:
  • Duration: 2:08
  • Updated: 30 May 2013
A video comment on activities at Varna Airport in Bulgaria. It took me just 8 minutes for a complete check in at the airport. At Manchester it took me 3 hour...
  • published: 12 Nov 2010
  • views: 2273
  • author: PeaceHavens
http://web.archive.org./web/20131020055427/http://wn.com/Varna Airport in Bulgaria is super efficient
Smartlynx airlines takes off Varna airport
  • Order:
  • Duration: 2:15
  • Updated: 17 Jun 2013
Destination: VIlnius, Lithuania Aircraft: Airbus A320 (YL-LCD)
  • published: 22 Jun 2012
  • views: 138
  • author: FLcharters
http://web.archive.org./web/20131020055427/http://wn.com/Smartlynx airlines takes off Varna airport
Crosswind landing @ Varna Airport, Bulgaria - 3
  • Order:
  • Duration: 0:52
  • Updated: 19 Jun 2013
Strong crosswind occurred on Aug.12th 2011, resulting in some spectacular landings. Sorry for the off-focus from time to time, but the clips are made with a ...
  • published: 12 Aug 2011
  • views: 1089
  • author: zlatacho
http://web.archive.org./web/20131020055427/http://wn.com/Crosswind landing @ Varna Airport, Bulgaria - 3
Airport Varna runway opening 2012 with beatiful rainbow
  • Order:
  • Duration: 2:28
  • Updated: 13 Jul 2013
Отваряне на пистата на варненското летище с митрополит Кирил. Airport Varna runway opening 2012 with beatiful rainbow made by fire trucks.
  • published: 13 Jul 2013
  • views: 34
http://web.archive.org./web/20131020055427/http://wn.com/Airport Varna runway opening 2012 with beatiful rainbow
Bulgaria Air  Embraer 190 LZ-SOF landing at Varna airport VAR
  • Order:
  • Duration: 2:12
  • Updated: 14 Aug 2012
Този швестер можеше и по - меко да кацне! Иначе пълно дърво е този Е190!
  • published: 23 Jul 2012
  • views: 869
  • author: ivo zet
http://web.archive.org./web/20131020055427/http://wn.com/Bulgaria Air Embraer 190 LZ-SOF landing at Varna airport VAR
Varna Airport 04 Mar 2012
  • Order:
  • Duration: 0:59
  • Updated: 05 Jun 2012
VARNA AIRPORT NEW RUNWAY GRAND OPPENING 04 MAR 2012.
http://web.archive.org./web/20131020055427/http://wn.com/Varna Airport 04 Mar 2012
Smartlynx airlines landing at Varna airport
  • Order:
  • Duration: 6:38
  • Updated: 16 Jan 2013
A320, YL-LCA. 00:00 - 00:38 Varna airport 00:36 - 02:16 Turn and lining up with the runway 02:15 Final approach announcement 04:43 Touch down After English a...
  • published: 14 Jun 2012
  • views: 574
  • author: FLcharters
http://web.archive.org./web/20131020055427/http://wn.com/Smartlynx airlines landing at Varna airport

Take-offs and landings at Varna Airport,Bulgaria. ALL CREDITS MUST GO TO YouTube user LZB765 who filmed this wonderful clips! I just combined them in this vi...

9:27
VAR - Varna Air­port
Take-offs and land­ings at Varna Air­port,Bul­gar­ia. ALL CRED­ITS MUST GO TO YouTube user LZB7...
pub­lished: 11 Apr 2010
5:38
Above Varna and Land­ing at the airport.​mp4
...
pub­lished: 23 Jul 2011
2:32
Ap­proach­ing Air­port Varna RWY 27
Air Bul­gar­ia Flight FB973 SOF-VAR, 2012-03-29, Air­plane BA146, ap­proach­ing Varna Run­way 27...
pub­lished: 29 Mar 2012
au­thor: RausP
11:37
Varna Air­port - LBWN
Be­gin­ning of the sum­mer char­ter flights....
pub­lished: 04 Jun 2013
au­thor: davyd fly
2:03
Samo­let izleze ot pis­ta­ta na letiste Varna
Samo­let izleze ot pis­ta­ta na letiste Varna An air­plane skid­ded off the run­way at Varna air...
pub­lished: 24 May 2013
0:52
B747 take off from Varna air­port (VAR)
very shaky....
pub­lished: 11 Jun 2013
au­thor: chefo49
2:08
Varna Air­port in Bul­gar­ia is super ef­fi­cient
A video com­ment on ac­tiv­i­ties at Varna Air­port in Bul­gar­ia. It took me just 8 min­utes for ...
pub­lished: 12 Nov 2010
au­thor: Peace­Havens
2:15
Smart­l­ynx air­lines takes off Varna air­port
Des­ti­na­tion: VIl­nius, Lithua­nia Air­craft: Air­bus A320 (YL-LCD)...
pub­lished: 22 Jun 2012
au­thor: FLchar­ters
0:52
Cross­wind land­ing @ Varna Air­port, Bul­gar­ia - 3
Strong cross­wind oc­curred on Aug.12th 2011, re­sult­ing in some spec­tac­u­lar land­ings. Sorry ...
pub­lished: 12 Aug 2011
au­thor: zlat­a­cho
2:28
Air­port Varna run­way open­ing 2012 with be­at­i­ful rain­bow
Отваряне на пистата на варненското летище с митрополит Кирил. Air­port Varna run­way open­ing...
pub­lished: 13 Jul 2013
2:41
Funny Cat at Varna Air­port
...
pub­lished: 28 Oct 2012
2:12
Bul­gar­ia Air Em­braer 190 LZ-SOF land­ing at Varna air­port VAR
Този швестер можеше и по - меко да кацне! Иначе пълно дърво е този Е190!...
pub­lished: 23 Jul 2012
au­thor: ivo zet
0:59
Varna Air­port 04 Mar 2012
VARNA AIR­PORT NEW RUN­WAY GRAND OP­PEN­ING 04 MAR 2012....
pub­lished: 04 Mar 2012
au­thor: Su­perEvostik
6:38
Smart­l­ynx air­lines land­ing at Varna air­port
A320, YL-LCA. 00:00 - 00:38 Varna air­port 00:36 - 02:16 Turn and lin­ing up with the run­way...
pub­lished: 14 Jun 2012
au­thor: FLchar­ters
Youtube results:
6:04
Wiz­zair Air­bus A320-232 ap­proach and land­ing at Varna air­port
Wiz­zair Air­bus A320-232, LZ-WZB land­ing at Varna air­port rwy. 09; flight 8Z647, SOF-VAR 15...
pub­lished: 20 Jul 2009
au­thor: Miro Bar­bolov
1:07
Bur­gas Air­port, Varna Air­port, Sofia Air­port Taxis & Trans­fers BUL­GAR­IA
Book your taxi trans­fers for Bur­gas, Varna, Sofia Air­ports with HHB Trav­el www.​bourga­sairp...
pub­lished: 13 May 2013
6:57
Land­ing at Varna Air­port LBWN
Land­ing at Varna Air­port - Varna - Bul­gar­ia - Run­way 09 ap­proach ILS or LOC Rw09 Air­plane ...
pub­lished: 20 Mar 2011
au­thor: Ernesto Aides
4:56
Take­off from Varna Air­port LBWN
Take­off from Varna Air­port - Varna - Bul­gar­ia - Run­way 09 fol­low SID IV­GOT2A Air­plane MD82...
pub­lished: 20 Mar 2011
au­thor: Ernesto Aides
×
photo: AP / Rukmini Callimachi
An armed policeman walks past the shattered glass windows of a shop in the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013.
Edit The Times of India
18 Oct 2013
Chilling new CCTV footage has emerged of terrorists casually gunning down shoppers during the attack on Kenya's Westgate shopping centre last month ... ....(size: 0.8Kb)




Edit noodls
11 Oct 2013
Fraport AG) FRA Achieves New Historic September Record for Passenger Traffic - Growth Trend Continues for Group Airports ... FRA/rw-rap> Frankfurt Airport (FRA) welcomed some 5.5 million passengers in September 2013 ... On the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, Burgas Airport (BOJ) had about more than 2.4 million passengers (up 4.6 percent), while Varna Airport (VAR) registered about 1.2 million passengers (up 7.3 percent)....(size: 2.3Kb)
Edit noodls
21 Aug 2013
FRA/rap> Fraport Twin Star Airport Management AD, majority-owned by Fraport AG, has officially inaugurated its new passenger terminal at Varna Airport (VAR) in Bulgaria - with operations scheduled to start on August 27 ... In addition to the new terminal and related infrastructure, Fraport Twin Star has implemented water and power supply systems, as well as rainwater collection and other facilities at Varna Airport....(size: 2.7Kb)
Edit Standart News
20 Aug 2013
Varna. Fans from all over the world are queuing for an autograph of Sylvester Stallone in Varna ... The shooting of the movie is causing even greater waves and excitement in Varna than the summer holidays ... No coincidence, that Varna became Somalia for the set, where part of the crazy action will be unfolding ... Due to false information, the most eager fans were awaiting Sylvester Stallone on Sunday on Varna Airport ... ....(size: 1.9Kb)
Edit The Times of India
20 May 2013
VARNA. Thongchai Jaidee's disappointment in losing out in the final of the Volvo World Match-Play Championship has been eased knowing he will qualify for next month's US Open in Pennsylvania. Jaidee was at Varna Airport in Bulgaria early Monday when he checked the updated World Rankings following this week's European Tour event and the PGA Tour event in Texas ... ....(size: 2.8Kb)
Edit New Straits/Business Times
15 May 2013
Colsaerts found himself caught up in a strike at Brussels Airport when he checked-in for his flight to Varna for the first ever major golf tournament staged in Bulgaria ... The flight left Jacksonville Airport soon after the close of the Players Championship won by Tiger Woods and arrived eight hours later for a refuelling stop at Stansted Airport near London before a further three hour flight to Varna Airport....(size: 2.1Kb)
Edit The Times of India
13 May 2013
Colsaerts found himself caught up in a strike at Brussels Airport when he checked-in for his flight to Varna for the first ever major golf tournament staged in Bulgaria ... The flight left Jacksonville Airport soon after the close of the Players Championship won by Tiger Woods and arrived eight hours later for a refuelling stop at Stansted Airport near London before a further three hour flight to Varna Airport....(size: 2.2Kb)
Edit The Daily Telegraph Australia
13 May 2013
Colsaerts found himself caught up in a strike at Brussels Airport when he checked-in for his flight to Varna for the first major golf tournament staged in Bulgaria ... The flight left Jacksonville Airport soon after the close of the Players Championship won by Tiger Woods and arrived eight hours later for a refuelling stop at Stansted Airport near London before a further three hour flight to Varna Airport....(size: 3.7Kb)
Edit Standart News
16 Aug 2012
In July 2012 a total of 335 292 passengers traveled from the Sofia Airport to the Black Sea airports of Burgas and Varna, the Airport’s press office informed ... In July 2012, Sofia Airport processed ......(size: 1.0Kb)
Edit Standart News
25 Jul 2012
Stas Misezhnikov, Tourism Minister of Israel, promised to come and spend his summer holiday in Bulgaria ... However, two years ago I was planning to spend my holiday in Bulgaria and I still want to do it,? he said at the Varna airport before boarding his flight for Tel Aviv ... Later the anthems of Bulgaria and Israel were played at the airport and prayers were said ... Krastina Marinova. Boyana Angelova. ....(size: 1.9Kb)
Edit The Examiner
20 Jul 2012
A suicide bomber appearing to be an American student, blew up a bus filled with 42 Israeli tourists outside Burgas International Airport (BOJ) in Bulgaria, killing himself, the bus driver and 6 other people who were on holiday, and critically wounding 34 others on Wednesday, July 18, 2012 shortly after 4.50 p.m ... Following the attack, the Burgas airport was closed and all flights were redirected to Varna Airport (VAR)....(size: 11.4Kb)
Edit Business Day
19 Jul 2012
THREE people were killed and more than 20 injured by an explosion on a bus carrying Israeli tourists outside Burgas Airport yesterday, Bulgarian authorities said. Burgas Airport was closed after the blast and flights were redirected to Varna Airport, police said ... Bulgarian national radio said three people were confirmed dead and several injured ... Reuters ... Register ... Email. To....(size: 10.6Kb)
Edit Gulf News
19 Jul 2012
The attack took place on Wednesday at Burgas airport, a popular gateway for tourists visiting the Black Sea coast ... This person had a fake driving licence from the United States, from the state of Michigan,” Tsvetanov told reporters at the airport ... At Varna airport, also on the Black Sea, police with dogs were checking for explosives and tourists were asked to carry their luggage to their planes, national radio reported....(size: 22.1Kb)
Edit The Star
19 Jul 2012
The attack took place on Wednesday at Burgas airport, a popular gateway for tourists visiting the Black Sea coast ... This person had a fake driving licence from the United States, from the state of Michigan," Tsvetanov told reporters at the airport ... At Varna airport, also on the Black Sea, police with dogs were checking for explosives and tourists were asked to carry their luggage to their planes, national radio reported....(size: 5.2Kb)
Varna Airport
Letishte Varna
Varna-airport logo.gif
Varna airport.JPG
IATA: VARICAO: LBWN
VAR is located in Bulgaria
VAR
Location of airport in Bulgaria
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Fraport Twin Star Airport Management
Serves Varna Bulgaria
Location Aksakovo, Bulgaria
Hub for
Elevation AMSL 70 m / 230 ft
Coordinates 43°13′55″N 27°49′30″E / 43.23194°N 27.825°E / 43.23194; 27.825
Website www.varna-airport.com
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
09/27 2,500 8,202 Asphalt
Statistics (2011)
Passengers 1,163,884 decrease

Varna Airport (Bulgarian: Летище Варна, Letishte Varna) (IATA: VARICAO: LBWN) is the airport of Varna, the historical maritime capital of Bulgaria.

In 2011, it handled 1,181,830 passangers, a 1.4% decrease compared to the 1,198,956 handled in 2010. [1]

Contents

History[link]

The history of the airport dates back to 1916 when two sheds for the first hydro-port in Bulgaria were built in the Peinerdzhik area (present-day Chaika residential area). Irregular mail-plane service from Sofia to Varna was held between 1919 and 1920 and it was not until 1947 that a permanent airline between the two cities was established. What had grown into Tihina Airport was situated west of the present-day Asparuhov bridge and was indeed quite primitive for the demands of a modern city. Thus in 1946 a decision was made and a new airport was constructed several kilometres west of the city, near the village (now town) of Aksakovo, with local people enthusiastically working on the site together with the constructors. Construction and improvement continued throughout the years, with a new terminal erected in 1972 and a new runway in 1974.

Description[link]

There are domestic and international flights to about 70 destinations in 25 countries, more than 100 Bulgarian and foreign airlines. The airport is close to the Port of Varna and the railway system. The airport has one concrete pavement runway 09/27 with ILS CAT I system on 09 edge and a parking apron for 24 aircraft.

Future plans and expansion[link]

Currently, Varna Airport is subject to heavy traffic with the growing tourism industry in Bulgaria and is in need of major investments to modernize, expand and handle projected passenger traffic. In June, 2006 the Bulgarian Government awarded Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide a 35 year long concession on both Varna and Burgas airports in return for investments exceeding €500 million, including a new passenger terminal by 2008.

From 15 October 2011 until 28 February 2012, Varna airport was closed for a reconstruction of the runway. All flights were operated on Bourgas Airport.[2]

Terminals[link]

The airport has two terminals: Terminal 1, which is in use year-round, and Terminal 3 (opened in June 2007), which is used during the summer season.

Terminal 1[link]

Terminal 1

Terminal 1 at Varna Airport was built in 1972, and has been extended several times over the years. The departures area has 21 check-in counters and six security checkpoints. In the terminal there are various outlets: cafes, fast food restaurants, currency exchange, and duty-free shops. There are ten boarding gates. The arrivals area has two luggage belts, as well as currency exchange and a tax-free shop. Terminal 1 of the Varna airport has a VIP room and business lounge. In 2010 the VIP room at Varna Airport was renovated.

Terminal 3[link]

Terminal 3 was opened on June 18, 2007. The total covered area is 6000 m2. The summer terminal has nine check-in counters in the departures area, and two luggage belts in the arrivals area. There are four boarding gates. [3]

Airlines and destinations[link]

BH Air Airbus A320 at Varna Airport

Scheduled airlines[link]

Airlines Destinations
Austrian Airlines
operated by Tyrolean Airways
Vienna
Bulgaria Air Sofia
Seasonal: London-Gatwick, Moscow Sheremetyevo
Luxair Seasonal: Luxembourg
Norwegian Air Shuttle Seasonal: Oslo-Gardermoen
Rossiya Seasonal: St. Petersburg
S7 Airlines Moscow-Domodedovo
Seasonal: Novosibirsk
Ural Airlines Seasonal: Yekaterinburg
Wizz Air London-Luton
Seasonal: Budapest [begins 27 June 2012]

Seasonal Charter flights[link]

Airlines Destinations
Adria Airways Ljubljana [begins 12 June 2012]
Aeroflot Moscow-Sheremetyevo
Air Bashkortostan Moscow-Domodedovo
Air Berlin Düsseldorf, Hannover
Air Méditerranée Nantes
Air VIA Berlin-Schönefeld [begins 10 June 2012], Budapest [begins 20 June 2012], Cologne/Bonn, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg [begins 9 June 2012], Hannover, Leipzig/Halle, Munich [begins 4 June 2012], Nuremberg, Prague [begins 5 June 2012], Salzburg [begins 14 June 2012], Stuttgart, Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion [begins 21 June 2012], Vienna [begins 21 June 2012]
Armavia Yerevan [begins 7 July 2012]
Belavia Minsk-National
BH Air Birmingham, Bourgas, East Midlands, Gdansk [begins 9 June 2012], Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Zürich [begins 17 June 2012]
Bulgaria Air Antalya [begins 4 September 2012], Bari [begins 28 July 2012], Basel-Mulhouse [begins 30 June 2012], Beirut [begins 11 July 2012], Kuwait [begins 14 June 2012], Larnaca [begins 31 July 2012], Moscow-Vnukovo [begins 4 June 2012], St.Petersburg, Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion, Yerevan [begins 16 June 2012]
Bulgarian Air Charter Antalya [begins 25 August 2012], Beirut [begins 4 July 2012], Berlin-Schönefeld [begins 3 June 2012], Bratislava [begins 26 June 2012], Cologne/Bonn, Dresden [begins 11 June 2012], Düsseldorf, Erfurt, Frankfurns, Hamburg, Hannover, Katowice, Kuwait [begins 8 June 2012], Leipzig/Halle, Munich, Münster/Osnabrück, Nuremberg, Paderborn/Lippstadt [begins 30 June 2012], Stuttgart, Tallinn, Tehran-Imam Khomeini [begins 15 June 2012], Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion, Vienna, Warsaw-Chopin, Wroclaw [begins 3 July 2012], Yerevan [begins 29 June 2012]
Edelweiss Air Zürich [begins 6 July 2012]
Enter Air Gdansk [begins 8 June 2012], Katowice [begins 8 June 2012], Warsaw-Chopin [begins 8 June 2012]
Finnair Helsinki
Germania Berlin-Tegel, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg [begins 26 June 2012], Hannover, Leipzig/Halle, Munich [begins 25 June 2012]
German Sky Airlines Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Leipzig/Halle
Germanwings Cologne/Bonn
Jetairfly Brussels
Jet Time Gothenburg-Landvetter [begins 9 June 2012]
Kolavia Moscow-Domodedovo
Kuban Airlines Kaliningrad [begins 5 June 2012], Moscow-Vnukovo [begins 8 June 2012]
LOT Charters Warsaw-Chopin
Mahan Air Tehran-Imam Khomeini [begins 21 June 2012]
Malmö Aviation Billund [begins 26 June 2012], Copenhagen [begins 26 June 2012]
Moskovia Airlines Moscow-Domodedovo [begins 20 June 2012]
NordStar Moscow-Domodedovo, St. Petersburg
OLT Express Warsaw-Chopin [begins 6 June 2012]
Primera Air Billund, Copenhagen
Red Wings Airlines Moscow-Vnukovo [begins 4 June 2012]
Royal Jordanian Amman-Queen Alia [begins 29 June 2012]
SAS Scandinavian Airlines Stockholm-Arlanda [begins 27 June 2012]
Small Planet Airlines Vilnius [begins 4 June 2012]
Small Planet Airlines Polska Katowice [begins 11 June 2012], Warsaw-Chopin [begins 11 June 2012]
SmartLynx Airlines Riga [begins 7 June 2012], Tallinn, Vilnius
South Airlines Odessa [begins 18 June 2012]
SunExpress Deutschland Frankfurt
Tatarstan Airlines Moscow-Domodedovo
Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium Brussels
Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia Helsinki, Oslo-Gardermoen, Stavanger, Trondheim [begins 26 June 2012]
Transaero Airlines Moscow-Domodedovo, Moscow-Sheremetyevo, St. Petersburg[4]
Transavia.com Amsterdam
Travel Service Airlines Katowice [begins 6 June 2012], Prague [begins 7 June 2012], Warsaw-Chopin [begins 6 June 2012]
TUIfly Düsseldorf [begins 4 July 2012], Hannover
Tulpar Air Kazan [begins 20 June 2012]
Ukraine International Airlines Kiev-Borispyl
Ural Airlines Nizhny Novgorod, Perm [begins 4 June 2012], Samara
UTair Aviation Rostov-on-Don [begins 23 June 2012], Surgut
VIM Airlines Moscow-Domodedovo [begins 2 July 2012]
Wind Rose Aviation Kiev-Boryspil
XL Airways France Paris-Charles de Gaulle
XL Airways Germany Cologne/Bonn
Yakutia Airlines Krasnodar [begins 18 June 2012]

Destinations map[link]

Passenger statistics[link]

Traffic at Varna Airport
Ground handling
Varna Airport Passenger Traffic Statistics
Year Domestic Change International Change Total Change
1998 35,208 238,470 273,678
1999 57,955 increase 64.6% 453,864 increase 90.3% 511,819 increase 87%
2000 67,508 increase 16.5% 624,181 increase 37.5% 691,689 increase 35.1%
2001 48,121 decrease 28.7% 884,428 increase 41.7% 932,549 increase 34.8%
2002 45,457 decrease 5.5% 1,045,252 increase 12.1% 1,090,709 increase 16.9%
2003 41,583 decrease 8.5% 1,144,766 increase 9.5% 1,186,349 increase 8.8%
2004 47,575 increase 14.4% 1,271,552 increase 11.1% 1,319,127 increase 11.2%
2005 49,705 increase 4.5% 1,496,175 increase 17.7% 1,546,925 increase 17.3%
2006 54,243 increase 9.1% 1,468,415 decrease 1.8% 1,522,658 decrease 1.6%
2007 79,058 increase 45.7% 1,399,035 decrease 4.7% 1,478,093 decrease 2.9%
2008 119,459 increase 51.1% 1,313,244 decrease 6.1% 1,432,703 decrease 3.1%
2009 155,734 increase 30.4% 1,050,801 decrease 20% 1,206,535 decrease 15.8%
2010 154,974 decrease 0.5% 1,043,982 decrease 0.6% 1,198,956 decrease 0.6%
2011 117,431 decrease 24.2% 1,046,453 increase 0.2% 1,163,884 [5] decrease 2.9%

Transport links[link]

Bus[link]

The Airport Bus stop to Varna and nearby resorts is located just outside Terminal 1.

Bus Line № 409 Route: Varna Airport – Mall Varna – Varna Couch Station – City Center (the Cathedral) – Golden Sands Resort
From the City Center to the nearby Resorts via Varna Airport:
Line № 8 Route: Varna“St. St. Constantine and Helena” ResortVarna
Line № 9 Route: VarnaEuxinograde – Sunny Day Resort – Golden Sands Resort – The Riviera – Varna
Line № 109 Route: VarnaEuxinograde – Sunny Day Resort – Golden Sands ResortVarna [6]

See also[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

http://wn.com/Varna_Airport




This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varna_Airport

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.


Coordinates: 43°13′N 27°55′E / 43.217°N 27.917°E / 43.217; 27.917

Varna
Варна
From top left: Asparuhov most, Black Sea beach, Euxinograd, Varna Archaeological Museum, Stoyan Bachvarov Dramatic Theatre, Dormition of the Theotokos Cathedral, Drazki torpedo boat, Navy Club, Palace of Sports and Culture, Ancient Roman baths, Varna Ethnographic Museum

Seal
Nickname(s): Морска (лятна) столица на България  (Bulgarian)
Morska (lyatna) stolitsa na Balgariya  (transliteration)
"Marine (or summer) capital of Bulgaria"
Varna is located in Bulgaria
Varna
Location of Varna in Bulgaria
Coordinates: 43°13′N 27°55′E / 43.217°N 27.917°E / 43.217; 27.917
Country  Bulgaria
Province Varna
Municipality Varna
Established as  Odessos  6th century BC
Government
 • Mayor Kiril Yordanov
Area
 • Total 238 km2 (92 sq mi)
Elevation 80 m (260 ft)
Population (2011 Census)[1]
 • Density 1,718/km2 (4,450/sq mi)
 • City 334,870
 • Municipality 343,704
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
 • Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)
Website varna.bg
Downtown street scene

Varna (Bulgarian: Варна, pronounced [ˈvarnɐ]) is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and the third-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv with a population of 334,870 inhabitants as of February, 2011.[1] It is the administrative centre of the homonymous province and Varna Municipality. It is the eleventh-largest city in the Balkans after Istanbul, Athens, Bucharest, Sofia, Belgrade, Thessaloniki, Zagreb, Skopje, Tirana and Plovdiv.

Commonly referred to as the marine (or summer) capital of Bulgaria, Varna is a major tourist destination, business and university centre, 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 also the provinces of Dobrich, Shumen, and Targovishte. The Varna Airport with its mainly tourist 1,181,830 passangers (2011) rank third in Bulgaria after the Burgas and Sofia Airport.

In April 2008, Varna was designated seat of the Black Sea Euro-Region (a new regional organization, not identical to the Black Sea Euroregion) by the Council of Europe.[2]

The oldest golden treasure in the world was discovered in Varna, consisting of coins, weapons and jewellery dating to 4,600 BC.[3]

Contents

Geography and transportation[link]

The city occupies 238 km2 (92 sq mi)[4] on verdant terraces (Varna monocline of the Moesian platform) descending from the calcareous Franga Plateau (height 356 m/1,168 ft) on the north and Avren Plateau on the south, along the horseshoe-shaped Varna Bay of the Black Sea, the elongated Lake Varna, and two artificial waterways connecting the bay and the lake and bridged by the Asparuhov most. It is the centre of a growing conurbation stretching along the seaboard 20 km (12 mi) north and 10 km (6 mi) south (mostly residential and recreational sprawl) and along the lake 25 km (16 mi) west (mostly transportation and industrial facilities). Since antiquity, the city has been surrounded by vineyards, orchards, and forests. Commercial shipping facilities are being relocated inland into the lakes and canals, while the bay remains a recreation area; almost all the waterfront is parkland.

The urban area has in excess of 20 km (12 mi) of sand beaches and abounds in thermal mineral water sources (temperature 35–55 °C / 95–131 °F). It enjoys a mild climate influenced by the sea with long, mild, akin to Mediterranean, autumns, and sunny and hot, yet considerably cooler than Mediterranean summers moderated by breezes and regular rainfall. Although Varna receives about two thirds of the average rainfall for Bulgaria, abundant groundwater keeps its wooded hills lush throughout summer. The city is cut off from north and north-east winds by hills along the north arm of the bay, yet January and February still can be bitterly cold at times, with blizzards. Black Sea water has become cleaner after 1989 due to decreased chemical fertilizer in farming; it has low salinity, lacks large predators or poisonous species, and the tidal range is virtually imperceptible.

The city lies 470 km (292 mi) north-east of Sofia; the nearest major cities are Dobrich (45 km/28 mi to the north), Shumen (80 km/50 mi to the west), and Burgas (125 km/78 mi to the south-west). Varna is accessible by air (Varna International Airport), sea (Port of Varna Cruise Terminal), railway (Central railway station), and car. Major roads include European routes E70 to Bucharest and E87 to Istanbul and Constanta, Romania; national motorways A-2 (Hemus motorway) to Sofia and A-5 (Cherno More motorway) to Burgas. There are bus lines to many Bulgarian and international cities from two bus terminals and train ferry and ro-ro services to Odessa, Ukraine, Port Kavkaz, Russia, Poti and Batumi, Georgia.

The public transit system (map) is extensive and reasonably priced, with over 80 local and express bus, local trolleybus, and fixed-route minibus lines; there is a large fleet of taxicabs. In 2007, a number of double-decker buses were purchased; the mayor vowed that by summer 2008, all city buses would be retrofitted with air conditioners and later fueled by methane. Timetables for the city's bus services can be found here.

There is a plethora of Internet cafes and many places, including parks, are covered by free public wireless internet service. Varna is connected to other Black Sea cities by the submarine Black Sea Fiber Optical Cable System.

Climate[link]

Varna has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa), with considerable maritime and continental influences. The winter is cool and sometimes cold but warmer than inland. The summer begins in mid-May and lasts till early-mid October. Temperatures in summer usually vary between 20-25 degrees in the night and 27-35 during the day, in June, July and August temperatures above 40 C are rare because of the breeze winds and in Varna and the all Bulgarian Black Sea coast is colder than other parts in the country. Seawater temperature during the summer months is usually around 22-27 degrees.In August 2010 seawater temperature reached a record +32C. In winter temperatures are about 0 degrees at night and 10 degrees during the day. Sometimes temperatures fall below 0 degrees. Snow is possible in December, January, February and rarely in March. Snow falls in winter only a couple of times and melts down fast. The absolute maximum temperature was measured in July +41.4C and absolute minimum was measured on 10 February 1929. On 21 August 1951, in the Sanatorium area near Varna, the highest daily precipitation in Bulgaria 342 mm (13 in) was observed while the weather station in Varna saw 292 mm (11 in). Significant rainfall fell between 17–18 October 2011, 169.2 mm (7 in).

Climate data for Varna
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 22.8
(73.0)
23.0
(73.4)
29.5
(85.1)
29.2
(84.6)
34.3
(93.7)
40.8
(105.4)
41.4
(106.5)
40.7
(105.3)
37.2
(99.0)
33.4
(92.1)
26.8
(80.2)
26.5
(79.7)
41.4
(106.5)
Average high °C (°F) 6.9
(44.4)
8.4
(47.1)
12.4
(54.3)
16.3
(61.3)
22.7
(72.9)
27.0
(80.6)
29.9
(85.8)
30.2
(86.4)
25.0
(77.0)
20.2
(68.4)
14.4
(57.9)
8.7
(47.7)
18.51
(65.31)
Daily mean °C (°F) 2.4
(36.3)
3.5
(38.3)
6.8
(44.2)
10.8
(51.4)
17.0
(62.6)
21.6
(70.9)
25.0
(77.0)
25.4
(77.7)
19.7
(67.5)
13.9
(57.0)
9.2
(48.6)
4.5
(40.1)
13.32
(55.97)
Average low °C (°F) −1.1
(30.0)
−0.2
(31.6)
2.5
(36.5)
5
(41)
11.2
(52.2)
16.2
(61.2)
20.1
(68.2)
20.5
(68.9)
14.3
(57.7)
8.3
(46.9)
4.3
(39.7)
1.6
(34.9)
8.56
(47.40)
Record low °C (°F) −19
(−2)
−24.2
(−11.6)
−8.3
(17.1)
−1.6
(29.1)
3.5
(38.3)
7.2
(45.0)
10.9
(51.6)
10.8
(51.4)
4.4
(39.9)
−3.6
(25.5)
−9.2
(15.4)
−12.8
(9.0)
−24.2
(−12)
Precipitation mm (inches) 48.4
(1.906)
40.6
(1.598)
34.7
(1.366)
31.7
(1.248)
37.5
(1.476)
29.1
(1.146)
59.7
(2.35)
45.7
(1.799)
55.6
(2.189)
70.1
(2.76)
42.9
(1.689)
59.1
(2.327)
555.1
(21.854)
Avg. precipitation days 9 9 8 10 9 9 7 5 6 7 8 9 96
Mean monthly sunshine hours 83.7 90.0 120.9 159.0 220.1 240.0 331.3 313.0 219.0 164.3 105.0 71.3 2,117.6
Source: World Meteorological Organisation (UN) [5]

http://svali.ru/catalog~15~15552~index.htm

History[link]

Remains of ancient Roman Odessus
Thermae west apodyterium with St. Athanasius church bell tower in the background
Memorial of the Battle of Varna of 1444 carved into an ancient Thracian burial mound
Ottoman period townhouse
City map of 1897
Turn of the century mansions outside the Sea Garden

Prehistory[link]

Prehistoric settlements best known for the eneolithic necropolis (mid-5th millennium BCE radiocarbon dating), a key archaeological site in world prehistory, eponymous of old European Varna culture and internationally considered the world's oldest large find of gold artifacts, existed within modern city limits. In the wider region of the Varna lakes (before the 1900s, freshwater) and the adjacent karst springs and caves, over 30 prehistoric settlements have been unearthed with the earliest artifacts dating back to the Middle Paleolithic or 100,000 years ago.

Antiquity and Bulgarian conquest[link]

The region of ancient Thrace was populated by Thracians by 1000 BCE. Miletians founded the apoikia (trading post) of Odessos towards the end of the 7th century BC (the earliest Greek archaeological material is dated 600-575 BCE), or, according to Pseudo-Scymnus, in the time of Astyages (here, usually 572-570 BCE is suggested), within an earlier Thracian settlement. The name Odessos was pre-Greek, arguably of Carian origin. A member of the Pontic Pentapolis, Odessos was a mixed community—contact zone between the Ionians and the Thracians (Getae, Krobyzoi, Terizi) of the hinterland. Excavations at nearby Thracian sites have shown uninterrupted occupation from the 7th to the 4th century and close commercial relations with the colony. The Greek alphabet has been applied to inscriptions in Thracian since at least the 5th century BCE; the city worshipped a Thracian great god whose cult survived well into the Roman period.

Odessos was included in the assessment of the Delian league of 425 BCE. In 339 BCE, it was unsuccessfully besieged by Philip II (priests of the Getae persuaded him to conclude a treaty) but surrendered to Alexander the Great in 335 BCE, and was later ruled by his diadochus Lysimachus, against whom it rebelled in 313 BC as part of a coalition with other Pontic cities and the Getae. The Roman city, Odessus, first included into the Praefectura orae maritimae and then in 15 CE annexed to the province of Moesia (later Moesia Inferior), covered 47 hectares in present-day central Varna and had prominent public baths, Thermae, erected in the late 2nd century AD, now the largest Roman remains in Bulgaria (the building was 100 m (328.08 ft) wide, 70 m (229.66 ft) long, and 25 m (82.02 ft) high) and fourth-largest known Roman baths in Europe. Major athletic games were held every five years, possibly attended by Gordian III in 238 CE.

Odessus was an early Christian centre, as testified by ruins of ten early basilicas,[6] a monophysite monastery, and indications that one of the Seventy Disciples, Ampliatus, follower of Saint Andrew (who, according to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church legend, preached in the city in 56 CE), served as bishop there. In 6th-century CE imperial documents, it was referred to as "holiest city," sacratissima civitas. In 442 CE, a peace treaty between Theodosius II and Attila was done at Odessus. In 513, it became a focal point of the Vitalian revolt. In 536, Justinian I made it the seat of the Quaestura exercitus ruled by a prefect of Scythia or quaestor Justinianus and including Lower Moesia, Scythia, Caria, the Aegean Islands and Cyprus; later, the military camp outside Odessus was the seat of another senior Roman commander, magister militum per Thracias. The Jireček Line, or the approximate linguistic frontier between Latin and Greek linguistic influence, ran through the Balkans from Odessus to the Adriatic.

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 older than that; perhaps it derives from Proto-Indo-European root we-r- (water)[7] (see also Varuna), or from Proto-Slavic root varn (black), or from Iranian bar or var (camp, fortress: see also Etymological list of provinces of Bulgaria). According to Theophanes, in 680, Asparukh, the founder of the First Bulgarian Empire, routed an army of Constantine IV near the Danube delta and, pursuing it, reached the so-called Varna near Odyssos [sic] and the midlands thereof ("...ἐλθόντες ἐπὶ τὴν λεγομένην Βάρναν πλησίον Ὀδύσσου καὶ τοῦ ἐκεῖσε μεσογαίου")[8]—perhaps the new name applied initially to an adjacent river or lake, Roman military camp, or inland area, and only later to the city itself. By the late 10 century, the name Varna was established so firmly that when Byzantines wrestled back control of the area from the Bulgarians in the 970's, they kept it rather than restoring the ancient name Odessus.

It has been suggested that the 681 peace treaty with the Byzantine Empire that established the new Bulgarian state was concluded at Varna and the first Bulgarian capital south of the Danube may have been provisionally located in its vicinity—possibly in an ancient city near Lake Varna's north shore named Theodorias (Θεοδωριάς) by Justinian I—before it moved to Pliska 70 km to the west.[9] Asparukh fortified the Varna river lowland by a rampart against a possible Byzantine landing; the Asparuhov val (Asparukh's Wall) is still standing. Numerous 7th-century Bulgar settlements have been excavated across the city and further west; the Varna lakes north shores, of all regions, were arguably most densely populated by Bulgars. It has been suggested that Asparukh was aware of the importance of the Roman military camp (campus tribunalis) established by Justinian I outside Odessus and considered it (or its remnants) as the legitimate seat of power for both Lower Moesia and Scythia.

Middle Ages[link]

Control changed from Byzantine to Bulgarian hands several times during the Middle Ages. In the late 9th and the first half of the 10th century, Varna was the site of a principal scriptorium of the Preslav Literary School at a monastery endowed by Boris I who may have also used it as his monastic retreat. The scriptorium may have played a key role in the development of Cyrillic script by Bulgarian scholars under the guidance of one of Saints Cyril and Methodius' disciples. Karel Škorpil suggested that Boris I may have been interred there. The synthetic culture with Hellenistic Thracian, Roman, as well as eastern—Armenian, Syrian, Persian—traits that developed around Odessus in the 6th century under Justinian I, may have influenced the Pliska-Preslav culture of the First Bulgarian Empire, ostensibly in architecture and plastic decorative arts, but possibly also in literature, including Cyrillic scholarship. In 1201, Kaloyan took over the Varna fortress, then in Byzantine hands, on Holy Saturday using a siege tower, and secured it for the Second Bulgarian Empire.

By the late 13th century, with the Treaty of Nymphaeum of 1261, the offensive-defensive alliance between Michael VIII Palaeologus and Genoa that opened up the Black Sea to Genoese commerce, Varna had turned into a thriving commercial port city frequented by Genoese and later also by Venetian and Ragusan merchant ships. The first two maritime republics held consulates and had expatriate colonies there (Ragusan merchants remained active at the port through the 17th century operating from their colony in nearby Provadiya). The city was flanked by two fortresses with smaller commercial ports of their own, Kastritsi and Galata, within sight of each other, and was protected by two other strongholds overlooking the lakes, Maglizh and Petrich. Wheat, animal skins, honey and wax, wine, timber and other local agricultural produce for the Italian and Constantinople markets were the chief exports, and Mediterranean foods and luxury items were imported. The city introduced its own monetary standard, the Varna perper, by the mid-14th century; Bulgarian and Venetian currency exchange rate was fixed by a treaty. Fine jewelry, household ceramics, fine leather and food processing, and other crafts flourished; shipbuilding developed in the Kamchiya river mouth.

14th-century Italian portolan charts showed Varna as arguably the most important seaport between Constantinople and the Danube delta; they usually labeled the region Zagora. The city was unsuccessfully besieged by Amadeus VI of Savoy, who had captured all Bulgarian fortresses to the south of it, including Galata, in 1366. In 1386, Varna 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 Palaeologus in 1413 (perhaps until 1444), and sacked by Tatars in 1414.

Battle of Varna[link]

On 10 November 1444, one of the last major battles of the Crusades in European history was fought outside the city walls. The Turks routed an army of 20,000 crusaders[10] 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 failure of the Crusade of Varna 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[link]

A major port, agricultural, trade and shipbuilding centre for the Ottoman Empire in the 16th-17th century, preserving a significant and economically active Bulgarian population, Varna was later made one of the Quadrilateral Fortresses (along with Rousse, Shumen, and Silistra) severing Dobruja from the rest of Bulgaria and containing Russia in the Russo-Turkish wars. The Russians temporarily took over in 1773 and again in 1828, following the prolonged Siege of Varna, returning it to the Ottomans two years later after the medieval fortress was razed.

In the early 19th century, many local Greeks joined the patriotic organization Filiki Eteria. Αt the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence (1821) revolutionary activity was recorded in Varna. As a result local notables that participated in the Greek national movement where executed by the Ottoman authorities, while others managed to escape to Greece and continue their struggle.[11]

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. A British and a French monument mark the cemeteries where cholera victims were interred. In 1866, the first railroad in Bulgaria connected Varna with the Rousse on the Danube, linking the Ottoman capital Constantinople 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 Southern Dobruja—to Constantinople and a busy hub for European imports to the capital; 12 foreign consulates opened in the city. Local Bulgarians took part in the National Revival; Vasil Levski set up a secret revolutionary committee.

Third Bulgarian State[link]

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 27 July. Varna became a front city in the First Balkan War and the First World War; its economy was badly affected by the temporary loss of its agrarian hinterland of Southern Dobruja to Romania (1913–16 and 1919–40). In the Second World War, the Red Army occupied the city in September 1944, helping cement communist rule in Bulgaria.

Over the first decades after 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 sessions there). Mass tourism emerged since the late 1950s. Heavy industry and trade with the Soviet Union boomed in the 1950s to the 1970s.

From 20 December 1949 to 20 October 1956 the city was renamed by the communist government Stalin after Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.[6]

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 30 September to 4 October 1973, the 10th Olympic Congress took place in the Sports Palace.

Varna is running for European Capital of Culture for 2019.

Economy[link]

One of Varna's beaches
Port of Varna East will be converted into a cruise terminal-cum-yacht marina
A new "lifestyle" shopping mall in the Troshevo district

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.[4] Financial services, particularly banking, insurance, investment management, and real-estate finance are booming. As of December 2008, the fallout of the global financial crisis has not yet been hard. 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 (Navibulgar, Port of Varna, Varna International Airport), distribution (Logistics Park Varna[12] ), shipbuilding (see also Oceanic-Creations), ship repair, and other marine industries.

In June 2007, Eni and Gazprom disclosed the South Stream project whereby a 900 km (559 mi)-long offshore natural gas pipeline from Russia's Dzhubga with annual capacity of 63 billion cubic meters is planned to come ashore at Varna, possibly near the Galata offshore gas field, en route to Italy and Austria.

With the nearby towns of Beloslav and Devnya, Varna forms the Varna-Devnya Industrial Complex, home to some of the largest chemical, thermal power, and manufacturing facilities in Bulgaria, including Varna Thermal Pover Plant and Sodi Devnya, the two largest cash privatization deals in the country's recent history. There are also notable facilities for radio navigation devices, household appliances, security systems, textiles, apparel, food and beverages, printing, and other industries. Some manufacturing veterans are giving way to post-industrial developments: an ECE shopping mall is taking the place of the former VAMO diesel engine works and the Varna Brewery is being replaced by a convention centre.

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 (2005), attracting millions of visitors each year (4.74 million in 2006, 3.99 million of which international tourists[13] ). The resorts received considerable internal and foreign investment in the late 1990s and early first decade of the 21st century, 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 boomed in 2003–2008 with some of the highest prices in the nation, by fall 2007 surpassing Sofia (this still holds true in April 2009). Commercial real estate is developing major international office tower projects.[14][15][16]

In retail, the city not only has the assortment of international big-box retailers[17] 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.

In 2008, there were three large shopping malls operating and another four projects in various stages of development, turning Varna into an attractive international shopping destination (Pfohe Mall, Central Plaza, Mall Varna, Grand Mall, Gallery Mall, Cherno More Park, and Varna Towers),[18] plus a retail park under development outside town. The city has many of the finest eateries in the nation and abounds in ethnic food places.

Economically, Varna is among the best-performing and fastest-growing Bulgarian cities; unemployment, at 2.34% (2007), is over 3 times lower than the nation's rate; in 2007, median salary was the highest,[19] on a par with Sofia and Burgas. Many Bulgarians regard Varna as a boom town; some, including from Sofia and Plovdiv, or returning from western countries, but mostly from Dobrich, Shumen, and the greater region, are relocating there.

In September 2004, FDi magazine (a Financial Times Business Ltd publication) proclaimed Varna South-eastern Europe City of the Future[20] 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".[13]

In December 2007 (and again in October 2008), Varna was voted "Best City in Bulgaria to Live In"[21] by a national poll by Darik Radio, the 24 Chasa daily and the information portal darik.news.

Population[link]

The Palace of Culture and Sports also hosts trade shows

The first population data date back to the mid-17th century when the town was thought to have about 4,000 inhabitants.[22] After the liberation in 1878, the first population census in 1881 counted 24,555[23] making it the second-largest in the principality after Ruse (26,156 people). With unification, Varna became Bulgaria's third-largest city and kept this position steadily for the next 120 years, while different cities took turns in the first, second, and fourth places.

Since December 2006, various sources, including the Bulgarian National Television, national newspapers, research agencies, the mayor's office, and local police, claim that Varna has a population by present address of over 500,000, making it the nation's second-largest city.[24][25] Official statistics according to GRAO and NSI, however, have not supported their claims.

In 2008, Deputy Mayor Venelin Zhechev estimated the actual population at 650,000.[26] In December 2008, Mayor Kiril Yordanov claimed the actual number of permanent residents was 970,000,[27] or that there were 60% unregistered people. In January 2009, the Financial Times said that "Varna now draws about 30,000 new residents a year."[28]

Today the city of Varna has a population of 334 870 which makes it the third largest city in Bulgaria, but the Municipality of Varna takes the second place with population of 343 704. The metro area (including Varna municipality and adjacent parts of Aksakovo, Avren, Beloslav, and Devnya municipalities, and excluding adjacent parts of Dobrich Province) population is estimated by official data at 475,000.[29] Here, the "Varna-Devnya-Provadiya agglomeration" is not considered identical to the "Varna metro area".

Varna is one of the few cities in Bulgaria with a positive natural growth (6300 births vs. 3600 deaths in 2009 [30]) and new children's day care centers opening (6 expected in 2009).[31]

Ethnic composition[link]

Most Varnians (варненци, varnentsi) are ethnic Bulgarians (92.5% in Varna municipality[32]). Turks traditionally rank second (3.8% in the municipality; by 2009, Russians and other Russian-speaking recent immigrants, estimated at over 20,000, perhaps have outnumbered them). There is a comparable number of Roma mostly in three distinctive and largely impoverished ethnic neighborhoods: Maksuda; Rozova Dolina in the Asparuhovo district; and Chengene Kula in the Vladislavovo district. Varna is spearheading several programs on Roma integration. Armenians, Greeks, Jews, and other long-standing ethnic groups are also present although in much smaller numbers, plus a growing number of new Asian and African immigrants and corporate expatriates.

Historical population[link]

Varna
Year 1887 1910 1934 1946 1956 1965 1975 1985 1992 2001 2005 2009 2011
Population 25,256 41,419 69,563 76,954 120,345 180,633 253,039 302,816 308,601 312,889 312,026 320,837 334,870
Highest number 334,870 in 2011
Sources: National Statistical Institute,[1][33][34] „citypopulation.de“,[35] „pop-stat.mashke.org“,[36] Bulgarian Academy of Sciences[37]

City government[link]

Statue of Tsar Kaloyan

The municipality (община, obshtina, commune) of Varna comprises the city and five suburban villages: Kamenar, Kazashko, Konstantinovo, Topoli, and Zvezditsa, served by the city public transit system.

Executive[link]

The municipal chief executive is the mayor (кмет, kmet: the word is cognate with count). Since the end of the de facto one-party communist rule in 1990, there have been three mayors: Voyno Voynov, SDS (Union of Democratic Forces), ad interim, 1990–91; Hristo Kirchev, SDS, 1991–99; Kiril Yordanov, independent, 1999–present. Yordanov was reelected for a third consecutive term in 2007.[38] Varna Peninsula on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands.

Legislative[link]

As of January 2009, the city council (общински съвет, obshtinski savet, the 51-member legislature) is composed as follows: centre-left Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), 9 council members; centre-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB), 9; Dvizhenie Nashiyat Grad (Our Town Movement, a local group supporting mayor Yordanov), 6; Red, Zakonnost i Spravedlivost (Order, Rule of Law, and Justice), 5; the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), 4; coalition of SDS and Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria (DSB), another centre-right party, 3; other groups and independents, 15. Borislav Gutsanov (BSP) is council chairman.[39]

Party politics[link]

The largest political parties in the city are BSP, GERB and SDS, with the National Movement for Stability and Progress (NDSV) as a distant fourth; DSB, the Bulgarian Democratic Party, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO, VMRO), and Ataka are also active. SDS took a heavy hit in early 2009 as its local leader's student son was charged with the brutal murder of a young woman. Local business groups have formed political parties for recent local elections, setting a national trend.

Varna is currently (March 2009) represented by five ministers in Sergey Stanishev's cabinet: Deputy Prime Minister Meglena Plugchieva (BSP, Administration of EU Funds), Nikolay Vasilev (NDSV, State Administration), Daniel Valchev (NDSV, Education and Science), Miglena Tacheva (BSP, Justice), and Petar Dimitrov (BSP, Economy and Energy). Among other noted Varna politicians are Ilko Eskenazi (SDS), Aleksandar Yordanov (SDS), Borislav Ralchev (NDSV), and Nedelcho Beronov (independent).

Judicial[link]

The city is the seat of a regional, district, administrative, and military court, and a court of appeal; regional, military, and appellate prosecutor's offices.[40]

Consulates[link]

There are consulates of the following countries: the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.[41]

Boroughs and urban planning[link]

The city is divided by law into five boroughs (райони, rayoni), each with its mayor and council: Asparuhovo, Mladost, Odessos (the historic centre), Primorski (the largest one with official population of 102,000 also comprising the seaside resorts north of the city centre), and Vladislav Varchenchik. The boroughs are composed of various districts with distinctive characters and histories.[42] The villages too have а mayor or a mayoral lieutenant (кметски наместник, kmetski namestnik).

As of January 2009, a heated public discussion of a new draft general plan has been under way for a few months; it is expected to be passed by the city council later this year.[43] According to the Financial Times, "A new city master plan, due to be launched this year [2009], will be a 21st-century take on King Ferdinand's grand scheme. Among other projects, the commercial port will be moved to a new site on an inland lagoon to the west of the city, opening up space for what would become the Black Sea's largest and best-equipped marina. The plan will allow for a major redevelopment of the port site [with] luxury homes, hotels, restaurants."[28] The quay streets of the new waterfront are deemed important for opening the urbanscape to the sea as most of the coast is framed by parks.

List of Varna City boroughs and districts
District Cyrillic Borough Population
Vladislav Varnenchik Владислав Варненчик Vladislav Varnenchik 48,740
Kaisieva Gradina Кайсиева Градина Vladislav Varnenchik 48,740
Troshevo Трошево Mladost 87,256
Mladost Младост Mladost 87,256
Chayka Чайка Primorski 105,340
central borough Център Odesos 82,784
Asparuhovo borough Аспарухово Asparuhovo 27,178
Vinitca Виница Primorski 105,340
Zlatni Pyasaci Златни Пясъци Primorski 105,340
Hristo Botev Христо Ботев Odesos 82,784
Galata Галата Asparuhovo 27,178
Vazrajdane Възраждане Mladost 87,256
Pobeda Победа Mladost 87,256
Zapadna promishlena zona Западна промишлена зона Mladost 87,256

Main sights[link]

The Archaeological Museum occupies an ornate 19-century former girls' school
Euxinograd palace
Cathedral dome
Saint Nicholas seamen's church
St. Athanasius church with ancient thermae in foreground
Art Nouveau mansion on Prince Boris I Boulevard
Turn of the century mansion on Exarch Joseph Circle

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.

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), Varna Aquarium (opened 1932), the Festa 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 with a pond, boat house and ice-skating rink, 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 and Bulgarian cosmonauts. The Garden is a national monument of landscape architecture and is said to be the largest landscaped park in the Balkans.

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".[44] The city enjoys a nationwide reputation for its rock, hip-hop, world music, and other artists, clubs, and related events such as July Morning and international rock and hip-hop (including graffiti[45]) venues.

The city beaches, also known as sea baths (морски бани, morski bani), are dotted with hot (up to 55°С/131°F) sulphuric mineral water sources (used for spas, swimming pools and public showers) and punctured by small sheltered marinas. Additionally, the 2.05 km (1.27 mi) long, 52 m (171 ft) 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.

Tourist shopping areas include the boutique rows along Prince Boris Blvd (with retail rents rivaling Vitosha Blvd in Sofia) and adjacent pedestrian streets, as well as the large mall and big-box cluster in the Mladost district, suitable for motorists. Two other shopping plazas, Piccadilly Park and Central Plaza, are conveniently located to serve tourists in the resorts north of the city centre, both driving and riding the public transit. ATMs and 24/7 gas stations with convenience stores abound.

Food markets, among others, include supermarket chains Piccadilly and Burleks. In stores and restaurants, credit cards are normally accepted. There is a number of farmers markets offering fresh local produce; the Kolkhozen Pazar, the largest one, also has a fresh fish market but is located in a crowded area virtually inaccessible for cars.

Like other cities in the region, Varna has its share of stray dogs, for the most part calm and friendly, flashing orange clips on the ears showing they have been castrated and vaccinated. However, urban wildlife is dominated by the ubiquitous seagulls, while brown squirrels inhabit the Sea Garden. In January and February, migrating swans winter on the sheltered beaches.[46]

Churches[link]

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 footprint of a razed 10th-century church; the 15th-century St. Petka Parashkeva chapel; the seamen's church of Saint Nicholas; the Archangel Michael chapel, site of the first Bulgarian secular school from the National Revival era; and the Sts. Constantine and Helena church of the 14th-century suburban monastery of the same name.

The remains of a large 4th-5th-century stronghold basilica in Dzhanavara Park just south of town are becoming a tourist destination with some exquisite mosaics displayed in situ. The remains of another massive 9th-century basilica adjacent to the scriptorium at Boris I's Theotokos Panagia monastery are being excavated and conserved. A 4th-5th-century episcopal basilica north of the Thermae is also being restored. There is also a number of newer Orthodox temples; two, dedicated to apostle Andrew and the local martyr St. Procopius of Varna, are currently under construction. Many smaller Orthodox chapels have mushroomed in the area. In early 2009, Vasil Danev, leader of the ethnic Organization of the United Roma Communities (FORO), said local Roma would also erect an Orthodox chapel.

There is an old Armenian Apostolic church; two Roman Catholic churches (only one is now 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 (it is undergoing restoration). A new mosque was recently added in the southern Asparuhovo district serving the adjacent Muslim Roma 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[link]

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 lanes [5] [6]. It was surrounded by a stone wall restored in the 1830s with a citadel, a moat, ornamented iron gates flanked by towers, and a vaulted stone bridge across the River Varna. The place abounded in pre-Ottoman relics, ancient ruins were widely used as stone quarries.

Today, very little of this legacy remains; the city centre was rebuilt by the nascent Bulgarian middle class in late 19th and early 20th centuries 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 renovations).

Stone masonry from demolished city walls was used for the 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' wars also settled in similar poorer yet 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).

With the country's return to capitalism since 1989, 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 vili into affluent suburbs sporting opulent villas and family hotels, 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, stretches of shanty towns, more befitting Rio de Janeiro, remain in Roma neighbourhoods 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 greenery was mostly preserved. New modern office buildings started reshaping the old centre and the city's surroundings.[47][48]

Education[link]

Higher learning institutions[link]

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 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 land after 1989, three junior colleges, and two local branches of other Bulgarian universities.

There are five Bulgarian Academy of Sciences research institutes (of oceanology, fisheries, aero and hydrodynamics, and metallography) and Varna-Europa Academy, a government research institution (shipping), and a now-defunct naval architecture design bureau. The Institute of Oceanology (IO-BAS) has been active in Black Sea deluge theory studies and deepwater archaeology in cooperation with Columbia University, MIT, UPenn, and National Geographic.

In 2007, Varna was home to a total of 2,500 faculty and researchers and over 30,000 students.

Kaliakra, the Naval Academy training barquentine, in Varna Bay
National Naval Museum, on display Drazki torpedo boat
Chaika apartment complex, the socialist showcase for the 1972 World Congress of Architecture
Officers' Beach at sunset
A beach at Golden Sands
Grand Hotel Hermitage, Golden Sands
Festival Centre organ

Local universities:

Other universities' local branches:

Noted high schools (gymnasia)[link]

Libraries[link]

Culture[link]

Varna has some of the finest and oldest museums, professional arts companies, and arts festivals in the nation and is known for its century-old traditions in visual arts, music, and book publishing, as well as for its bustling current pop-culture scene. Over the past few decades, it developed as a festival centre of international standing. Varna is a front-runner for European Capital of Culture for 2019, planning to open several new high-profile facilities such as a new opera house and concert hall, a new exhibition centre, and a reconstruction of the Summer Theatre, the historic venue of the International Ballet Competition.

Museums[link]

Galleries[link]

Performing arts professional companies[link]

Art networks[link]

Other performing arts groups[link]

  • Morski Zvutsi Choir School (academic choirs)
  • Dobri Hristov Choir School (academic choir)

Notable bands and artists[link]

Other institutions[link]

International arts festivals[link]

National events[link]

  • Golden Rose Bulgarian Feature Film Festival (biennial)
  • Got Flow National Hip-Hop Dance Festival (annual)
  • May Arts Saloon at Radio Varna
  • Bulgaria for All National Ethnic Festival (annual, minority authentic folklore)
  • Dinyo Marinov National Children's Authentic Folklore Music Festival
  • Morsko konche (Seahorse) children's vocal competition (annual, pop)
  • Navy Day (second Sunday of August)
  • Urban Folk Song Festival
  • Christmas Folk Dance Competition

Local events[link]

  • Easter music festival
  • Classical guitar 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
  • New Year's Eve concert and fireworks (Independence Square)

Media[link]

As early as the 1880s, numerous daily and weekly newspapers were published in Bulgarian and several minority languages. Radio Varna opened in 1934. Galaktika book publishing house occupied a prominent place nationally in the 1970–1990s, focusing on international sci-fi and marine fiction, contemporary non-fiction and poetry.

"Fountain of the Sirens" in the Sea Garden
Nicolaus Copernicus Observatory and Planetarium
City Hall
New housing in the Briz district
A woman and a boy enjoying Varna's aerial chairlift ride at Chaika beachfront community

Local newspapers[link]

National newspapers' local editions[link]

Magazines[link]

Publishing houses[link]

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

Local radio stations[link]

Local TV stations[link]

Web portals[link]

Hospitals[link]

  • Sveta Marina University Hospital for active treatment
  • Sveta Anna Hospital for active treatment
  • Navy Hospital
  • Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital
  • Dr. Marko Markov Interdistrict Dispensary for Oncological Diseases
  • Sveta Petka Ophthalmology Clinic
  • Kamee Clinic, plastic and reconstructive surgery
  • Valem, plastic and aesthetic surgery
  • Kibela Consultancy Centre, psychological consultancy
  • Universum Medical, alternative medicine and massage
  • Dentaprime Clinic, dental implants and aesthetic dentistry

Sports[link]

A municipal sports field
A municipal swimming pool

Football 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, one time champion and participant in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1983, when it reached the second knockout round and played Manchester United F.C..

In the late 19th century, Varna was considered the birthplace of Bulgarian football with a Swiss gym teacher, Georges de Regibus, 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.[50] The new venue will seat 30,000 (40,000 for concerts including standing room). Another state-of the-art track-and-field stadium with a capacity of 5,000 seats and training halls for professional and public use will open in the Mladost district in 2009 to compensate for the lost track-and-field capacity of old Varna stadium.[51]

Men's basketball (Euroins Cherno More), women's volleyball, gymnastics, boxing, martial arts, and sailing are also vibrant. The 4.5 km (2.8 mi) 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, including Volleyball World Cup games, at the Palace of Culture and Sports, the country's largest arena.

Currently (2011), three 18-hole golf courses of professional quality have been constructed in the region to the north of the city in the vicinity of Balchik and Kavarna. These are Thracian Cliffs, Lighthouse Golf and Black Sea Rama. To the south of the city, Avren Golf Club[52] is due to be completed during 2012/13.

A kart racing track and a hippodrome with a horseback riding school is located in the Vinitsa neighborhood, and Asparuhov bridge is the foremost bungee jumping venue in the nation due to the local Club Adrenalin.

In early August 2007, a new municipal sports complex with fields for football, basketball and volleyball was opened as a part of a larger complex of sports facilities, mini-golf, tennis, biking alleys, mini-lakes and ice-skating rinks in the district of Mladost. Smaller municipal fields opened in the Sea Garden, Asparuhov Val Park, and elsewhere; the municipal Olympic-size swimming pool complex was rebuilt also in 2007, and the first segment of a bike lane to connect the Sea Garden with the westernmost residential districts was completed outside City Hall.[53] Paying tribute to the golf course development mania, the mayor vowed to build a free municipal driving range in the district of Asparuhovo.[54] The new urban general plan (under discussion in early 2008) envisages a large public amateur sports complex south of Lake Varna[55] and a ski run with artificial snow covering.

The number and range of fitness, wellness and recreation clubs in Varna is rapidly growing which reflects the positive change of lifestyle of the average Varna citizen.

Varna athletes won 4 of the 12 medals for Bulgaria at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

A recent addition to the cities sporting scene is cricket, which has been introduced by ex-pats from cricket playing nations.

Organized crime[link]

At night

Varna is known to be the main hub for Bulgarian organized crime. Some sectors of the economy, including gambling, corporate security, tourism, real estate, and professional sports, are believed to be controlled in part by business groups with links to Communist-era secret services or the military; the TIM group[56], based in Varna, is one example.[57][58]

However, it is noted that in Varna, the mutri (Mafia) presence is by no means as visible as it is in smaller coastal towns and resorts. Over the last couple of years, crime has subsided, which is said to have contributed to Varna's naming as Bulgaria's Best City to Live In (2007);[21] in 2007, the regional police chief was promoted to the helm of the national police service.

In January 2009, the Financial Times said that "communism [was] followed [by] a gritty transition period, including shootings of local mobsters in crowded seaside cafés. But, according to residents, a group of ex-Bulgarian marines nicknamed the Varna Seals eventually managed to expel members of the Russian, Chechen, Ukrainian and Georgian mafias vying for control of the port and the city's underground economy. And today 'you can stroll around the centre late at night without problems.'"[28]

International Relations[link]

Twin towns and sister cities[link]

Varna is twinned with:

Honour[link]

Varna Peninsula on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Varna.[61]

Varna, Illinois, a small town of 400 people, was named in this city's honour. The War of Varna was going on at the time.

The settlement and district centre of Varna in the Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia is named in commemoration of the taking of Varna by the Russian army during the 1828–1829 Russo-Turkish War.[62]

Varna in fiction[link]

Varna was Count Dracula's "transportation hub"—the point of origin of the ship Demeter and the initial destination of the Czarina Catherine—in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, and the place where the vampire's annihilation was planned to be carried out.[63]

British spy 07 kidnapped Soviet physicist Konstantin Trofimov from a villa in Varna in Andrei Gulyashki's novel Avakoum Zahov versus 07.

"The monastery at Varna" in the novel The Hills of Varna by Geoffrey Trease is a fictional place in the Balkans, not related to the real city.

An early mention of modern Varna in English literature is found in Charles Dickens' All the Year Round (Vol. 30) in 1873. Dickens visited the city as a war correspondent in the Crimean War in 1854.

Gallery[link]

See also[link]

References[link]

Notes
  1. ^ a b c (Bulgarian)National Statistical Institute - Main Towns Census 2011
  2. ^ Varna Becomes Centre of the Black Sea Euro-Region (Bulgarian). Retrieved on 2008-04-16
  3. ^ Grande, Lance (2009). Gems and gemstones: Timeless natural beauty of the mineral world. The University of Chicago Press. p. 292. ISBN 978-0-226-30511-0. http://books.google.com/?id=RnE9Fa4pbn0C&pg=PA290&dq=varna+necropolis+oldest#v=onepage&q=varna%20necropolis%20oldest&f=false. Retrieved 20 December 2011. "The oldest known gold jewelry in the world is from an archaeological site in Varna Necropolis, Bulgaria, and is over 6,000 years old (radiocarbon dated between 4,600BC and 4,200BC)." 
  4. ^ a b Municipality of Varna: Information (Bulgarian). Retrieved on 2007-02-10
  5. ^ "World Weather Information Service – Varna". United Nations. http://www.worldweather.org/103/c00919.htm. Retrieved 20 January 2011. 
  6. ^ a b Borislav Petrov. "Ранновизантийската базилика". Varna.info.bg. http://varna.info.bg/bazilika.htm. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  7. ^ "w-r- The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000". Bartleby.com. http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE575.html. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  8. ^ Theophanes Confessor, Chronographia, Ch. 32. "Bulgari in Moesia considunt et regnum condunt". Online (DjVu format): Гръцки извори за българската история (ГИБИ) (Fontes Graeci Historiae Bulgaricae), том III (1960), p. 263.
  9. ^ Дървен град предхожда каменната Плиска (Bulgarian). Retrieved on 2006-01-28
  10. ^ Apostolov, Shanko (Director, Władysław Warneńczyk Park Museum, Varna). The Campaigns of Ladislaus of Varna and John Hunyadi in 1443–1444 (Bulgarian). Retrieved 2007-02-10
  11. ^ Kotzabassi, Maria. "Varna (Modern period)". Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού. http://blacksea.ehw.gr/Forms/fLemmaBodyExtended.aspx?lemmaID=11495. Retrieved 9 October 2011. 
  12. ^ "Logistic Park Varna received First Class Investor Certificate - Daily News Article". Propertywisebulgaria.com. 2008-02-08. http://www.propertywisebulgaria.com/article/logistic-park-varna-received-first-class-investor-certificate/id_562/catid_12. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  13. ^ a b "Business". The Sofia Echo. 2007-04-23. http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/bulgarias-varna-taking-centre-stage/id_21990/catid_23. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  14. ^ [1][dead link]
  15. ^ "Business Park Varna - ONE STEP FORWARD". Bpv.bg. http://www.bpv.bg/. Retrieved 2009-06-18. 
  16. ^ "Money.bg - "Варна Тауърс" ООД взе отличие за топ - инвеститор". Money.ibox.bg. 2006-09-27. http://money.ibox.bg/news/id_1816540227. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  17. ^ "Бизнес | Варна започва строителството на още един мол". Dnevnik.bg. 2007-06-14. http://www.dnevnik.bg/show/?storyid=349410. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  18. ^ "Dominus Home Page". Dominuss.com. http://www.dominuss.com/. Retrieved 2011-09-16. 
  19. ^ WebFX Studio. "Черно море - новините тогава, когато се случват". Chernomore.bg. http://www.chernomore.bg/index.php?nid=18510. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  20. ^ "SOUTHERN EUROPE - South-eastern city of the future: Varna, Bulgaria - Foreign Direct Investment (fDi)". Fdimagazine.com. 2004-08-09. http://www.fdimagazine.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/769/SOUTHERN_EUROPE_-_South-eastern_city_of_the_future:_Varna,_Bulgaria.html. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  21. ^ a b "Варна е най-добрият град за живеене в България - DARIK News". Dariknews.bg. http://dariknews.bg/view_article.php?article_id=204974. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  22. ^ "CEEOL Balkan Studies, Issue 2 /2004". Ceeol.com. http://www.ceeol.com/aspx/getdocument.aspx?logid=5&id=6D1CD1EF-78E7-4FFD-92FE-55F8CAF9E64C. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  23. ^ Georgi Gentchev. "varna sled 1876". Varna-bg.com. http://www.varna-bg.com/chronicle/varna_d/d_bib.htm. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  24. ^ Varna, the City that Outran Statistics (Bulgarian). Retrieved on 2008-02-09
  25. ^ Plovdiv uncrowned on New Year 2007, it's now put third after Varna.
  26. ^ "Варна | Варна ще се застрои до Бяла, смята зам.-кмет". Moreto.net. 2008-02-22. http://moreto.net/novini.php?n=18505&c=09&p=. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  27. ^ "Варна | Кирил Йорданов: Във Варна живеят близо 1 милион. 60% са без варненска регистрация". Moreto.net. 2008-12-23. http://www.moreto.net/novini.php?n=31854&c=09. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  28. ^ a b c "/ Weekend / House & Home - Port in a storm". Ft.com. 2009-01-17. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/ac62c054-e29c-11dd-b1dd-0000779fd2ac.html. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  29. ^ General Directorate of Citizens' Registration and Administrative Services: Population Chart by permanent and tempoprary address (for provinces, municipalities and settlements) as of 15 September 2010, (Bulgarian). Retrieved on 2010-01-14
  30. ^ "По неофициални данни населението на Варна е над 550 000 хиляди души". Moreto.net. 2010-01-14. http://moreto.net/novini.php?n=71833&c=09&p=6. Retrieved 2010-01-15. 
  31. ^ "Мрежа | Започва битката за детските градини | Общината: Не правете обсади, класирането ще е онлайн". Dnevnik.bg. 2007-12-27. http://www.dnevnik.bg/show/?storyid=410353. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
  32. ^ http://www.strategy.bg/FileHandler.ashx?fileId=200
  33. ^ (Bulgarian)National Statistical Institute - Towns population 1956-1992
  34. ^ (English) Bulgarian National Statistical Institute - Bulgarian towns in 2009
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http://yourstayinvarna.com/

External links[link]


http://wn.com/Varna




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