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Places of interest in the Region |
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VARNA
Varna’s history can be traced back for thousands of years. It was inhabited by an ancient Thracian tribe in a small fishermen's settlement. The city was founded as an ancient Greek trading colony in about 580 BC then control changed from Byzantine to Bulgarian numerous times during the Middle Ages, and eventually was captured by the Ottoman Empire in 1393.
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| The modern Varna is a vibrant and colourful city which mixes traditional Bulgarian values and sites of historical and cultural interest with quality state of the art accommodation, restaurants and bars and facilities. New shopping malls and modern commercial buildings and a strong feature of this city. |
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GOLDEN SANDS
Golden Sands resort is located about 20km north of Varna. The beach of Zlatni Pyasatsi (Golden Sands) stretches over 4km with a width of up to 100m. The area is famous for the purest sand on the Black Sea coast and also abounds of trees and bushes. Mineral water springs, as well as the marvelous wood bordering the Frangen Plateau turn Golden Sands into one of the pearls of the Bulgarian coast. A constant temperature of about 27°C throughout the summer season makes it a wonderful place for a summer holiday. The resort is set in the protected park of Golden Sands therefore restricting building and over-development. |
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| Aladzha Monastery is a famous tourist spot just 10 minutes from Golden Sands. The monastery itself lies in a beautiful place, in the rocks. In Turkish its name means ”varicolored” because of the gay mural paintings. This unique monument is hewed out in 40m high vertical rocks. The monastery was founded in the XIII century. |
ALBENA
Albena is a BLUE FLAG winning resort, located in a picturesque and ecologically clean gulf on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, famous for its flower gardens. The resort of Albena is situated 32 km north of Varna and just 12km south-west of Balchik on a long sand stretch in the open northern part of Varna Bay. |
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| The coast between Albena and Kranevo is high and extremely picturesque with steep rocky formations. The nearby village of Obrochishte has a well-preserved fortress dating back to Ottoman times, and the village of Kranevo with remains of the ancient fortress used in Roman times and the Middle Ages is also located close to the Albena resort. |
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BALCHIK
Occupying a succession of sandy cliffs and crumbling sugar-loaf hills, Balchik's white-washed cottages hover precipitously above a series of ravines running down to the sea. It's the kind of scene beloved of artists, and Balchik-inspired seascapes are a regular sight in provincial galleries throughout Bulgaria.
Any exploration of Balchik should begin with the Ethnographic Complex which consists of a reconstructed nineteenth-century school house and the Church of Sveti Nikola. The iconostasis is decorated with pictures by artists from Galichnik in western Macedonia, and there's a splendid gold-suffused portrait of the saint himself, patron of seafarers. |
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Balchik has a lively seafront square and a beautiful esplanade. There are a few areas of sand, although most sunbathers prefer to position themselves on the various piers and jetties protruding into the bay. A must see is the Quiet Nest Palace, the former summer residence of Queen Marie of Romania, and its famous gardens with over 3000 plant species, and Europe's second most important cactus collection. |
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