Sofia - Varna

Varna is the largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast and third in the country in terms of population (after Sofia and Plovdiv), economic and cultural importance. It is one of the largest ports on the Black Sea. It is located at almost the same latitude as some famous French and Italian resorts - Bayonne, Biarritz, Cannes, Nice, Monaco.

Varna is an old settlement that existed in prehistoric times. The earliest settlers in these places appeared during the Middle and Late Paleolithic. Their traces were found in a cave near the village of Beloslav and in the area of Pobiti kamani. Numerous findings from the Mesolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Age have also been discovered.

According to ancient authors, Odessos (Varna) was founded by Hellenic colonists from the city of Miletus during the reign of the Median king Astyages (593-558 BC). The found remains of the old Hellenic city also determine the time of its foundation to the middle of the 6th century BC. Many data say that the Hellenic colonists found here an older Thracian settlement of the Krobizi tribe. This is confirmed both by the non-Hellenic character of the name Odessos and by the Thracian pottery found in the lowest cultural layers from a time preceding the Hellenic settlement.

At first, the city arose as an agricultural colony, but later it also developed as a commercial center. It was characteristic of this Pontic city that it always retained a Thracian appearance. So, for example, among its inhabitants, the most honourable god was not Apollo (as in all Pontic cities founded by Ionians), but the great god of the local Thracians, Darzala. In his honor, religious celebrations were held every year, accompanied by games and competitions.

Odessos was known as one of the largest and richest cities on the Black Sea as early as the 4th century BC. In 341 BC, it was besieged by Philip the Macedonian, but the conflict was settled peacefully. The city achieved great material and spiritual prosperity in the III-II centuries BC, when it minted silver coins. Many of them bear the image of the great god Darzalla. In 72 BC, Odessos was conquered by the legions of Marcus Lucullus but retained its autonomy. It finally came under Roman rule at the beginning of the new era when the Roman province of Lower Moesia was created. In 9 BC, the Roman poet Ovid passed through the city and was sent into exile in the Pontic city of Tomi (Constanza).

After the division of the empire into two, the settlement remained within the boundaries of the Eastern Roman Empire. A number of written records and inscriptions testify to the prosperity and increased importance of the city. A new fortress wall surrounds Odessos and monumental temples, theaters, baths and a stadium are erected in it. After the official acceptance of Christianity in the IV century, many churches were built here, traces of which are still there today - the basilica on Tsar Krum Street and the churches in Janavar Tepe and Turna Tepe.

At the end of the 6th century, the Slavs settled in today's Bulgarian lands. They also settled in the vicinity of Odessos and gave it the Slavic name of Varna. According to some researchers, it derives from the word "crow" - black. For the first time it was mentioned in connection with the arrival of Asparukh's company (681). Depending on the outcome of the numerous wars between Byzantium and Bulgaria, the city changed its masters, until after its capture by Kaloyan in 1201, it entered the Bulgarian state permanently. During the time of the Second Bulgarian State, Varna experienced a great economic boom. Crafts developed in the city. Fine jewelry, artistic ceramics were made, beautifully decorated churches were built. lively trade links with Venice and Genoa, which supplied expensive luxury goods - velvets, glassware, silks, medicines, and bought hides, wax and wool.