Varna Things to Do

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Varna zoo is not the best zoo I’ve seen, even is nothing special but still you can enjoy a walk among the animals. There are birds, rodents, grazing animals, a tiger, a lion, a bear, 2 monkeys and some others. My favorite became the kangaroo and the pelicans. The entrance fee is only one lev.

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The star hall there are 80 seats, the planetarium is model ZKP-1 (atually I don't understand much of this). There is a projector showing the Solar System in different seasons from different points of the world. The projection lasts 1 hour which is pretty enough to get familiar with the main constellations.
The Foucault pendulum is situated in very special tower on highness of 14,4 m. This is the only one Foucault pendulum in the Balkanies.
In the Observatory there are binoculars and telescopes, used for teaching or just watching the Sun, the Moon, Planets, Stars, etc. There is an exposition of the Solar System made by kids.
The entrance fee is 4 leva for adults and 2 leva for kids and students. The projection starts at 5.00 pm every day and it is held in Bulgarian but I guess that groups can hire it and ask for English if needed.
Here is the website but it’s not working in English now:

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The museum is located in the building of the first Bulgarian charity hospital from 1869. This is the only one medicine museum in the Balkanies. It has 3 exposition rooms which presents the development of the medicine at these lands from 4000 years b.c. up to the communist period of the country. The first room shows archeological instruments and bones of people lived up to 1393 when is the end of the second Bulgarian Kingdom. The second room ( that I couldn’t see because the roof has been fallen as they told us) is about the period up to the Revival. This period is famous with the church and monastery medicine and also with the divination and healer’s powwow. In the third exposition room could be found equipment and instruments from the Liberation to the 40-ies of XX century. There is also a reconstruction of the old pharmacy.
The museum is with free entrance working every day from 10.00 to 16.00 except weekends.

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This is a really excellent gallery, small but perfectly formed. The two-storey building it is housed in was formerly the Varna Men's High School, built in the Gothic Revival style in 1885. It became an art gallery in 1944 and took on its present name in 1999.

The ground floor of the building has two halls for temporary exhibitions whilst the permanent collection resides in a labyrith of rooms and hallways on the upper floor. Most of the works displayed showcase Bulgarian art from the late 19th Century onwards with a few guest appearances by Western European artists.

The permanent exhibition is thoughtfully laid out. Each room groups themes together. There's a sculpture gallery, the modern art collection, a portrait room featuring works by the Varna-born Boris Georgiev alongside the uniquely Bulgarian pieces by Vladimir Dimitrov - "The Master". The room given over to landscapes and seascapes hosts striking examples by Vasil Stoilov and the Frenchman David Peretz (a regular visitor to Bulgaria). There's also my favourite - The Salon of the Naked Ladies ;))

Although it's not a large gallery it does deserve a couple of hours to appreciate it and the building itself, with its sculpture garden in front, is interesting architecturally (although in need of repair judging by the damp patches on the inside front wall). Entry fee is 2 Leva (maybe more for foreigners) but Marina got in with a 1 Lev "student ticket" because the guy collecting the money didn't have any change and all we could scrape together in small money was 3 Leva! Also there doesn't seem to be any charge for, or restrictions on, taking photographs.

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Bulgaria's largest cinema group, Arena, shows first release films from around the world at its various cinemas, where necessary with Bulgarian subtitles. The cinemas are state-of-the-art with full surround-sound etc.

Here in Varna the Arena cinema is on the third floor of Mall Varna, on Bul Vladislav Varnenchik. There's plenty of parking and the local 148 bus stops right outside.

The Ethnographic Museum is housed in a building from early 19th century .The museum gives an idea of the everyday life of the Bulgarians of old times. Its collection is more on the cultural inheritance of the local people during the 19th and the 20th centuries which includes clothes, jewelry, ritual bread,etc.

I don’t know why it’s called alley 1 but I know is a wonderful place for walking. It’s long and there are many restaurants and clubs situated there. In day time it’s better in its north end where you can enjoy the sea view while during the night you have to pass through all the bars and restaurants where is the nightlife in Varna during the summer.

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That’s my favorite beach in Varna. While south and central are not so clean ( no reason to delude) Rappongi is great. There is a luxury area where you can rent a bed or private place under artificial palms or you can simply put your towel on the sands under the sun.