Varna
On the shimmering curve of Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, where sunlight ripples like gold upon the waves, lies Varna — a city that has been called many names through the centuries: Odessos, the Sea Queen, the Jewel of the East, the City of Gold. Few places in Europe hold within their shores such a vast and mysterious tapestry of history, legend, and myth.
Varna is not merely a city — it is a living chronicle of civilizations, where Thracian kings, Greek merchants, Roman legions, and Bulgarian tsars all left their footprints in the sand.

Dawn of Ages — Thracian and Prehistoric
Long before history wrote its first line, this land was home to an ancient Thracian tribe. On the quiet slopes west of the city, they buried their dead with gold so pure and intricate that the world would not see its equal for millennia.
In 1972, archaeologists unearthed the Varna Necropolis — a prehistoric burial ground over 6,000 years old, containing what is now recognized as the oldest worked gold in the world. The find reshaped our understanding of civilization, proving that long before the pyramids of Egypt rose, the people of Varna had mastered art, ritual, and metallurgy.
Local legend whispers that the gold was a gift from Bendida, the Thracian goddess of the moon and the night. When her mortal lover died in battle, she poured her tears into his tombs — and where each tear fell, a piece of gold appeared.

The Greek City of Odessos
In the 6th century BCE, Greek settlers from Miletus arrived and founded Odessos, meaning “the city on water.” They built temples to Apollo and Dionysus, marketplaces filled with olive oil, wine, and amphorae, and theatres that echoed with the voices of poets and philosophers.
Odessos soon became a beacon of trade and culture along the Black Sea. Ships from Athens, Byzantium, and even distant Asia Minor anchored in its harbors. The sea, always present, became both guardian and mirror — the city’s heart and destiny.
According to an old story, the Greeks built a shrine to Poseidon on the site of today’s Sea Garden. But when the god grew jealous of Apollo’s temple nearby, he sent a storm so fierce that the temple crumbled into the sea. Since then, sailors say that when lightning flashes over the bay, it is Poseidon still raging against his rival, centuries after the stones have vanished.

The Roman Age
When Rome spread its wings over Thrace, Odessos became one of its jewels — a thriving port and spa city. The Romans built grand thermae (public baths) whose ruins still rise today in Varna’s heart, among the largest in the Balkans. Their red-brick arches and marble fragments whisper of a time when patricians lounged in scented steam while the sea breeze drifted in through open colonnades.
It was also here, legend says, that Emperor Valens met his fate. In the 4th century, the emperor fled to Odessos after defeat by the Goths. Seeking refuge in a farmhouse near the city, he was burned alive when the building was set on fire — an omen, many said, that the gods had abandoned Rome.
Some locals believe that on still summer nights, a shadow in a Roman toga can be seen wandering the ruins of the baths, clutching a scroll of imperial decrees — Valens, searching for a redemption that never came.

Between Two Empires
When the Bulgarians came in the 7th century, Odessos became Varna, a Slavic name whose meaning is lost to time — some say it comes from an ancient word for “black water” or “defended shore.” Over the next centuries, the city stood as a fortress between empires: sometimes Byzantine, sometimes Bulgarian, always coveted, always reborn.
In the 10th century, Tsar Boris I is said to have walked Varna’s sands after converting Bulgaria to Christianity. He gazed over the Black Sea and prayed that the waves would carry the new faith across the waters. Fishermen still say that when the sea glows pale gold at sunrise, it is Boris’s blessing returning on the tide.

The Battle & Legend of King Władysław
In 1444, Varna became the stage of one of medieval Europe’s most tragic and heroic tales — the Battle of Varna.
There, the young Polish-Hungarian king Władysław III, barely twenty years old, led a Christian crusade against the Ottoman Empire. Surrounded and outnumbered, he charged fearlessly into battle — and was slain beneath his banner, his body never found.
The Turks called him “Varna Vladislav”, and the Bulgarians later built a grand memorial on the hill now known as the Vladislav Varnenchik Park-Museum, overlooking the city.
According to legend, the king’s ghost still rides across the plain before dawn, his armor shining with dew, leading an invisible army toward the rising sun.

The Revival and the Sea Garden
Centuries later, as Bulgaria emerged from Ottoman rule, Varna awakened again — this time as a modern city of light, art, and the sea. Elegant promenades and balconies replaced fortress walls, and in the early 20th century, the magnificent Sea Garden (Morska Gradina) was created — a vast park cascading to the shore, filled with sculptures, fountains, and whispering trees.
It is said that the park’s founder, Anton Novák, who also designed gardens in Vienna, was guided by a dream: he saw the Black Sea as a sleeping goddess, her hair spread across the coast, and vowed to adorn her with flowers so she would awaken in beauty.

Varna Today — The Sea, the City, the Soul
Today, Varna is Bulgaria’s maritime capital — a city of sunlit beaches, ancient ruins, and youthful energy. Modern cafés overlook Roman stones; music festivals echo in the Sea Garden; and the scent of salt and roses fills the air.
Yet beneath the rhythm of life, the old spirits still linger: the Thracian gold buried underfoot, the Greek gods watching from the horizon, the Roman emperor pacing through his ruins, and the ghost of a young crusader king galloping into eternity.
Varna’s soul is not bound by time. It is the sea itself — ancient, changeful, eternal.

“In Varna,” the locals say,
“the past does not sleep — it sails.
Every wave that breaks upon the shore
brings another century home.”

To discover more about the city, take bus 409 from Golden Sands, a taxi, or join our Varna City Walk. From Varna’s history to the Black Sea coast—find your trip here.