Varna is Bulgaria's second largest city. It was inhabited by Thracian tribes long before the Greeks established the colony of Odessos there about 580 B.C. Later, under the Romans and their successors, the Slavs, Varna became a major port trading with Constantinople, Venice and Dubrovnik. In 1393 it was captured by the Turks, who made it an important military centre.
Nowadays it is a main port for both naval and commercial shipping and, adjacent as it is to the coastal resorts of Golden Sands, St. Constantine & Helena and Albena, it has acquired a cosmopolitan atmosphere. Sailors on shore-leave in unfamiliar ceremonial uniforms, mingle with foreign tourists and locals as they promenade along shady boulevards, lined by dignified 19th and early 20th century buildings.
