A Guide to Varna [antikvár]

GEOGRAPHY LOCATION The Bulgárián (western) Black Sea coast is not much indented, the only larger bays being those of Bourgas and Varna. The city of Varna is situated at the end of a 3-mile bay. Built on terraces rising somé 130 feet above sea level, steeped in the luxuriant foliage of the Marine Gardens and surrounded by orchards and vineyards, it is visiblefrom afar when approached from the sea, almost seeming to rise from the calm waters. Varna occupies the entire area between the Frangen Plateau, on the north and north-east of the bay, and the rolling hills of the Mominsko (Maidén) Plateau which ends in the picturesque Cape Galata, to the .south. THE BLACK SEA During the Ice Age the Black Sea förmed part of the Sarmatian Sea, which was an immense fresh water laké separated from the ocean. With the gradual folding of the earth crust and the rising of the Caucasus Mountains, it split into two: the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea. Later on the region of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles sank and the waters of the Mediterranean flowed into the Black Sea, turning it into a salt-water sea. Today the Black Sea contains 16- 18 g of salt per 1,000 litres, while the Mediterranean Sea conlains 31 and the oceans 36 grams. The mean temperature of the Black Sea in summer is 23° C. Life, as it is well known, appeared first in the ocean and the variety of living organisms depends on the quantity