As part of the Ottoman Empire, people from Varna lived with the ambition to be a European city and achieved it, says the sociologist.
On the occasion of Varna Day, we looked for people connected with this city, but who do not currently live in it.
They tell about the favorite events and places, about the sights of the sea capital, about the humor and of course, about the sea and the glares, about the strangeness and the characteristic habits of the inhabitants of Varna.
My first memories of Varna are from my childhood. I lived there until I was 18 years old. But 45 years of my conscious life did not pass there.
True, I often return to Varna, where I have a home. But from my fragile 18 years until today, the city has changed a lot. Probably my point of view about him has changed, because I have changed too.
I remember from my childhood that the people of Varna were charged with a high dose of local chauvinism. Certainly not only they, but also a large part of the Bulgarians feel such affection and love for their homeland.
People from Varna
held a little
as you shop:
“From Iskar
there is no deeper,
and there is nothing higher than Vitosha. ”
My father had it too. “There is no better city than Varna, there is nothing better than our sea. Our resorts are the best, our sand is the best. In general, everything here is the best and there is no need to go anywhere else. “
Among the people of Varna, one of them was an exception to go and live in Sofia. I remember that when my father was ill, he did not want to hear that he had come to see a doctor in Sofia. In Varna, according to him, the doctors were the best.
This high attachment to the birthplace of the people of Varna brings them closer to Hemingway’s summary: “Everything far from the sea is a province.”
The classic rivalry with Burgas is well known. When I was younger, Varna was always better for me, because here were the more expensive resorts, all the holiday homes of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party, the resort of St. st konstantin and Elena. However, this assessment changed when GERB took power in Burgas and began active work on the city’s infrastructure.
There has always been a very rich cultural life in Varna. Both before and now there are these traditions. The Varna Opera House has exceptional singers, famous actors. They staged musicals that turned into spectacular mega-performances – “Hair”, “The Man from the English Channel”, “Chicago”.
They became possible thanks to the co-optation of all kinds of actors, directors, artists from Sofia. All this restores my self-confidence and the pleasure of being from Varna.
Many theaters from the capital are guests on the Varna stage. And because there are several music festivals, a film festival, a ballet competition, which I remember from my early childhood, Varna stands in my head as a European city. Not to mention how beautiful the Summer Theater is, where the ballet competition is held.
A magical place!
As an atmosphere
the city does not
gives way to
none
European city
of this scale precisely because of cultural life.
You ask me about my favorite place in Varna – they are very many. But one of them, in which I learned a lot and added to my pride in my hometown, is the museum of Old Varna. It is located behind the Roman baths.
It was created by an enthusiast, owner of an advertising agency. Some time ago he called on the local media to bring old photos from Varna. Thus, he began collecting photos of Old Varna, the first of which were from before 1900. Then, for example, in order to take a panoramic photo of the city, they took pictures of it in parts.
But the great achievement of this museum is that every visitor can see Varna from the time when it was part of the Ottoman Empire and how it changed only 10 years later. In my opinion, this museum shows the ambition of Varna residents from that time to become a European city.
Or as the museum curator says: “In 10 years, coffee has jumped 80 centimeters!”
Why exactly 80 centimeters? Because in the Ottoman Empire they drank coffee on low tables, pots on the ground, literally squatting or sitting on low chairs.
But Varna residents want to be Europeans and live with this ambition. Therefore, 10 years after Bulgaria seceded from the Ottoman Empire,
introduce
high tables
with high
chairs and white
tablecloths, change
fezzes with whites
straw hats
From the same museum, for example, I learned that in the 60s Varna was the most popular seaside resort in Europe. If you see the photos from the 30s on the central Varna beach, your hat will fall off – I have never seen such a density of holidaymakers. It is the same with the opening of the central sea baths – to throw an egg, there is no place to fall.
But why is Varna becoming such a popular city? In my opinion, because the royal family chooses Euxinograd as the summer capital. The consequence is that the royal elites began to come, then the local bourgeoisie began to build villas around the beach, then the Sea Garden was created, followed by the resort of St. st konstantin and Elena.
But one of the reasons why even then Varna attracted many people from Western Europe is that
except marine
is also a spa
center
On the central sea beach are the famous mud baths that cure all kinds of ailments.
Even then they planted the most beautiful species of trees in St. St. Constantine and Helena, some are over 100 years old and are preserved to this day. I knew personally the man who created this park, unfortunately now deceased. He told me how they brought the giant redwood from America. And how the strategy of the then government for the city, its parks, the Sea Garden and St. St. Constantine and Helena was to be built as European places.
And they have remained so to this day.
– .
