Activities in/around Chaika

Music: HOUSE & DANCE, SOUL & R'N'B, RETRO & OLDIES, 8O'S & 90'S, POP FOLK

Music: HOUSE & DANCE

Music: HOUSE & DANCE, CHART HITS

Music: HOUSE & DANCE, SOUL & R'N'B, RETRO & OLDIES, 8O'S & 90'S

Music: POP FOLK

Music: Hot HITS, HOUSE & DANCE, SOUL & R'N'B, POP-FOLK & CHALGA

Aladzha Monastery is one of the 120 medieval rock monasteries close to the seaside that are rapidly becoming tourism hubs in their own right. The monastery was founded during the Second Bulgarian kingdom, around the 13th century, and inhabited by hermit monks. It is located in the beautiful lush woodland of the Franga Plateau in the Golden Sands National Park. Aladzha Monastery was opened in 1906 as a museum and tourist site, and was declared a national monument of culture and antiquity. It also houses a church, a smaller chapel, monastic cells and a small museum that exhibits its colourful history. Aladzha (meaning multi-coloured in Turkish), due most probably to the bright colours of its wall paintings, contains rooms carved into the rocks on two levels in the almost 40-meter high limestone rock connected via an external staircase. The lower floor hosted the monks' private cells, common rooms (i.e. kitchen, dining room) and a small church, while the upper level was dedicated entirely to a chapel. According to some historians, primitive monks' cells were built and inhabited already in the 4th Cent AC. The monastery is considered to date back to the 12th century AC. The monastery is decorated with religious frescoes, but unfortunately most of them are damaged today. There are a lot of legends about unknown tunnels and labyrinths within the rocks where great treasures lay hidden. The monastery was declared a national record, and in 1957 it became a monument of culture. The Catacombs is located 800 meters southwest of Aladzha Monastery - and is a group of monks cells (caves) on 3 different levels in the cliff. Catacombs caves share a similar history to those of Aladzha Monastery, but have suffered even more by the passage of time, being in an even worse state that the relatively well preserved monastery. Archaeologists have found pottery and coins there that prove that the Catacombs were inhabited in the Early Christianity period between the fourth and sixth century.

Located in the centre of Golden Sands resort, above the Casino, where regular chapel services are held every Sunday from 9.00am.

The Delphinium/Dolphinarium is one of the favourite attractions for children and guests of Varna for its regular performances of the talented dolphin artists in the amphitheatre pool. Performances starring dolphins take place daily with high jumps, playing with balls, dancing, etc. Performances are scheduled daily and entry to the hall is adapted for elderly and handicapped people. One can watch the dolphins play underwater from the Panoramic Dolphinarium Cafe.

The Aquarium and Black Sea Museum were opened in 1932 as the first and only marine biological station in the country. Hundred of fish species are gathered here, molluscs, actinides, crabs, periwinkles as well as species of the fresh water river fish. A special place is occupied by the natural resources derived from the Black Sea, such as sea salt and petroleum. The Aquarium is divided into three basic sections and a foyer. Different fish species are represented in the first hall, like sea wolf, grey mullet, sting ray, carp, sturgeon. Marine organisms and shells are in the second hall. There is also an oceanography of the Black Sea and its history of research. The third hall comprises some mammals, sea birds and sharks. The tropical fishes in the foyer are of great interest.

Nowadays the Naval Museum, due to space limitations, consists of expositions in two buildings. The building which houses the Naval Museum was built at the end of the last century. It is an architectural monument with Renaissance elements and some baroque borrowings. The Museum Exposition is on two floors. Models of Bulgarian battle ships are displayed as well as original torpedoes and a collection lighthouse optics. There is also a collection of ancient anchors, figureheads, mines and uniforms of naval officers and navy men. A special showroom is dedicated to the participation of the Bulgarian Navy in the Balkan War (1912-1913) and to its glorious victory. There is a section devoted to the distinguished poet and navy man Nikola Vaptzarov. The Naval Academy in Varna is named after him. In the open-air exposition of the museum there are collections of mines and ancient anchors, guns from coast guard system, a working periscope from a submarine, a working lighthouse from Varna port, the Cor Caroli yacht with which Bulgarian seafarer made the first in Bulgarian history solitary sailing around the world. The torpedo-boat Druzki in its original format is turned into a museum ship. She is the last surviving example of a warship type once very common to the world’s navies, particularly the French. The development of the sea activities in Bulgaria are displayed in the second museum exposition which is in another building. Sea culture around the Bulgarian Black Sea coast is presented by original exhibits, documents and photographs. Here is the biggest collection of ship models in the country.

Museum and Park is located on the site of the former Battle of Varna and was built in honour of the historical battle when the mixed Christian army of Czechs, Poles, Croatians, Papal Knights, Hungarians, Bosnians, Romaninas and Routeni (Old Russian), Ukrainian and Bulgarians under Wladislaw III of Poland (Vladislav Varnenchik) and Janos Hunyadi tried to resist the Muslim Turkish invasion in Europe. A mausoleum to Vladislav Varnenchik was built here in 1934, (at the instigation of Petar Dimkov, 1886 – 1981), on the foundations of an ancient Thracian tomb. There is a museum with Knight's Armour from the XV century, plenty of weapons and accoutrements are exhibited in its halls: armours, chain armours, helmets, swords, spears, halberds, arbalests, maces, shields, etc. a monument of Yan Huniadi, six sarcophagi, a solemn place, an altar and under the museum there is a Thracian tomb from the IV century B.C. Vladislaus III of Varna is known in Polish as Wladyslaw Warnenczyk; in Slovak, Bulgarian and Czech as Vladislav I; in Hungarian, as I. Ulaszlo; in Lithuanian, as Vladislovas III; in Croatian as Vladislav I. Jagelovic.