Burgas (map) is the smaller twin of Varna, lying about a hundred kilometres or so further south on the Black Sea coast. Not wanting to be out-done, it too boasts fine promenades, and an impressive array of National Revival buildings. Just as special is the former Synagogue, dating, like that in Sofia, to the early twentieth century (1909), which still preserves some of its original decoration. Unlike the Synagogue in Sofia, though, it is now an art gallery.
The Synagogue façade
The Synagogue interior
The archaeological museum seemed equally infused with this spirit, with lots of maps illustrating the extent of settlement in antiquity, and even a didactic proudly proclaiming that Apollonia Pontica was the 'first democratic state on the territory of the present-day Bulgaria'. So there!
Jewellery of the priestess Lesseskepra (1st c BC -1st c AD)
A hoard of 'arrow-coins' dated to the sixth century BC formed one of the more unusual exhibits.
Arrow-coins
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