Fodor's Expert Review Varna Museum of Archaeology

With a population of around 300,000, Varna is by far the biggest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. As well as being a good place to base yourself, the city has several interesting museums. The best of the bunch is its fascinating Museum of Archaeology, a palatial hall that contains more than 100,000 objects displayed in 39 rooms. All of the exhibits were found locally and bear witness to the Black Sea region being one of the World's earliest and longest-standing 'cradles of civilization', stretching back to flint tools from Mesolithic settlements around nearby Varna Lake. The museum building itself has a history, as it was originally constructed as a girls high school in the late 19th century. But the museum has been on-site almost as long, having first opened here in a single room in 1906 before eventually taking over the whole facility.