235. Next Stop Varna ...

Continuing on with my wanderings through the Balkans, I leave beautiful Bucharest behind and head south into Bulgaria to the port and resort city of Varna - on the Black Sea.

Firstly by very slick Romanian Railways ...

... across the mighty Danube into Bulgaria ...

 

... here I change trains at Ruse and head east to the coast ... 

    ... and eventually late at night I arrive at Varna and my next Airbnb stay ...

After a couple of days exploring my neighbourhood and the beach ( ten minute walk from home ... ) and finding the best coffee spot, the friendliest supermarket and generally getting my bearings in a new country + a new city + a new language + a new monetary system + a new culture = it's time to get serious and look around for some Bulgarian art ...

 ... and the first stop is the Varna City Art Gallery ...

... the Gallery is housed in a unique Gothic-style building, that in a previous life was a secondary school for boys. And here I found a permanent collection of the works of several Bulgarian artists dating back to the founding of the collection in 1944 ...  
 

Still Life - Vera Lukova - 1942
 

Fishermen - Vera Nedkova - 1938

Sleeping Nude - Vera Nedkova - 1944

Ohrid Houses - Bencho Obreshkov - 1941

Girl with Grapes - Vladmir Dimitrov - 1945

Young Girl - Vladmir Dimitrov - 1948

Young Girl - Vladmir Dimitrov - 1947

Prayer - Vladmir Dimitrov - 1948

The Old Plovdiv - Tsanko Lavenov - 1930

Resting in the Field - Zlatyu Boyadjiev - 1943

Portrait of a Child - Ivan Markvichka - 1930

Maternity - Kiril Shivarov - 1920

Karlovo Yard - Nikola Tanev - 1942

Double Portrait - Alexander Mutafov - 1905

Boris Vazov - Elissaveta Vazova - 1946

Olga Yordanova - Karl Yordanova - 1945

Sozopol - Mario Zhekov - 1940

St Ivan Island Rocks - Georgi Velchev - 1945

Out at Sea - Hristo Kavarnaliev - 1948

Balchik 1 - Hristo Kavarnaliev - 1948

Metamorphosis - Georgi Bozhilov - 1990

Portrait - Panayot Dimitrov - 1934

Study - Atanas Yaranov - 1982

Aggression - Pavel Koychev - 1984

Triptych - Alyosha Kafedjiiski - 1982

Mother and Child - Aloysha Kafedjiiski - 1984

Head with Relief - Alyosha Kafedjiiski - 1989

Cosmic Dream - Dimitar Kavakov - 1981

Summer - Maria Zafirkova - 1951

Version - Teofan Sokerov - 1978

Church Yard - Andrey Daniel - 1987

Adi - Vihroni Popnedelev - 1986

Landscape with Palms - Edmond Demirdjyan - 2009

Harmony - Dimitar Buyukliiski - 1984

Poet and Muse - Angel Stanev - 1986

Adam - Kiril Shivarov - 1934