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At the western end of the park, the gunboat responsible for the Bulgarian navy's only victory lies honourably embedded outside the Navy Museum (daily 9am-noon & 1.30-5pm; US$1). The boat in question, the Drazhki (Intrepid), sank the Turkish cruiser Hamidie off Cape Kaliakra during the First Balkan War of 1912. Since Bulgaria's navy was reduced to a rump by the Neuilly Treaty of 1919, and later collaborated with Hitler's Kriegsmarine , there's little else for it to take pride in, and the museum itself houses a musty collection of naval relics, mostly from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including model ships, uniforms and various ship fixtures, all, as usual, labelled in Bulgarian only. Just beyond is the Aquarium (Tues-Sun 9am-7pm; US$1), a small collection of fresh- and seawater creatures, whose habits are explained in Russian and German translations only. Most interesting specimens are the sea-needles, who reproduce when the female of the species deposits her eggs in a pouch on the male, who is expected to do the brooding; the Black Sea turbot, a denizen of the sea bed which assumes the colour of rocks to disguise itself against predators; the translucent ghost shrimps; and the freshwater sturgeon, which can grow to a length of 9m in the wild, although those confined here are rather smaller. There's also a small collection of poorly stuffed and pickled specimens in an adjoining room. A little way to the east, pathways descend to Varna's Morski bani or municipal beach , where bathers can look out at the shoals of tankers and cargo vessels anchored in the bay. The beach stretches northwards for a couple of kilometres, lined with a succession of outdoor bars, clubs and restaurants which, in summer, remain buzzing well into the early hours. At the far end of the beach, steaming mineral water spews out of the hillside, collecting in a pool often used by elderly bathers well into winter.
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